Ready Traps--Great CS, looks good so far!

[natpub]

After months of study and prep, we decided to go with getting our own 703 and picking up the Ready Traps covers. I ordered over last weekend, and got a reply within minutes--not an auto-reply, but a real one from Joel, very personal and helpful, saying the order would go out on Monday.

I then got an email giving me more personal attention and a tracking # on Monday.

I then got an email making sure I had all the other emails the next day, Tuesday.

I received the package tonite, Thursday.

Everything is in perfect order, very nicely packed, and I was amazed to find Joel had included the spacers and such that he normally sells seperately, in my box for free. As I recall this was a nice value added.

I cleaned my hands and opened the neatly individually packaged suade covers.

Each looks, on first inspection, perfect in quality and consistency, durable stitching and ideal fabric (we had spent 2 days in fabric shops and found nothing so nicely suited and well thought out).

I have a long day tomorrow suiting up and hanging my traps.

So far, a big thumbs up to Joel for excellent CS and competitive pricing.

BTW, for anyone who has seen me post here over the years, I have absolutely nothing to do with ReadyTraps or ever heard of them (besides one vague and old thread) or Joel until last week. I found them again on a search here last week as we agonized over fabric prices and horrible labour! The only communication Ive ever had with them was as described above.

Also, for what it is worth, the price of buying my own stuff and using RT's was below, but not stunningly so, of that from GIK. I know GIK says they have some kind of "membrane" or whatever, but I am very happy with RT for the look, feel, convience, and price. We would not have chosen otherwise, even at an identical price. We had an exact design in mind, and Ready Traps was perfect in every detail---so far....we shall see. Still, with about the same budget, if the GIK looks right for you, they seem like a fantastic value, considering current 703 prices (Katrina/Rita drove the price up like crazy!). I think my end savings was in the area of about $70. I probly spent 20% that on gas.

All in all, I can't say one product is superior to the other. Rodney Gene lives near me, and perhaps we can compare. But for now, if you like the look of RT, it seems a good and simple option. If GIK has something more, I dunno. We got some mega-eggheads coming from UT in the next weeks to measure out the room. I will know more then.

Will post more and some pics asap.


KT

[warhead]

The GIK stuff IS a fantastic value but an effective product as well. I've got 7 of them installed in my room thus far, as I finally start to get things together. We did pick up the line after I met with Glenn to see his operation in Atlanta so I'm terribly biased but, they're well constructed and very attractive. Glenn also publishes his test results on the site if anyone ever wants to check those out.

Also GIK is miles away from just covering 703 with fabric, it's all framed up and filled with mineral wool, and wrapped in specially selected fabric that Glenn found to work best for his intended results. This is the result of a lot of testing, trial and error, investing $$$ in getting them tested properly in a real chamber etc.

Nice stuff!

I'm just glad that folks are starting to pay attention to getting the sound right inside the room itself these days. Please don't mistake GIK for selling bags to cover up 703 with though! It sounds like you bought your own 703 and got the fabric bags to cover it up? Was it that much cheaper because of shipping I guess?

War

[pigpen]

I had grand plans of building my own as well.....decided to let the pros do it.

I have never dealt with Ready Traps so I do not know or intend to say anything negative about them.
With that out of the way, I have 7 GIK panels here and have loved what they have done to my room. I am in Athens, an hour drive to ATL, so I had Glenn come up and shoot my room and make suggestions. (Great guy by the way!) THey built them, I went and picke dthem up to save shipping and have been enjoying my "new room" ever since. They look great and are defintely doing what GIK claims they will do.
I am with Warren now too, this is an upgrade that I should have done a long time ago, before I bought compressor A or mic pre B.....this makes much more difference in your mix decisions!

Fix your room, you'll love yourself and so will your clients very quickly!

[warhead]

Originally Posted by pigpen

I am with Warren now too, this is an upgrade that I should have done a long time ago, before I bought compressor A or mic pre B.....this makes much more difference in your mix decisions!

