Bass traps? (to solve a suck out)

Onhwy61

If you're treating reflections properly, you're treating both nulls and peaks.

For treating 61 Hz, I would consider 1/4 to 1/2" membranes, 3 to 4' wide and 6 to 8' tall. That would be with a practical 4 to 6" depth and 703/705 dampening. I haven't done the math yet but that's based on my work with 4' by 2' membrane panels which were efficient around 100 Hz. Not likely to buy anything that size off the shelf because it's just too big to ship. I wouldn't even consider "soft" traps for this frequency.

I wonder if there's a market for membrane trap kits? Just the unassembled frames (Ikea style). The rest can be obtained from building stores.

Shadorne, how much is it to do the needed treatments with the Mini-Traps?

My guess is that one panel will make no or just barely perceptible audible difference in the bass unless it is in the corner and you are physically less than three feet from it.

I think that two panels and you will just begin to hear improvements (barely).

I would say that four panels and you have a modest improvement in most rooms (worthwhile but not a total cure). I would think you need to be up around 8 panels to make a serious impact.

If you go membrane or resonators such as tubes rather than broadband absorbers then provided you know what you are doing then you can get the same benefit (at a specific frequency) for 1/4 the treatment. So two membrane panels tuned to your specific problem might be as effective as 8 broadband minitraps.

The disadvantage of "tuned resonators" is that they don't help as much outside their "tuned" range. So in my mind broadband bass trapping is the way to go if you can find an aesthetic solution that is acceptable.

This is all "rule of thumb" YMMV but in the case of acoustics size actually does matter.

Everyone, thanks for the info. Although I haven't tried any yet, I'm now convinced that my earlier opinion regarding bass nulls and bass traps was completely wrong.

Thanks for allowing me to get info in this thread and all who tried to help.