Are these 'panel' traps better to use in a more permanent room?

I read the 'Building a Better Trap' article again last night and picked up on a couple of things. ie. you want to alternate between mid/high, high bass, and low bass traps in the room and the mid/highs can be adjusted in width to accommodate the length of the room, etc.


* It says to build your bass traps adjacent to one another in the corners... one high bass and one deep bass. Correct? Is there a preferable orientation of this in relation to listening position? ie. Deep bass on the front and back and high bass on the side walls?

* Does the panel trap installation eliminate the need for wall to wall and wall to ceiling corner traps? (if they go all the way to the ceiling?) And straddling traps or superchunks in the corners?

* Is the plywood going to be replacing the need to have FRK towards the room? (so the mid/high absorbers behind the removable cover will be plain 703)

* Considering that the plywood is sufficient for reflection and 'liveness', is there anything as too many of these panel traps in the room? Diminishing returns?

Hello there,

I think Ethan will tell you that unless your room is a certain size (large--he'll probably give you minimum dimensions), it's better to use broadband traps over the corners (wall to wall and wall to ceiling).

But if you're setting up panel traps:
The purpose of the fiberglass in the panel traps is to simply dampen the vibration of the plywood panel (providing that it's not touching the front panel...the front panel needs to be able to vibrate freely) and it also serves to widen the frequency range of the trap. Those panel traps are centered on a frequency in the bass region determined by their size and the mass of the front panel. The fiberglass on the inside makes them effective in a little bit wider range. Therefore, I wouldn't think it wouldn't matter if the fiberglass was FRK or not when inside a panel trap...although Ethan might tell you the FRK might make a difference inside the panel. I don't know.

The functions that I know of that FRK accomplish in broadband traps is to reflect the highs back into the room on corner-straddled broad band traps and to serve as a membrane, increasing low end absorption in certain frequency ranges. I don't see why it would make a difference in a panel trap.

I would think the panel traps would also negate the need for superchunks, although I've never heard anyone say you can have too much bass absorption. I also believe that I've read Ethan say that until you get to the corners, when using panel traps, it's wise to alternate the traps one after another around the room: one deep bass, one upper bass, one mid/high etc. And yes, the plywood on the fronts of the panels would reflect enough highs back into the room to keep the room from being too dead, providing that you are alternating them one trap after another.

Hope that helps
Jack-ie-son

I honestly don't know if FRK inside a panel trap helps or hurts because I never measured that. But I do recommend panel traps mostly for larger rooms. Even in a large room you'll probably do best with thick rigid fiberglass straddling the corners, then put panel traps on the flat parts of the walls.

Thanks for the responses guys.

I'm not sure how you deduced from my post that I wanted FRK inside the trap though.

I was just wondering if FRK was even needed anywhere in the room since the plywood would be the reflective surface.

But Ethan, are you saying with a room of roughly 220 sq. ft., it would not be beneficial to use panels due to the small size of the room?

I was just trying to get the most out of the traps, taking up as little room as possible. If I'm going to get the same outcome (or better) with either type... I would like to know.

With the straddlers... is it the space behind there? I thought you were more into mass.

Would 6" straddlers be better than 1' deep superchunks or high and deep base panels?

Scratch what I said.

I know... I know...

For smaller rooms rigid fiberglass is more effective.

I still want to know how far down the superchunks will take care of v. the broadband traps straddling. And what thickness of rigid I would need to match the performance of a superchunk.

It's called "reading too fast."



No, filling the cavity completely is best. But using twice as much material does not give twice as much performance. If the cost of the material is not an issue, go for it.

--Ethan

Funny. That's EXACTLY what I did with your info too! LOL




I just want to make sure that it's significant or that it takes it down to a lower freq. Is it the amount of material? A tiny stack of rigid triangles would obviously not be as good as big ones. Where do we get the diminishing returns?

It doesn't really matter... I'll make as many as I can out of each 2x4 sheet!

Hi J-Texas,

it would be really cool, if you would stack-fill some corners, measure the room, then increase the stack size (e.g. covering each stack by adding what would be a standard 4'' thick basstrap if there was no stack) and measure again. It would be very interesting to see how much size matters.
Just an idea, hope it makes sense...

Greets Y

10-4! Groovy idea (if time permits a little playing around). It's for a good cause.

It's all about size and depth. (That's what she said.) But the material has to be in the right place too - away from the room boundaries. As you back fill a straddling panel, the material added becomes closer to the corner so it does less and less. But it still helps, and it's better space-wise than adding more material in front that would absorb more but impinge on the room more too.

--Ethan