Fix your room, you'll love yourself and so will your clients very quickly!

Many of us are guilty of it, I'm in the beginning stages of getting things right.

War

[parissound]

The reason I went with Real Traps is because of the problem with framed traps.
I have 6 mineral wool 4"in bass traps and 6 OC703 2"in midbass traps and it made dramatic improvement in my room.

[Glenn Kuras]

Originally Posted by warhead

Many of us are guilty of it, I'm in the beginning stages of getting things right.

War

War where did you end up putting the Tri Traps you got from us?

Glenn

[WKG]

I recently purchased Joel's Ready Traps covers as well, 12-4" and 3-2". Filled them with Johns Manville 814. They are great and look very finished, not at all like a DIY project. Great service also.

I am sure GIK has great products but I ended up saving about $635.00, including shipping, if you factor in the upcharge for alternate color selections. Savings would have been $365.00 just on the basic standard colors of black or off-white. If I was located close enough to do a pickup I may have opted for GIK.

[Brad McGowan]

I own Ready Traps, GIK, and Real Traps products. Here's my take on all three. The Ready Traps are a convenient and aesthetically pleasing way to package insulation that you may already have on hand. I'm using mine as a cloud above my mix position. It's important to note that they absorb a lot more high end than either the GIK or Real Traps, which may or may not be a good thing for your room. This is readily apparent just by speaking into the face of both traps. I think it's probably a better idea to do your whole room with the GIK or Real Traps as opposed to the Ready Traps since they won't overly absorb the high end and allow you to retain a more natural sound. That's not to say the Ready Traps don't have their place. They are perfect as part of the ceiling cloud I have installed. The peformance of the GIK and Real Traps goes beyond that of the simple fabric covered 703 (Ready Traps) because of their use of membranes within the traps. It's hard to say whether the Real Traps or the GIK perform better since I don't have 10 of each to try in my room. But since the GIK is about half the price of Real Traps it seems like a no brainer to me--GIK is the hands down winner in the best bang for the buck category. If you want serious results (especially if you are dealing with low end issues) for a reasonable amount of money, then the GIK is the way to go IMHO. I will say this--all three companies offer excellent customer service and go out of their way to take care of their customers.

Brad

[natpub]

I'd best stick with shutting my mouth and go with measurement. Our READY Traps are , however, working great. Now, I say this with a little help from Ethan (of REAL TRAPS), who pointed me to how to use certain things to make their low end absorbtion work correctly. All in all, I would think that RealT is perfect for one situation, GiK for another, and READY T "covers" for another. In combo, I bet (BUT DONT KNOW) they would be wicked good, as said above by BRAD.

Bottom line remains for us, Ready Traps were the ideal compimise between form, function, and appearance.

Measurements so far look good, and sound nice. Hopefully some movable gobos will make it all come together.

Any condescnding about bag of 703, well, fine, they are bags, and useful solution for some. [edit: sorry, bad tone of voice here]

Respect to ALL the "sonic solutions."

I will post some numbers later. For now, I am super busy debating AD/DA converters and Preamps---GOD help me!!!!


K

[NOTE: I edited this post because I was being a dikchead!--I appologise to all the acoustic treatment manufacturers, and to GS members--I'm pretty embarrassed]

[Ethan Winer]

KT (Nat?),

> early Ethan data shows we are all doing fine ... I'll gonna stick with Ready Traps ... Thanks Ethan, for helping make my Ready Traps work exactly right <

I am totally confused. Are you a RealTraps customer?

I'll also mention that this thread proves to me exactly what I have complained to Joel DuBay about many times. He basically took our name, changed one letter, and used it as his own name. Of course that confuses people.

Is anyone else here confused by such an obviously similar name? Or is this just my imagination?

--Ethan

[chadd]

Originally Posted by Ethan Winer

Is anyone else here confused by such an obviously similar name? Or is this just my imagination?

