crazy idea for bass traps-would it work?

almikel · 12th October 2010

Hi guys,
just had an idea for budget broadband bass traps and wanted to know if it's worth pursuing...
Stacks of out of date phone books in the corners - nearly to the ceiling.
You could run threaded rod up the centre to secure them and provide something at the top to anchor to a wall/roof so they wouldn't fall over (there would be a lot of mass stacked into a tower - you wouldn't want it to fall over), or build a light timber frame around it.
You could choose to expose the spines of the phone books which may reflect the upper frequencies (or alternate stack).
I'm in the early planning stage of building some bass traps and this idea popped into my head.
If it has legs I'll pursue it and measure, but thought I'd run it past you guys first before potentially wasting time and getting a sh!t load of phone books I need to get rid of.

cheers
Mike

Jens Eklund · 12th October 2010

Save yourself the trouble, it won’t do any good.

Sincerely Jens Eklund

Adlen · 12th October 2010

I used to have a bedroom studio with a large bookcase full of books, when I took it out the room sounded very different. The books weren't trapping any bass, they were probably acting as more of a diffuser. There was a bit of high frequency flutter echo and quite a sharp high frequency spit back echo.

Might work for ya

RLD · 12th October 2010

Its an interesting idea, but probably not worth the trouble.
A phone book in its flat closed position probably wouldn't do much, but what if you could mount them spine up and could fan the pages out?
Or get them wet and let them dry. The pages would wrinkle up a bit and fan out somewhat.
Again, not worth the trouble since you could just stack rolls of pink fluffy in the same space, but I wonder how they would absorb?

bpape · 12th October 2010

I'd agree with Jens. Think about how a broadband absorber works. It requires gas flow to allow waves motion to be turned into heat via restriction of air flow. Phone books won't do that.

Bryan

jhbrandt · 13th October 2010

Quote:

Originally Posted by bpape

I'd agree with Jens. Think about how a broadband absorber works. It requires gas flow to allow waves motion to be turned into heat via restriction of air flow. Phone books won't do that.

Bryan

+1

almikel · 13th October 2010

thanks for the responses - I'll go normal broadband bass traps instead

cheers
Mike

12th October 2010	#1
almikel Gear interested Joined: Aug 2010 Posts: 8 Thread Starter	crazy idea for bass traps-would it work? Hi guys, just had an idea for budget broadband bass traps and wanted to know if it's worth pursuing... Stacks of out of date phone books in the corners - nearly to the ceiling. You could run threaded rod up the centre to secure them and provide something at the top to anchor to a wall/roof so they wouldn't fall over (there would be a lot of mass stacked into a tower - you wouldn't want it to fall over), or build a light timber frame around it. You could choose to expose the spines of the phone books which may reflect the upper frequencies (or alternate stack). I'm in the early planning stage of building some bass traps and this idea popped into my head. If it has legs I'll pursue it and measure, but thought I'd run it past you guys first before potentially wasting time and getting a sh!t load of phone books I need to get rid of. cheers Mike

12th October 2010	#3
Adlen Lives for gear Joined: Mar 2009 Location: Liverpool Posts: 3,093 2 Reviews written	I used to have a bedroom studio with a large bookcase full of books, when I took it out the room sounded very different. The books weren't trapping any bass, they were probably acting as more of a diffuser. There was a bit of high frequency flutter echo and quite a sharp high frequency spit back echo. Might work for ya __________________ Liam Adlen ShadowplayStudios

12th October 2010	#5
bpape Lives for gear Joined: Jul 2005 Location: St. Louis(Wildwood), MO Posts: 764	I'd agree with Jens. Think about how a broadband absorber works. It requires gas flow to allow waves motion to be turned into heat via restriction of air flow. Phone books won't do that. Bryan __________________ I am serious, and don't call me Shirley Bryan Pape Lead Acoustical Designer GIK Acoustics

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12th October 2010	#2
Jens Eklund Lives for gear Joined: Oct 2009 Location: Stockholm Posts: 2,999	Save yourself the trouble, it won’t do any good. Sincerely Jens Eklund

12th October 2010	#4
RLD Gear nut Joined: Jul 2010 Posts: 92	Its an interesting idea, but probably not worth the trouble. A phone book in its flat closed position probably wouldn't do much, but what if you could mount them spine up and could fan the pages out? Or get them wet and let them dry. The pages would wrinkle up a bit and fan out somewhat. Again, not worth the trouble since you could just stack rolls of pink fluffy in the same space, but I wonder how they would absorb?

13th October 2010	#7
almikel Gear interested Joined: Aug 2010 Posts: 8 Thread Starter	thanks for the responses - I'll go normal broadband bass traps instead cheers Mike