Real Bass Traps

Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2003 4:36 pm

Now for the europeans.

Ethan, if I look at the .pdf pictures of your bass traps.......
The back wall, where you attach the basstrap frame on, is this plasterboard.
My existing wall is made of plasterboard. Is this dense enough or will an MDF panel work as a backpanel ?, how thick should it be ?

thanks in advance .

Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2003 6:54 am

AB,

> My existing wall is made of plasterboard. Is this dense enough <

I'm sure it will be. The main point is for the back to be much more dense and rigid than the thinner plywood front panel.

--Ethan

Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2003 3:25 pm

Ethan, but does it hurt to glue an extra backpanel on the wall first ?
what about MDF instead of plywood for the frontpanel?
Can the basstraps be wider than the ones you describe ? I have two open corner walls of about 33 inch wide, perfect to put the traps on.

Thanks again for this great forum.

Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2003 4:25 pm

Ethan,
Would it make the traps less effective if I recessed the resonating front panel by making a rabbet cut on the frame? It would look cooler, but I don't want to sacrifice anything other than time for looks.

Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2003 6:30 pm

Bert,

> but does it hurt to glue an extra backpanel on the wall first ? <

No, but it really isn't necessary.

> what about MDF instead of plywood for the frontpanel? <

No, use plywood.

> Can the basstraps be wider than the ones you describe ? <

Probably, but it may lower the frequency. I guess 33 versus 24 inches is not a problem, and that will give more surface area which is good.

--Ethan

Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2003 6:32 pm

GG,

> Would it make the traps less effective if I recessed the resonating front panel by making a rabbet cut on the frame? <

No, that's fine, but use wider boards so the total cavity depth is the same [or up to 1/2 an inch deeper].

--Ethan

Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2003 9:45 pm

Home depot has 1/8 inch birch and oak 15.97 per sheet Birch sku# 728927005006

Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2003 3:26 pm

Ethan, I recalculated my space .
I have two free back corners, perfectly to mount some Bass traps. Size is a bit different than your standards. width is 3 feet, height is 6.6 feet.

What to place there?
1 large "deep bass traps"
or 1 " high bass" and 1 " deep bass". ? On left and right side of course.

thanks

Posted: Sun Mar 09, 2003 5:55 am

Bert,

> What to place there? <

You always want an even number of low-bass and high-bass traps. I'm not sure how effective only two of them will be, but it's gotta be better than none.

--Ethan

Posted: Sun Mar 09, 2003 6:16 am

ok ethan.
But what to do if my 2 back wall corners are 3 feet wide?,
placing 1 big or 2 smaller panels ?

Posted: Sun Mar 09, 2003 9:05 am

Bert,

> But what to do if my 2 back wall corners are 3 feet wide? <

You could make each three feet wide, and put a low-bass on one side of the room and a high-bass on the other. That way you'll cover more surface area. You might also consider putting another trap on the ceiling in each corner. So in the corner that has a low-bass trap on the wall, you'll put a high-bass type on the ceiling.

If you can post a photo of your back wall - taken from enough distance that the entire wall shows - maybe I'll be able to make some other suggestions.

--Ethan

Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2003 4:03 pm

I wish I knew how and where to post a photo, ethan Sad

Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2003 7:21 am

Bert,

> I wish I knew how and where to post a photo <

First, you need a photo. Smile

Then you need to make sure it's no larger than 50 KB or so. If you take a photo with a digital camera it's probably more like half a Meg, so you should bring it into an image editing program like PaintShop Pro and reduce it. That's the hard part. To post it here just click the gray Image button while replying, and then browse to where the photo is stored on your hard drive.

--Ethan

Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2003 2:06 am

Ethan , I would like to keep the big softabsorber I placed at the back wall.
It is really integrated in the design of my room.

thanks for the tips

Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2003 6:03 am

Bert,

> I would like to keep the big softabsorber I placed at the back wall. <

That's fine. So yes, put bass traps on the three-foot angled part of the rear wall, and a few more on the front and sides if you can fit them.

--Ethan

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