General Q - Superchunks/Perf panel

Is it possible to give a general answer to this question? I have a small room of 3400 x 4200 x 2900 (H) with floor to ceiling superchunks (800 across the front) in two corners & I still need to tame a couple of bass nodes. So to my question: In general, would it be better to replace the superchunks with floor to ceiling tuned perf panels across the corners (with a width of around 900 mm), tuned to address the specific nodes? Another way of looking at this might be, does any one find either superchunks or perf panel of a similar size to be superior? I understand this is a very broad question! Cheers, Bob.

Two superchunks? That's not much bass trapping for a small room like that. Small rooms need a large amount of bass-trapping, and that doesn't seem to be enough at all. But to answer your direct question: No, I would not replace superchunks with tuned traps, especially of they are your ONLY bass traps in the room. You would lose the entire broad-band trapping they are giving you right now, as it would all become concentrated on the specific frequencies (or range) that you tune them to. Rather, I would suggest installing more superchunks in some of the remaining ten room corners. In general it is better to treat bass issues with broadband trapping, rather than tuned devices. One issue is that tuning them to actually work at the precise frequency you want is a lot harder than you might think! And so is actually identifying that "exact frequency" in the first place! Before you proceed with more treatment, it might help if you could do a full REW test in your room and post the results here, so we can analyze that in more detail and see what you are trying to deal with. And some photos of the room too! - Stuart -

Soundman2020 wrote:

Two superchunks? That's not much bass trapping for a small room like that. Small rooms need a large amount of bass-trapping, and that doesn't seem to be enough at all. But to answer your direct question: No, I would not replace superchunks with tuned traps, especially of they are your ONLY bass traps in the room. You would lose the entire broad-band trapping they are giving you right now, as it would all become concentrated on the specific frequencies (or range) that you tune them to. Rather, I would suggest installing more superchunks in some of the remaining ten room corners. In general it is better to treat bass issues with broadband trapping, rather than tuned devices. One issue is that tuning them to actually work at the precise frequency you want is a lot harder than you might think! And so is actually identifying that "exact frequency" in the first place! Before you proceed with more treatment, it might help if you could do a full REW test in your room and post the results here, so we can analyze that in more detail and see what you are trying to deal with. And some photos of the room too! - Stuart -

Thanks Stuart!

Soundman2020 wrote:

Two superchunks? That's not much bass trapping for a small room like that. Small rooms need a large amount of bass-trapping, and that doesn't seem to be enough at all. But to answer your direct question: No, I would not replace superchunks with tuned traps, especially of they are your ONLY bass traps in the room. You would lose the entire broad-band trapping they are giving you right now, as it would all become concentrated on the specific frequencies (or range) that you tune them to. Rather, I would suggest installing more superchunks in some of the remaining ten room corners. In general it is better to treat bass issues with broadband trapping, rather than tuned devices. One issue is that tuning them to actually work at the precise frequency you want is a lot harder than you might think! And so is actually identifying that "exact frequency" in the first place! Before you proceed with more treatment, it might help if you could do a full REW test in your room and post the results here, so we can analyze that in more detail and see what you are trying to deal with. And some photos of the room too! - Stuart -

+1... I have done testing with broadband and tuned (not what you are doing but still tuned) and have found in small rooms it is always better to start with broadband for the reasons above. Needless to say here is my own test. http://www.gearslutz.com/board/7597560-post146.html Also keep in mind that it takes a lot of coverage with something tuned to work.