What is your best bass trap?

[tmcconnell]

Focus on "first reflections". Kill it before it multiplies. Also focus on listening positions. Who cares if you don't hear it? These strategies are needed because low end is the 500lb gorilla. Lotsa energy to absorb.. even if you can't get the whole room, load up on the important parts. That's my story and i'm sticking too it. t

[Ethan Winer]

Originally Posted by RKrizman

Let's look at some absorption reports.

Don't overlook our newer MegaTraps which to my knowledge absorb more and to lower frequencies than any other commercial bass trap:



Two further points:

1) Even "lesser" bass traps can be effective at very low frequencies if you have enough of them in the room. Looking at the data for MondoTraps might not seem like they do anything useful below 50 Hz, but in our Hearing is Believing video you can see them making a real difference all the way down to the lowest 40 Hz mode in that test room.

2) Comparing disparate product data is not as valid as we'd all like to think. This article explains the issues in great detail:

Alternative Test Methods for Acoustic Treatment Products

Some of the key points you'll read there include:

Lab results can vary as much as 50 percent at 125 Hz, even though 125 Hz is within the range of certified frequencies. Results vary even more below 125 Hz, and I've even seen negative sabins reported due to the inherent inaccuracy of the reverberation room method at very low frequencies.

--Ethan

[RKrizman]

Sorry Ethan, I neglected to link to your Mega traps. The numbers certainly do look good, but it would cost over $1000 to fully treat just one corner. At that price point I'm looking for ideas about how to build a frame and stuff fiberglass behind it.

-R

[Bubbagump]

Originally Posted by anseo

My main concern is, if DIY Rockwool panels really can reach bass frequencies, seems to good to be true.

What do you think they use in the commercial traps? ;-)

Qualifier for the pedantic: I know, many are fiber glass based... however the results are nearly the same between mineral wool and rigid fiber glass.

Additionally, for further low end extension, it is no big thing to gap traps and also to back fill them with additional compressed "fluffy" insulation.

[Ethan Winer]

Originally Posted by RKrizman

Sorry Ethan, I neglected to link to your Mega traps. The numbers certainly do look good, but it would cost over $1000 to fully treat just one corner.

Of course, but this is the High End section where people think nothing of dropping far more than that on one 2-channel converter.

And this thread asks what is the best commercially bought bass trap.

--Ethan

[RKrizman]

Originally Posted by Ethan Winer

Of course, but this is the High End section where people think nothing of dropping far more than that on one 2-channel converter.

And this thread asks what is the best commercially bought bass trap.

--Ethan

Yes but I think he wants to hear from someone other than the manufacturer.

I also noticed you identified the RPG stuff as "good but pricey". Well that was my point about your traps.

If money is no object you'll find no lack of testimonials by people who swear by the ASC Tube Traps.

-R

[MichaelPatrick]

A sofa bed supports butts, sleep, lovers, and absorbs low frequencies. With lovers, though, it may generate more sound than it absorbs.

[Syncamorea]

I modified a control room that had problems in the 30-400 Hz range with the peak sitting from ~40 to 80, depending on where you measured in the desk work area. The room had a mixture of home made diffusion surfaces I'd made that covered about 60% of the wall surface area behind the monitors. Those took care of the midrange issues in the room and made the bass problems all the more obvious.

I thought the room was longer than it needed to be. At that point it was 11 tall (max, angled down to 10' behind the monitors and 9' behind the desk) by 15.5 wide by 24 long. I talked the owner into adding traps in each corner behind the desk - floor to ceiling with a footprint of ~3.5' x 5.5' each. The side of the traps that faced the monitors were given 5/16" +/- 1/8" louver openings, floor to ceiling. The louver slats were made of 1 1/2 to 2" wide by 1/4" thick strips of red oak with soft radii edges. The other trap walls (which faced each other) had louvered doors to give inside access. We had rock wool between the studs right behind the floor to ceiling louver wall.

The trap filling that I thought worked best were sleek tubes filling about 75% of the trap inside volume. They were filled with rock wool and fiberglass with loads of 1/8" to 1/2" holes drilled into the fiberboard, then covered by stretchy grille cloth. The owner liked cloth bags stuffed with insulation, hung from the ceiling studs more than she liked the sleek tubes. The sleek tube option sucked out more in the ~300Hz range, which might have been why I liked it. The rest of the solution was to make two home-made tube traps that went floor to ceiling, ~18" in diameter with layers of rolled up rock wool and fiberglass, covered in dense cotton and hung from the ceiling behind the monitors. These tubes didn't help with the real low bass all that much but they did shorten the reverberation time across the frequency spectrum. We liked the sound of them best when they were ~20" off the back and side walls. These solutions did not flatten the 40-80 Hx peak, but about 75% of the hump was eliminated and that was enough to do the trick.

