Room treatments

I spent a day listening to several rooms at the California Audio Show treated extensively with ASC tube traps.

The more treated, the more suck. Not an innuendo. They literally sucked the midrange out of the room, turned the bass into 1 note, and added treble glare.

I live with GIK, they do no such things.  These CAS rooms were awful.

And, shocked the hell out of me since their peeps are really knowledgeable and of course, the products are so expensive.

I used to think of GIK as the poor person's ASC, but between the improved effectiveness of the soffit traps, and the experience at the show this has utterly changed.

Best,


E

ASC is fine ... when used as directed in a program of regular professional care...

sounds like they weren't done properly - not surprising at an audio show

GIK is helpful over the internet; ASC is, or was, helpful in person

18 inches is not bad, but an absorbing panel right behind your head might be a good idea - you can put acoustical cloth on them so they look like an art print

are the side diffusors as big as a bookcase?

I foget when I bought my cal. mic but they run about $80

pics & dimensions needed

@erik_squires re your show experience with ASC I wonder if this is a case of correlation rather than causation. As I understand it Art makes him a stuff available to those who want to use it at shows, and what I guess happens is that folks with "problems" look to ASC to solve them whereas in fact the real cause of the problems are in the choice of equipment e.g. speakers too big for room, poor orientation etc (e.g. Setting up to give the maximum sweet spot for demo rather than the best sound, amazing how few rooms are set up on long wall orientation for example)

as @randy-11 observes when a room is designed around ASC gear, as any acoustic treatment, it can work very well but it's no panacea

Hi Folkfreak,

Well, it is also possible I was hearing the electronics, but interestingly, I've heard Pass before, and not thrilled, but also didn't cause this problem.

This was the first show I have ever been to so meticulously treated by ASC. And room after room I heard a unique situation. Rather, I've never been to a show where all rooms sounded the same. It was truly odd. An exaggerated treble, along with this weird, 1 note bass. Well treated rooms sound huge, expansive, as if anything can be played.  These rooms, even among hotel rooms, were truly funky to listen to for me.

The correlation I found was : More treatment --> more problems. The most treated rooms, the Von Schweikert, Martin Logan, and a couple of others had the most problems. The Vienna with just two corner tubes sounded among the better situation.



Best,


E

So, if I may add, my working hypothesis was one of two:

1. I was having a stroke.
2. Those tube traps were reflective at the HF, and very absorptive in the midrange.

None of the GIK gear I use has these features. They are pretty much mid to treble, and sometimes also bass absorbers.

I think the ASC tube trap design is a mix no? Partly diffusor/reflector + partly absorptive?

Assuming ASC isn't just a horrible brand, I would then say perhaps the wrong mix of products was employed.