I live in a small aprtment in Japan. My room has huge dips between 80Hz and 100Hz, confirmed with REW measurement. I can’t install large number of bass traps because
- Installing bass traps to the left rear corner blocks the way to the hallway.
- There are windows on the right side of the room.
- There is a sliding door behind MLP.
- The walls near the right speaker is located have an outlet and a ventilation hole, preventing me from installing bass traps very close to the floor. The walls near the left speaker don’t have outlets or ventilation holes, though I want to install same number of traps symetrically.
- The ceiling is little lower around front corners (about 2.0m. other places have 2.4m ceiling)
Item: ATS Acoustic Bass Trap - 24 x 36 x 4
Quantity: 2
Choose your fabric color: Ivory; Bass Trap Installation Hardware: Corner Installation Hardware; Desired Absorption Range: Full-Range; Desired edge profile: SquareItem: ATS Acoustic Bass Trap - 24 x 24 x 4
Quantity: 2
Choose your fabric color: Ivory; Bass Trap Installation Hardware: Corner Installation Hardware; Desired Absorption Range: Full-Range; Desired edge profile: Square
I’m thinking of importing those ATS acoustic bass traps to Japan via MyUS because bass traps sold in Japan are poor quality, or prohibitively expensive. DIY could be cheaper but requires some time and effort.
If more traps are really needed I could mount more traps on higher places on the wall this way, but I’m afraid that installing many traps in this way make me feel I’m in a even narrower room.
I’ve also seen claims that dual subs could solve standing waves, but is that true? Even if that’s true, could that be very annoying for my neighbors (even with very low subwoofer volume)? I currently only have front speakers (ELAC DBR62).
One more comment. Since the discussion started with standing waves; the front to back standing waves in this room will be at multiples of 67 Hz. The presence of the reflection induced dip is tuning the first mode a bit, so L and R look different. The two peaks at about 134 Hz and 201 Hz in both the L and R response curves are a result of this mode. Mounting panels on the wall behind the speakers should help tame these peaks - see the photo in the post I linked in another comment for how I have my room set up. (The black panels behind the speakers are GIK monster traps. The big panel on the left wall is an Acoustimac 2" art panel.) It will also help with decay times, which will improve the listening experience.
Generally speaking, in a room this small I would focus on treating first reflection points with the panels, rather than going after corner placed traps. The wall behind the speakers is both a first reflection point and a big contributor to long decay times.