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Can room treatment improve bass accuracy?

Most of us can agree that a big part of a highly enjoyable system is it's ability to produce accurate, tight and full-sounding low bass. In an attempt to squeeze more bass out of my system I am considering making room changes. Looking for suggestions and comments on my considerations.
I am considering using a large amount of material through out the room that will absorb low frequencies therefore limiting or greatly reducing reflective low frequencies. Will this help and any suggestions on which materials will work best?
Also I would like to enclose the sub-woofer in a Five sided box with the one side that is open facing the listener. This box will be made out of material that has low resonance characteristics. It will reflect the sound waves toward the listener and not the back wall or side walls. Wondering since the box surrounding the sub is so near to the sub how will this effect the listening experience of bass. I expect the box to be heavy so that it will be solid and highly reflective of low frequencies and it will be suspended therefore avoiding transmission to the floor.
Would like to hear suggestions and comments. thanks
pedrillo
tafka_steve
115 posts
 
I found Ethan Winer's RealTraps, which uses solid fiberglass panels, to be very effective in cleaning up muddy bass in my listening room.

The open baffle subwoofer idea sounds like a nonstarter to me, unless the baffle is 8 ft. x 8 ft. You'll get almost no low bass because the front and rear radiation are going to cancel at long wavelengths. You'll end up with an inert, five-sided room divider with no extension below 100 Hz.
mcrheist
130 posts
 
I believe you were asking for a simplistic answer and that answer is "YES". I provided a detailed response here on things we used to provide room treatments that were a part of the room and not necessarily the expensive items "true acoustic treatments" which can be recommended. Our room treatments were less than $400 and provided much better sonics than anything that could be attached to our wall. YMMV.
listener57
730 posts
 
There is a way to use the unusual Machina Dynamica products to improve bass accuracy.
As I have to visit the Big Apple for a conference, if you would like to email me, then I can fill you in, and would be happy to let you use a few items to quickly hear if there is synergy with your own listening room.
These unobtrusive room treatments are often quite impressive. Even to the point of obviating need for subwoofer, with its own integration problems.
cytocycle
1,043 posts
 
Realtraps! They provide the most absorption to prevent flabby bass in the smallest space... Check my system out as I use 4 Mondo Traps, 4 MiniTrap HF (1st order reflection points), 4 Minitraps for corners..

If you are looking to intergrate subs (especially building) consider a Tact 2.2x with 2 DAC cards and an upgraded powersupply then you can even time align the corner loaded subs and change everything about the crossover in real time. Ultimate in integration.. not the last in audiophile but WOW! You have to spend way more to beat that combo!
audiokinesis
2,715 posts
 
I do not think the 5-sided box will work.

The bass wavelengths are simply too long to "see" the box and be contained by it. For instance, at 40 Hz the wavelenghs are 28 feet long. Those wavelengths simply will not be significantly affected by features less than about 7 feet across.

For information on bass traps, you might find this article useful:

http://www.audioholics.com/techtips/setup/acoustics/BassTraps.html

Aside from the bass-smoothing technique I described in another thread, there is another active technique that come to mind.: Use a monopole and a dipole subwoofer, and time-delay the signal to the dipole (by how much, I don't know). The combination of a monopole and time-delayed dipole produces a cardioid (heart-shaped) radiation pattern. The bass system used in the Martin Logan Prodigy and Odyssey was a passive cardioid-pattern type. Meyersound makes active cardioid-pattern prosound subwoofers.

Best of luck to you!

Duke
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