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Tubes vs. Panels?

A few months ago I started a thread in another forum about room treatments, and another forum member (after viewing digital photos of the room, a bird's eye sketch, and asking lots of questions) sent me back a computer-generated printout showing the placement of four 16" diameter bass traps that stood four feet high, and three additional 13" bass traps that stood 42" high.

I can fit all of that stuff in my room, but I'd really rather not.

Then, yesterday, in a different discussion, someone else sent me a link to an outfit called GIK Acoustics, which offers free-standing panels among other things.

My question: given that the panels probably won't work as well as the specific thing the computer wanted me to make, does everyone think they'll still work *reasonably* well? I could buy them relatively inexpensively and not have to reconfigure the whole room.
dog_or_man

Showing 6 responses by nsgarch

nsgarch's avatar
nsgarch
2,524 posts
 
Mike I've sent you an email. There are many DIY tube trap sites you can find searching Google.
nsgarch's avatar
nsgarch
2,524 posts
 
Panels are OK but they won't manage bass as well as tube traps.
nsgarch's avatar
nsgarch
2,524 posts
 
Dave, please share your source for that information.
nsgarch's avatar
nsgarch
2,524 posts
 
Dave, my understanding is that tube traps eliminate excess bass energy by 'trapping' it within a (half open - half solid) tube. The energy then dissapates as it resonates up and down the tube -- sort of an organ pipe in reverse. Panels do not work that way.
nsgarch's avatar
nsgarch
2,524 posts
 
Dan (LOL) I sent Mike Jon Rische's site and another DIY site as well. Your interpretation BTW is incorrect (as far as all the info I've read anyway). "half open" in the context of tube traps , means that half of the exterior curved surface has to be wrapped or covered. And the other half of the surface, the fiberglas is exposed.

If you've ever seen an ASC tube trap, they are marked as to which half is which so the user can orient them as desired -- meaning that if you turn the open side toward the wall, they absorb mostly bass, but little HF. The tube interior should be left open to provide a resonant chamber which dissipates the bass energy (sort of like an organ pope in reverse ;-)
nsgarch's avatar
nsgarch
2,524 posts
 
That's organ PIPE :-) no offense to my Catholic friends.
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