Bass management -- the trick of putting absorbers at a front null


Very interesting discussion with Anthony Grimani. He advocates both traps and multiple subs and goes through the basics and tactics of bass management.

What's of interest to me is a "trick" he mentions -- putting an absorber panel at null between the listening position and the front wall. This, he says, can help even out the bass and take the place of the brute (and impractical) physics of trying to absorb the standing wave with absurdly thick absorbers.

He mentions it very soon after this point (which provides some context): https://youtu.be/QYpAbv7gKrs?t=1853

Has anyone tried this? Any details or outcomes you can share will be welcome.

P.S. He mentions Todd Welti, who did a Ph.D. thesis on using multiple subs. He's now with Harman. There is a paper by Welti, here: "Low-Frequency Optimization Using Multiple Subwoofers" https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Low-Frequency-Optimization-Using-Multiple-Welti-Devantier/00da...

This looks interesting, too: "How Many Subwoofers are Enough"
https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/How-Many-Subwoofers-are-Enough-Welti/96b772af4ea937d8028c2f845...
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Showing 4 responses by oldhvymec

I sure like the spring traps. I would pay the 900.00 for that trap. Heck I’d pay for 4 of them. That is a bass trap. It will handle 3 different frequencies. that is my room. 40-50, 75-85 and 110-120.

A problem might arise with what ever the surround material was made of too. Need 20-30 years of life too. Treated BR or silicone

A single axis accelerometer, shouldn’t be any more expensive than a tonearm and phono stage, PLUS there is a phono stage between you and the readings.. That part didn’t make sense to me.. The tuning part with a tone arm. I’m not sure it’s accurate, but a test after will surely tell..

Doesn’t a phono stage EQ stuff? :-)

I also have suckout at 250 -6db and 350 -8db.

I like classical guitar. Start messing around in those ranges it really messes with what I like.

Who would make "Spring Traps" NOW? Me I guess. My hands are already hurtin’. :-(

50 years ago. Carpeting, acoustic ceiling, book shelfs and curtains.. Tamed a room pretty good.
Actually there wasn’t a lot of bass back then either come to think of it.. Wasn’t much of a need to tame it :-)

Some rooms just start out right...
How can it be from 0 to 180 degrees if it needs to intersect with null in the room from one wall to the other.. If it is only so wide (the null) and using the width of single panels, what goes by the panels (untreated) will literally come back and bite you in the As$. I see how it works, and in a LONG room it may be practical, IF you can get the break closer to a front or back wall.. BUT in my listening room?

Pretty darn UGLY having a break dead center of the room. To treat a (50hz) problem wave. What about 80 and 120. LOL It would start looking like huge chess board Wouldn’t you agree..

The spring traps address 3 different areas and just needs to be adjusted for volume and the frequencies you want.. I like that kind of thinking...

Honey I fixed the bass problem..

Click Click, I’m peaceful she’s not.. :-) The spring traps I could get away with in the front room but 1.5 meter hurdles, that’s a bit of a stretch. Get Ready, Set, GO!!!!
I didn't mean to make him look simple. I wanted to point out it was difficult to understand and could have been a LOT easier. 

 He wasn't simple enough. AND it was an easy thing to understand. EVEN the host continued to go back and say "SO IF" several times.. There was a lot of talking, that could have been narrowed to 10th, at the MOST.. LIKE, where to place the weirs? He kept referring to theory. When in fact he was being asked HOW to place the traps, from one side of the room to the other, against the walls, in the center of the room, in front of you? The guy continued to talk but NOT directly answer the questions posed..

NO ONE is going to place a BARRIER in the middle of a home listening room. Not me anyway.. DBA and acoustic treatment are actually polar opposites. Kind of like putting up a WALL of sound, IT'S EVERYWHERE.. Including the neighbors pool... I have a FEW different VBDA systems here. Varied BASS Distributed Array. 

I also wondered WHY the best product he offered, he also quit making.

THAT made ZERO sense to me. Excuse please OP, LOL I may type a lot, BUT I get to the point. Most of my conversations with folks are as long as my replies when typing.. Not a lot of "see how smart I am in the mix". I try to show that through, short, thorough questions and short, thorough answers..  YES and NO is just the right answer sometimes..


NOT KEEP TALKING.. Reminds me of my old boss.. SHUT UP... QUIT TALKING... I use to have to tell him that.. QUIT TALKING, START LISTENING.

I'm so glad I fired him....after he fired me for having a broken neck..

See just two extra lines, including this one..

Regards
hide45 it is funny. I'm just a common man, pretty simple indeed..

I did like the information though.. Gave me an idea or two...

I like the spring traps for sure.. DBA, well it been here for 30 years, in one form or another..

Regards..