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: Square

Item: 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).

https://gearspace.com/board/studio-building-acoustics/1301752-spare-bass-traps-worth-putting-directly-behind-monitors.html#post14632464

​

https://preview.redd.it/5fokipag283c1.png?width=1096&format=png&auto=webp&s=51b97d7123f09aa498ac17c94360fba27439f435

​

  • misterflappypants@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    I actually think you’re working with an overall pretty useable room.

    1. Your response has a slight downward trend as you go higher in frequency. For in-room response, this is generally accepted or preferred for two (2) reasons: your ears naturally want more bass to hear it “evenly,” and your flat side and flat rear wall sum reflections will be full of >1-2k and up, so the blurred sum will add to your SPL and let you hear a flatter overall response, albeit blurred by reverberation.

    2. I marked up this screenshot of your room response to show you what I feel like are your problem room modes: approximately 120hz*, 150hz, and 200hz.

    • The 120hz could very likely be from your ceiling. Sitting over a very thick couch can help this. Or cloud absorbers directly overhead of your listening position.
    • The 150 and 200 Hz are grouped-yet-separate in a way that makes me think it is 2 more boundary-reinforced (wall-amplified) room modes. These 2 can be DSP’d easily and without much adverse effect

    edit: whatever you do, don’t go throwing -15db notch filters on servere room modes, especially if you “measure loudly and mix/listen quietly.” room EQ is volume dependent, and to do it properly you really should be EQ’ing to fixed volume and staging positions.