so bass traps in corners do nothing, it seems we have been fooled. or are being fooled.


Well I've watched a few of their videos and mostly they seem to be no nonsense. what do you think? 

 

Corner Bass Trap Nonsense - www.AcousticFields.com (youtube.com)

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Showing 4 responses by seanheis1

I have GIK corner bass traps. They are very effective in the corners behind my speakers. They didn’t do much in the corners behind my listening position...so I stack two of them in corners behind my speakers.

apparently the bass pressure was greatest in the corners behind my speakers...which makes sense due to closer proximity to speakers than corners behind me.

i would say they are pretty effective down to 60hz...going off memory they start rolling off at 80hz. They have scatter plates attached as i didn’t want to risk having a dead room.

There is also an option to add a range limiter plate, which focuses on absorbing more bass and less mids and highs....which is what you want because due to lengths of wavelengths, there will be a surplus of longer waves (bass) and a shortage of shorter waves (treble).

To answer the question of whether or not bass traps are needed I think it's a function of room size (close reflections vs longer reflections). If you have a 20x30 room bass traps are more of a nice to do but will definitely help. If you have a 12X16 room, bass traps are going to have obvious improvements if you buy the right traps and put them in the right places.  

@shalommorgan I have a room with very similar dimensions. What areas did you discover had the highest bass velocity or were the biggest problem areas?

For me, the corners behind my speakers were the biggest problem so I filled them both to the ceiling. 

My biggest problem area is the mid bass above 100hz has a wide dip. It's the ceiling interaction...possibly combining with the floor reflection. If I take a big trap and hoist it over my head (and speakers) during a measurement, it mostly goes away. 

One day I may do a cloud with an attached scatter plate to deal with the floor and ceiling reflection dips. 

I keep a door open behind my listening position and that does a surprisingly good job of reducing bass build up.. 

For the people out there that buy bass traps and don't find much results...I have discovered:

1. The treatments are usually in the wrong places (low velocity areas).  

2. The treatments aren't thick enough or heavy enough...foam wedges on amazon are too lightweight even if they are really thick. My panels are wood framed and are around 20 pounds each. 

3. Try air gaps...a 3 inch thick panel with a 3 inch air gap is almost as effective as a 6 inch thick panel of same construction. 

4. The GIK 244 panels with the range limiter plate (flex range tech) are the best i have found for the size. 

Thanks for sharing. That's the best treated/looking small room I can remember seeing.

The only over the top thing that could be done is building in a floor cavity to deal with the floor bounce. I saw that once in a home theatre. 

Great work! I'm jealous.