Off topic Bass traps

[joest]

I just thought I'd share my experience with a homemade bass trap I just recently finished. I have been wonting to make some various traps but until now haven't done so. It's probably not the best or most practical design but yet it seams to be very effective so far.
Anyway what I did was dropped my ceiling in a small cubby area by my back door 9" & filled the area with R25 glass batts. I than used poultry netting to hold everything in place & covered it in a fleece material. I chose to do this area as really just a test because my back door is a big sound leak & there was allot of echo & gain in this spot. This is also a spot that goes unnoticed so why not. I must say I got more than I was expecting. When you step in this area now it has a very noticeable muffled sound. The echo I was getting before is now totally gone & the bass is noticeably smoother. I can now have my back door wide open & the sound outside is much quieter, & with it closed there is a noticeable improvement in bass coming from the house.
Inside setting in my listening position I can notice a difference as well. I don't know the best way to describe it but it sounds flatter & seams to decay instantly.
Anyway just thought I'd share my experience for those thinking about building any traps. For my 30 bucks spent it seams to be money well spent. YMMV....

[ThomasW]

Good job! It's amazing how much effect those kind of traps have.....

[joest]

I bought some more materials tonight to build some more traps. Though these will be more for fighting some slap back, echo problems within the room itself. I hope that it will farther smooth out the bass response in the room. I will be building two traps for my rear side walls that will be about 4' high x 30" wide & taper from 3" on the outer edges to 6" in the center forming a somewhat crest shape.
I'm really just playing a guessing game I suppose you could say, but at the same time what harm could it do? I will be taking some pictures of these as I build them & post back with my results as soon as I can.

[ThomasW]

Experimentation is the heart of DIY audio..... ;D

We look forward to the pictures ....

[joest]

I started one of the traps tonight. I am amazed at the sound that they will stop. Right now it measures 4' high x 28" wide, the center is 5" thick with the edges tapering off at 3 1/2". I think I went just allitle to big & may reduce the size just a bit as it looks rather bulky on the wall. The way I built the first one lends itself well to be placed in the corner, so after doing some re-sizing I may just build another pair for my front corners.
Right now I have just the one in the corner closest to my seating position & can tell a big difference in room reflections there. If you are near the corner without the trap & clap your hands or snap you get a very noticeable ringing. With the trap in place there is nothing at all. Even sitting in the room close to it makes things sound much different. Bass seams to be about the same, maybe just a tiny bit flatter. But this is with it positioned in the corner with about a 10" airspace behind it.
Any way I have a couple pictures up on webshots for those interested. They will be on the second page of My Home theater. you can find them here community.webshots.com/user/joesony
Hopefully I will get some time in the next few days to get them both together & in place. I'll post more as I can.

[brady]

Joest what are you going to cover them with and how are you going to install them?

Say do you still have the sono? Very nice job must have been alot of work. What made you decide to go ib and give up that fine piece?

Keep those pics coming.

Brady

[joest]

I'm using a fleece material, I covered the one last night but I'm going to take it back apart to make some small changes. The two I'm building right now will be mounted on my side walls either just to the front of my surrounds or directly above them. I'm going to play around with them a bit to see what sounds best. I would like to use them in the rear corners but I only have one corner closest to my seating position, I don't have that option on the other side. I may build two more later for my front corners but I wont to see how these work out first once I get both of them in place.

Ya I do still have the sono, it's collecting dust in the basement. I would like to put it to use in the basement some day, being that it is finished down there but I need to get a driver & amp for it. Those parts got donated to the IB. I surprisingly only have about 8 to 10 hours of time in the build on that one.
As for why I gave it up for IB??? The fine folks here are very persuasive to start, & If you really have to ask you must not have built or heard one yet ;D

[brady]

joest said:

& If you really have to ask you must not have built or heard one yet ;D

Oh contraire monfrare
I am at that point where I need to do some roomtreat also

[joest]

Brady, how are you set up? What subs, how many ext?
I just thought if you had an IB you wouldn't bother ask why I went to one

I'm trying to get my second trap together but with work right now it's been difficult (working 50 + hours a week) plus kids & all the other fun stuff. I did get the second frame together last night. I ended up narrowing it down just a bit to only 26" wide & shortened it to 40" high. The first one was 28"x48" & will be taken back apart to reduce it's size as well.
I'm really just playing a guessing game as to what will work, but so far I'm happy with the results I'm getting. And for the very small cost compared to the other options I have looked at makes it all that much better.

