small room acoustics

hollywood_steve · 2nd March 2004

I've finally ordered my furniture for the new space I recently leased. I'm now locked into a gear/furniture layout plan for the room and I'm investigating where I can sneak in some acoustical treatment into this already overstuffed little room.

Today's question concerns corner bass traps and whether they should be symetrical. I only have one open corner in the room; two others have tall bookcases in them and the fourth corner has only 3 inches of wall surface before the entry doorway. This one corner seems like an ideal location for some floor-to-ceiling corner bass traps. But should this type of treatment be symetrical around the room? Can I configure this one corner as a black hole for all of the low end in the room, or do I need to come up with a more balanced approach somehow?

Thanks.

Steve
lex125@pacbell.net

Ethan Winer · 3rd March 2004

Steve,

> This one corner seems like an ideal location for some floor-to-ceiling corner bass traps. But should this type of treatment be symetrical around the room? <

Bass trapping works best when it's spread evenly around the room. It doesn't have to be perfectly symmetrical in the sense that a control room needs to be symmetrical for proper imaging. But if you treat only one corner the low frequency waves will bounce around a bit before they find their way to that corner.

There's a good explanation of corner trapping in the Acoustics FAQ, second in the list on my Articles page:

www.ethanwiner.com/articles.html

There's additional information and suggested placement drawings on my company's site:

www.realtraps.com

--Ethan

hollywood_steve · 3rd March 2004

Thanks, Ethan, I was hoping to get a reply from you. Although I was also hoping that the answer would be that bass is mostly non-directional, so bass trapping could be placed almost anywhere, sort of like a sub-woofer. Damn .....

Ethan Winer · 4th March 2004

Steve,

> I was also hoping that the answer would be that bass is mostly non-directional, so bass trapping could be placed almost anywhere, sort of like a sub-woofer. <

Yes, bass preception is non-directional, but that's an unrelated issue. Not that one big bass trap in one location won't help, because it will. But if you want good results you need plenty of them, and spread all around the room.

--Ethan

2nd March 2004	#1
hollywood_steve Lives for gear Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: uh..... Hollywood Posts: 1,242 Thread Starter	small room acoustics I've finally ordered my furniture for the new space I recently leased. I'm now locked into a gear/furniture layout plan for the room and I'm investigating where I can sneak in some acoustical treatment into this already overstuffed little room. Today's question concerns corner bass traps and whether they should be symetrical. I only have one open corner in the room; two others have tall bookcases in them and the fourth corner has only 3 inches of wall surface before the entry doorway. This one corner seems like an ideal location for some floor-to-ceiling corner bass traps. But should this type of treatment be symetrical around the room? Can I configure this one corner as a black hole for all of the low end in the room, or do I need to come up with a more balanced approach somehow? Thanks. Steve lex125@pacbell.net __________________ steve Lexington 125 - High Resolution Location Recording lex125@pacbell.net http://www.lexington125.com

3rd March 2004	#2
Ethan Winer Gear Guru Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: New Milford, CT, USA Posts: 12,050	Re: small room acoustics Steve, > This one corner seems like an ideal location for some floor-to-ceiling corner bass traps. But should this type of treatment be symetrical around the room? < Bass trapping works best when it's spread evenly around the room. It doesn't have to be perfectly symmetrical in the sense that a control room needs to be symmetrical for proper imaging. But if you treat only one corner the low frequency waves will bounce around a bit before they find their way to that corner. There's a good explanation of corner trapping in the Acoustics FAQ, second in the list on my Articles page: www.ethanwiner.com/articles.html There's additional information and suggested placement drawings on my company's site: www.realtraps.com --Ethan __________________ Ethan's audio book is coming!

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4th March 2004	#4
Ethan Winer Gear Guru Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: New Milford, CT, USA Posts: 12,050	Steve, > I was also hoping that the answer would be that bass is mostly non-directional, so bass trapping could be placed almost anywhere, sort of like a sub-woofer. < Yes, bass preception is non-directional, but that's an unrelated issue. Not that one big bass trap in one location won't help, because it will. But if you want good results you need plenty of them, and spread all around the room. --Ethan