J,
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Originally Posted by jayman  I don't think he's arguing for one over the other, DSP vs Bass Traps. He's acknowledged that bass traps are a viable solution and he sells them, so he must believe they work. Seems like he's just saying it's not the end all. |
Right, and I don't think bass traps can solve all acoustic problems either.
But IMO the first line of attack should always be as many bass traps as one can possibly manage. Then you can use a touch of EQ to reduce the one or two worst remaining peaks a little, as long as those peaks are at very low frequencies. If they're not at very low frequencies, then adding yet more bass traps is a better choice. Again, I have already stated at least twice that I use cut-only EQ in my own living room HT setup! But that EQ targets a 40 Hz mode, which is very low.
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this ARC thing supposedly does more than just just measure one point in the room (mix position) ... I guess this does some sort of an averaging thing
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Yes, it does some averaging. The problem is it doesn't work, as I believe I proved in my Audyssey critique linked earlier in this thread. The more you average, and the wider a physical area you try to improve, the less improvement you can achieve. By the time you make a meaningful improvement in ringing, the area improved is too small to be useful. The claims made by Audyssey are simply false. That is what I object to. That, and the idea that "a lot of bass traps" is not a good initial approach. In fact, I believe it is the only viable initial approach.
I'll even go farther and say that bass traps
could be the be-all end-all if someone is committed to having enough of them and the traps are large enough. This won't happen in a bedroom studio on a $1,000 budget. But it is absolutely possible to make a room flat with no ringing down to 30 Hz using only bass traps. However this requires enough "outer" room size to accommodate three feet thick absorption on all four sides and the ceiling. I have seen this done, and seen waterfall plots, and I promise you EQ was not needed.
--Ethan