Ready Traps vs. RealTraps: not confusing, but annoyingly close.
The real confusion comes when abbreviations are used (RT or RTraps)

[WKG]

I don't think the names are confusing.

If I had a larger space to treat then GIK or Real Traps may have made more sense. As it is I only have a 9'8" X 13'4" mixing space to work in right now(including a 2' X 4' closet which I may take out to remove the offset) and the ReadyTraps covers seemed perfect for my needs as I already had the insulation.

I am sure there many people using and are very satisfied with Ethan's RealTraps and GIK, both look like excellent products. I believe Michael Wegener and Rail Jon Rogut are using some of Joel's ReadyTraps. Bottom line is what works best for your needs. Personally I am grateful for the many products and all the information available, I think it will only increase business across the board for all of them.

[LongWave]

im building a new studio here in the uk. cant decide which bass traps to go with, but the GIK ones sound pretty great for the money from what i am reading so ill check thme out.

im expecting the shipping to the uk to be pricey :-(

[pigpen]

Originally Posted by Ethan Winer

KT (Nat?),

> early Ethan data shows we are all doing fine ... I'll gonna stick with Ready Traps ... Thanks Ethan, for helping make my Ready Traps work exactly right <

I am totally confused. Are you a RealTraps customer?

I'll also mention that this thread proves to me exactly what I have complained to Joel DuBay about many times. He basically took our name, changed one letter, and used it as his own name. Of course that confuses people.

Is anyone else here confused by such an obviously similar name? Or is this just my imagination?

--Ethan

Now that you mentioned it, I need to go back and read the post as I thought they were just mistyping your company's name....I had no idea there was a different company....so yea I guess I was utterly confused.

[not_so_new]

Originally Posted by Ethan Winer

Is anyone else here confused by such an obviously similar name? Or is this just my imagination?

--Ethan

Yes....

[pigpen]

Damn, now that I go back and read my previous post, I actually said Ready Traps when I meant yours.....sorry for that.

So to amend my first post.....

I have never dealt with Real Traps or Ready Traps so I do not know or intend to say anything negative about either of them.


There, now I am less confused.

[Nu Mixer]

This is confusing!

Sounds like Joel is trying to capitalize on all the inroads that Ethan created. I think you should threaten to sue him, Ethan. That's not right!

[Glenn Kuras]

Originally Posted by LongWave

im building a new studio here in the uk. cant decide which bass traps to go with, but the GIK ones sound pretty great for the money from what i am reading so ill check thme out.

im expecting the shipping to the uk to be pricey :-(

Sometimes it is not so bad per panel if you are ordering more then 8 panels. Email me and I will get you a quote.

Glenn

Originally Posted by Ethan Winer

KT (Nat?),

> early Ethan data shows we are all doing fine ... I'll gonna stick with Ready Traps ... Thanks Ethan, for helping make my Ready Traps work exactly right <

I am totally confused. Are you a RealTraps customer?

I'll also mention that this thread proves to me exactly what I have complained to Joel DuBay about many times. He basically took our name, changed one letter, and used it as his own name. Of course that confuses people.

Is anyone else here confused by such an obviously similar name? Or is this just my imagination?

--Ethan

I dont think the names are confusing. I think the Ready trap name describes exactly what Joel's product is. Instead of making a DIY trap, a customer can opt to use the "READY TRAP" bags to make his traps (ready) faster and in a cleaner fashion.


Ethan, your traps IMO serve a different market segment. Your traps are not marketed to the DIY'er. You serve a market with more to spend for bass trap duties.

NO Confusion here and I dont really see why you would complain

Your's is supposedly a superior product, marketed to a different segment (This is my take on it as a consumer who's done no direct comparison).

Again, NO Confusion here.

[Ethan Winer]

I think it would be useful if we heard ONLY from people who are NOT customers of these companies.

[6strings]

Originally Posted by Ethan Winer

I think it would be useful if we heard ONLY from people who are NOT customers of these companies.

The names are obviously similar enough to cause confusion for those just starting to research acoustical treatment on this or similar boards, but probably not close enough for trademark infringment. I'm no lawyer, of course...