[juniorhifikit]

I have two sisal Ikea rugs rolled up and standing in the corners... seems to help.

[Jim Williams]

Back in 1983 I recorded Genesis drummer Chester Thompson in the spare bedroom of my house. I used a queen sized bed, put the 2 mattresses up against the wall in the corner and then put the kit there.

Those tracks still sound wonderful.

Jim Williams
Audio Upgrades

[RKrizman]

How about a nice plant.

-R

[MichaelPatrick]

Originally Posted by RKrizman

How about a nice plant.

How big would it have to be? Like a few palm trees?

[Syncamorea]

Originally Posted by MichaelPatrick

How big would it have to be? Like a few palm trees?

I assumed he was talking about consumables.

[superama]

My best bass trap is two Acoustic Sciences Corporation 48" tall Super 24" diameter Tube Traps stacked one on top of the other. I call it Gigantor.

The more Tube Traps I cram in my CR the better it sounds! I love my Attack Wall! The Quick Sound Field made a believer out of me. Check out ASC.

I keep the door to the CR open while mixing too!

[DONNX]

And its all natural no fiberglass flying around the air


Seriously any good dense rock wool or owens fiber glass panel 2" stacked in a encloser will work. I read somewhere about using rubber maid large plastic trashcans filled with the above in a zig zag pattern.

I personally use triangular shaped columns in my studio. All four corners of the room. And large enclosures behind my subwoofer.

[Eganmedia]

My control room's rear wall is 3 feet deeper than it looks. Birch slats over cavities stuffed with a 703/ loose batt cocktail fill the corners, 5 RPG Diffractals are staggered symmetrically in the center with the same OC 703/ loose batt filling behind them. The difference pre/ post treatment (inc. side walls and ceilings) was utterly unbelievable. The room went from "really wonky" to "flat as the Sterling mastering studios" once the trapping was in. FM Design- who designed the room- did Sterling and Masterdisk, among others. I've got the plots to show the room's accuracy. It's amazing when art and science happen at the same time. Trapping is essential, but it really need to be the right trapping in the right places.

[badboymusic]

Originally Posted by superama

My best bass trap is two Acoustic Sciences Corporation 48" tall Super 24" diameter Tube Traps stacked one on top of the other. I call it Gigantor.

The more Tube Traps I cram in my CR the better it sounds! I love my Attack Wall! The Quick Sound Field made a believer out of me. Check out ASC.

I keep the door to the CR open while mixing too!

I agree, if money is not an issue, there is nothing better.

BTW: Very Nice!

[RKrizman]

And then there's this:


RPG Diffusor Systems

-R

[Tom H]

My best bass trap is the RAB650 from MB akustik. It's tuned for low freqs/ subs, where modes build up in the first place. Works really well, the only downside is it takes up a lot of space.

Also have some GIK traps to add up. thumbsup

[jacko]

I am very happy with my DIY broadband absorbers made of Isover PT-80.
Their size is 50*100*15cm and they are mounted on walls with 5cm space. I use MDF frames 20cm deep to maintain the 5cm distance to the wall.
No absorbers:


22 absorbers:


It cost me around $500 to build all of them!

[ButchP]

My new "Bass Amp Trap's" go down to 20hz.....thumbsup/....

[Glenn Kuras]

Originally Posted by kittonian

I wasn't saying the published specs should be completely ignored but after hearing about how those tests are performed and the variances in the outcomes, they should be taken with a grain of salt.

Agreed which is the reason we tested our 244 with A mount and J mount. Testing is not 100% but if you follow guidelines you can get pretty darn close.

Actually I should correct myself. The OP is looking for trapping in the 40 - 150 hz range. The huge amount of absorption at 80 hz pretty much puts the GIK Monster Trap right in the middle of that.

They're pretty cheap too. (I haven't tried them so this is no endorsement).

I most admit it does have a nice little old spike there (good thing).


The bottom line to acoustics is cost of finish. If your looking for something super high end, a lot of the companies listed here can do it. Hell we just opened a custom shop just for this purpose. You want a panel 4'x8' with oak trim? we can do that. You want a 13 root QRD that covers the back wall? We can do that. You want to dream up something? sure we can do that. It just really comes down to budget.