ASC Tube Traps Are The Real Deal

[SRT-10 Viper]

I received a couple days ago additional traps for my room. Prior to receiving the new traps, I had (2) 4'x16" traps in the front and two 11 inch studio traps on the right side where I have an opening to my dinning room. I sent 360 degree pictures of my room in to ASC to get a recommendation on how to improve my sound. Based on a couple of their recommendations, I put an additional (2) 3'x16" stacked in the front corners since my ceiling is not quite 8 foot. I also put in the rear right corner 20 inch traps that are 3' and 4' foot. The left rear is an open door way to a hall so no need for traps on that side. I can't believe the improvement. The sound stage has opened up with instruments having better separation. I have a PARC system to reduce the bass boom, however I no longer need it with the added traps. I'm very happy with the sound and the personalized service I received from ASC.

[chessman]

Chuck, congrats!

[chessman]

I ended up with one 20" in one corner and one in the center of the back wall. I put the 13"'s lateral to each main, left reflecting to front wall and right reflecting to listening position. I got a large improvement in bass "realness" that I attribute to the 20"'s. They go down to 40H.

The bass sounds more authentic, particularly the vibrato that one associates with plucked strings. Snare drums and kick drums have real snap.

[chessman]

Originally Posted by chessman

I ended up with one 20" in one corner and one in the center of the back wall. I put the 13"'s lateral to each main, left reflecting to front wall and right reflecting to listening position. I got a large improvement in bass "realness" that I attribute to the 20"'s. They go down to 40H.

The bass sounds more authentic, particularly the vibrato that one associates with plucked strings. Snare drums and kick drums have real snap.

After some theoretical discussions with some friends here, I decided to try something to resolve a nagging doubt that I have had for some time. The conventional wisdom is that you cannot have too many bass traps in a room. I would add two caveats. First, tube traps (unless very large) are really affecting mid-bass and, based on my experience, you can over-trap that. Second, tube traps too near to speakers (at least Wilson Sophia 2's in my room) can suck the emotion out of them.

I moved the 13's behind the speakers (now nothing is lateral). I took the two 16 halves and stacked them in the left rear corner and the two 11 halves and stacked them in the right rear corner (blocking a door, but hey they are light). In short, only a pair of 13's on the front wall behind the mains and everything else on the rear wall or the sides.

The sound stage widened, bass resonated more naturally, and dynamics took a huge jump. I had been smothering my sound! I listen a lot at lower volume because it is late night listening, so I did not notice at first. But I had begun to feel like the music was boring lately. Tonight I tried a number of up tempo CD's of varying recording quality. Verdict: it now sounds freaky good.