[brady]

joest here's my IB journey.

It all started about a year and a half ago when my cheap dvd player just wouldn't play any more. So I decide to get a good one that could decode all the current formats even though I didn't even have a receiver, just a stereo setup. Well it wasn't long before I just had to have a receiver. Then of course two speakers wasn't going to cut it, so I built a 5 piece audax kit. Then an amp. Then another amp. Then time to stop!

It was winter and I planned on building a sub the following summer. I started searching and reading web sites and forums when I stumbled into this one. I couldn't wait, had to have one, had to have one NOW!

Tricked wife into letting me chop a 25x30 inch hole in front of the E/T center. Put 4 AEIB 15 in a manifold later swapped for AV 18.

I totaly understand why you went IB, just curious how you got there. Question, you said your bass was smoother, how about the overall sound, vocals ect? And what is ext?

[joest]

I got around to getting my second one built yesterday finally. This one looks much nicer than my first witch I will be re building today. I added a couple braces through the center so it has the correct shape I cut it to. My first one came out somewhat rounded from the wire pulling back (hard to explant or photo).
Anyway I can't get real technical cause I don't have an SPL meter (ya, I know I should be beaten with a hose for not having one). But overall the sound has improved greatly in the room. I don't understand how this works but before I could just barley hear sounds like cymbal crashes, or high hats in music. Allot of higher frequencies from guitar seamed smeared or drown out & not very clear. Now cymbal crashes very easy to make out, guitar & voices are much smoother & more defined.
These traps have had very little effect on bass other than taming the mid range just a bit for what I can tell. But overall I am very happy with what changes they have made so far.
I am defiantly going to build two more for my front walls as soon as I can. I haven't updated my pictures yet, but as soon as I get the first one re built & get them both hung I will.

Oh ya, ext guess it's etc.

[brady]

joest thanks for the feedback that's what I wanted to hear. My bass is reasonably flat but the rest is like somebody threw a blanket over my front speakers.

My ext behringer ep2500 bfd crownxls602- mains 402-center denon 3805.

[joest]

I'm getting the first one finished up right now. I should have up some more pictures tonight or tomorrow of how they turned out.
I still just can't get over the difference they make. I would say if you don't have anything now you have to build some & give them a try. They have truly been one of the best cheep investments I have made yet

[joest]

My pictures are updated @ community.webshots.com/user/joesony
I still need to put one more layer of cloth over them to to smooth them out, but they are otherwise finished.
Now I just need to drag my ugly blue couches back to the basement, & bring my good ones back up. Those things just look like crap in there

[joest]

I finally got around to making two more traps for my front corners. I am so impressed with the improvement everything has made in my overall sound, even my wife has admitted that she thinks it sounds better & more defined. And her making a complement about anything to do with home theater is a rare thing in my house.
The biggest thing I have noticed is how much more separation everything has now. Before sounds seamed to just run together & you couldn't really tell what was coming from where, & some things you were lucky to hear. Now it is very easy to tell where a sound is coming from & sounds so much more natural. The effect on my bass is very much improved as well. It is kinda strange though as now I notice allot more vibration through the floor, but I quite enjoy the tactical feel so it's a win, win. I suppose I'm just paying more action to it now since it has flattened out the sound & makes it "feel" more pronounced than before.
Any way sorry I not the best at reviewing. Not having any actual spl readings of before & after, & all the technical jargen that most like to see. I just wonted to post about my finial results. Judging from my own two ears it's been well worth the effort.

P.S. there are a couple new pics of the front traps on my homepage, I have more to put up yet but web-shots has been giving me fits, they can be found there for those interested.

[drumdude]

Going to try building my first set of Bass traps from some used rigid fiberglass ceiling tiles I got from work. Loaded 16 of them in my van and headed for the house. Popped in a favorite CD (Blue Man Group) and immediately noticed the drums were tighter and every thing was more defined, and this was just the tiles laying loose in my van. ;D