[tINY]

Well, I'm not a customer (though I am a bit of a student). The confusion is minimal to me: Ready traps are about what I could build myself for 3 times the price and REAL TRAPS are a little more money and incorporate things I'd have to spend hours trying.

The limp mass (barrium Ferrite loaded rubber, I suppose) and the damped membrane of the Soffit Traps (special hard board or gypsum board, I imagine) are a little trickier to design but are more effective.

If someone was paying me to do some acoustic upgrades, I'd love to justify the time and materials to experiment on making my own membrane traps. But, it'd be hard to justify when the REAL TRAPS products have known properties and ship ready to mount.





-tINY

[djui5]

Originally Posted by Ethan Winer

I think it would be useful if we heard ONLY from people who are NOT customers of these companies.

I've never bought anything from any acoustic company, other than some Guilford fabric from that great guy at....crap..I can't recall the name of the company right now...

Anyway,
when I first saw "Readytraps", I thought...wow..that guy's got some balls using a name like that. Not only that, he posts everywhere Ethan posts. Personally, I'd be a little pissed it I were Ethan. On that note, I've never got them confused either. Glen made himself pretty well known...so unless your not paying attention it's hard to get confused I'd think.

The cat petting would be a little aggressive from now on....

[mosrite]

If this fella had not been trying to capitalise or sneak into Ethans potential customer base then why did he call his product "Ready Traps" ? Come on folks dont be naive. I have absolutely no affiliation with either product or manufacturer but this seems pretty cheeky to say the least. There are a thousand things he could have called his traps. How about "J's Super Absorbent Low Frequency DIY Panel Trap" (or JALFDPT for short)

Seriously though as a potential customer (I am in the market for some acoustic treatment) I do find the Real Traps prices in the UK pretty hard to stomach. Im not saying it isnt worth it but its a lot of moolah. A friend managed to get some here at one point for about half the price. The price seemed to change so extremely that I wonder where the money is being made (or lost). If my friend bought them for around £125 each a year ago then why the heck can I not get them for that now? Or am I missing something here? Has the price of rock wool shot through the roof?

[WKG]

I've been reading and following many of these posts on acoustic treatment materials for awhile and just about all the suppliers usually show up in them sooner or later.

I never confused the names nor the products either and if anybody does I agree they are not paying attention.

I simply went with what all of them agreed was an effective, cost and sound wise, way to help my room, fabric covered rigid fiberglass panels. As I didn't have the time to wrap and devise a method to hang them I simply bought the covers. None of the other companies offered that as a solution. I don't see how that cuts into their customer base at all.

[Chas3]

"Ready Trap" is clearly an attempt to trespass on the hard won reputation of "RealTrap".

[Brad McGowan]

I too am slightly confused on what traps the original poster is referring to especially since he referenced that Ethan gave him some advice on maximizing the low end performance of the Ready Traps.

I'm really curious to know what that advice is so that I can maximize the potential of the Ready Traps I have too. Care to share, Natpub?

All three products have their place, nobody is debating that. But I think both Ethan and Glenn would agree that in a small room it's probably wise to use a trap that isn't overly absorptive in the high end if your goal is to control the low end. Otherwise you will end up with a really dead sounding room.

Brad

[LongWave]

[quote=
Seriously though as a potential customer (I am in the market for some acoustic treatment) I do find the Real Traps prices in the UK pretty hard to stomach. Im not saying it isnt worth it but its a lot of moolah. A friend managed to get some here at one point for about half the price. The price seemed to change so extremely that I wonder where the money is being made (or lost). If my friend bought them for around £125 each a year ago then why the heck can I not get them for that now? Or am I missing something here? Has the price of rock wool shot through the roof?[/QUOTE]


im with you here. i was going to go with real traps but it seems so expensive to get it in the UK. hence why i am probably going to go with GIK. I may need to buy quite a few traps so i think GIK may save me some money