Corner Traps Vs Wall Height

quick question: do bass traps (superchunks) have to be full height or can they just be at your ear level/line of listening?

sure they can.

so, why do most people build them full height, just because they look better? also, took dimensions of the room last night. 2100 (W) x 2100 (H) x 4700 (L). thats bad, right? so, will building superchunks help me in this room, and do i need a shedload of additional wall & ceiling absorbers?? help, before i waste more time and money! lol

elektrasoul wrote:

so, why do most people build them full height, just because they look better?

could be :) The more basstrap the better, so filling the WHOLE corner is, indeed, better. More volume of wool is more trapping. More depth is lower trapping (bass)

also, took dimensions of the room last night. 2100 (W) x 2100 (H) x 4700 (L). thats bad, right?

Well, sure it's not the best room but you could use a roommodecalculater to check if the room's that bad for yourself. There's a nice calculator on Ethan's site. Read the forum to find the links.

so, will building superchunks help me in this room, and do i need a shedload of additional wall & ceiling absorbers??

I could give you the basics/standards on that, but, again, check the forum and find Ethan's site. It's all there. Do some research, this forum is the best starting point.

help, before i waste more time and money! lol

We will! Best advice is to do research. Read this forum as is was your fave playboy issue and absorb the goods!

thanks for the above responses, i will get round to reading all of ethans site soon. ...regarding the superchunk corner traps: i have a bit of rigid insulation left over that i roughly cut into manageable strips (i nearly took it to the landfill!) before i even thought about the acoustics. so, my question now is, (obviously the bigger the better, but) would right angle triangles approximately 360x360mm wide, 500mm 'front face' be a decent enough bass trap for this room? thanks again.

sure it will do. Bigger is better, but how big can we go eh.

yeah, exactly. so, ive read a bit of ethans site (great resource! cheers) and im a bit clearer on the subject. i am now just wondering if i will need bass traps in all 4 corners of my room, as my listening position will be in the top 3rd of the room. i realise the waves will bounce and reflect all over the place but id rather just use traps absorbers and diffusers around the top half of the room. any thoughts? :?

yesterday i stacked my previously rough cut triangles into each corner of the top end of my room (they go half way up the wall on each side). i am using my leftover rigid insulation (some sort of kingspan-like foam board) and i realise this may not be the ideal material for the job, but my idea is to sandwich another type of insulation between each already cut piece to make up the space. im wondering what the best type of insulation to use here would be, another foam board or something more like the 703 stuff (what is the UK equivalent of this?) that gets mentioned around these pages? cheers again. ps. im still reading through ethans site. ;-)

elektrasoul wrote:

i am using my leftover rigid insulation (some sort of kingspan-like foam board) and i realise this may not be the ideal material for the job,

If it is closed cell, or skinned foam, it is useless for sound absorption. Information on the foam please. Andre

dont have any information on it mate, im more than likely gonna use it though. whats the difference between closed cell and skinned foam? also, R-values: just having a look at the difference between 50mm thick owens corning (8.7) and 50mm thick kingspan tp10 (2.15). looks like ill need to source some of the OC 703 if i can find it anywhere locally. as ill be using 50/50 of the two materials my bass traps wont be so effective. my monitors only really go down to 50/60 hz or so anyway. will this suffice, where can i get owens corning?

The r-value means nothing in respect to sound ;)

but it sure keeps your room warm :)

lol - but wouldnt they have something to do with density, more mass = more sound absorbtion?

nope, common missunderstanding.

so what should i be looking for with regards to insulation for my corner bass traps, seeing as i cant get a hold of owens corning, is there a good rockwool equivalent (or attic insulation)? btw, im building the frames this week and i want to get the insulation on saturday morning.

Look for woolpanels as thick as possible (you can stack'm if ye want to get deeper traps). Just "normal" wool, about 48kg/m3 (what was it again in psf? it's all over the forum...). No barrier attached pref. There's no strict rule tho... have a look at BOB GOLDS teriffic website. Esp. this one; http://www.bobgolds.com/AbsorptionCoefficients.htm

ok, cheers again mate! whats PSF, you mean PCF (per cubic foot)?

elektrasoul wrote:

whats PSF, you mean PCF (per cubic foot)?

oops, yes that's what I mean (typo)

hey! this sh!t is confusing me enough without typo's! lol

ive just sourced some 75mm thick 60kg/m3 insulation. that should do the job! ill let yous know how i get on! ;-)

The r-value on that should be higher then the other stuff you were looking at ;)