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Tweakers' Asylum Tweaks for systems, rooms and Do It Yourself (DIY) help. FAQ. |
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Tweakers' Asylum Tweaks for systems, rooms and Do It Yourself (DIY) help. FAQ. |
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In Reply to: Only one concern posted by Lonestar on April 30, 2004 at 07:53:21:
Hi Lonestar,"One concern, and it's based on my ignorance: No doubt that some diffusion and absorption is better than none, but how does the novice assure that no harm is done? I know too many "audiophiles" that cannot distinguish between "better" and simply "different". Does the novice simply trust the ears or would they be better off using room measurements, no matter how rudimentary?"
This is a complex question the answer to which is also complex, perhaps too much so for a simple post. I'll give it a shot though.
With Tube Traps, there are a number of kinds of "harm" that can be done. Improper aiming for example (using the reflective side when the absorptive side is called for) is one kind but happily, is easily reversible, as is improper placement. The worst "harm" may be in the use of too many traps which would leave the room a bit "dead" sounding and the owner with less cash then they might have had.
Placement and aiming are well covered in a number of articles on the subject, which can be found on ASC's web site (www.tubetrap.com). I found the "Optimizing Tube Traps" article (http://www.asc-hifi.com/articles/iar89.htm) to make the most sense to me, espeically after trying the ideas out in my own room. The article makes some good points about the amount of traps as well.
ASC has a special test tone (the MATT test) which is available on one of Stereophile's Test CDs. It helps.
Trusting the ears is a good idea if the ears are experienced and not a good idea if they're not. Typical room measurements involving frequency response aren't of much use since they don't take the time element into account. I would say traps work, not so much by evening out the frequency response, though they do, as by evening out the decay time in the room. There are devices that can measure this across the frequency spectrum and in the proper hands, these can be of use.
For the interested novice, my best advice would be to try some and listen. Two traps may not be enough for a significant change, though they will have some effect. In my friend's room, we found that placing a 6 foot column in each corner of the room had a quite significant effect. This didn't yet address the early reflections from the side walls but by using the absorptive side facing the near speaker (in the front corners) and facing the listener (in the rear corners) we both noticed an immediate and obvious improvement. Bass evened out where it was previously "bumpy". When we added traps on the side walls, image solidity improved quite a bit.
I hope this has been of some help in answering your concerns. The nice thing about DIY traps is the financial investment is not very much. It probably cost us about ~$24 per 3 foot long trap, so starting with 8 to make 4 6 foot columns cost less than $200. The change in sound we achieved could not be accomplished by spending $1000 on component upgrades.
Happy Listening!
Barry
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Follow Ups
- Re: Only one concern - bdiament 04/30/0410:13:53 04/30/04 (0)
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