Knowledge / Acoustic treatment
Does this replace bass traps?
Not thin ones, and that distinction is the whole answer. Low frequencies need dedicated, corner-loaded resonance control. A standard wall panel hung on a flat wall is not that, whatever its thickness, and a thin panel sold as a bass trap is the most common wasted purchase in room acoustics.
Not thin ones, and that distinction is the whole answer. Low frequencies need dedicated, corner-loaded resonance control. A standard wall panel hung on a flat wall is not that, whatever its thickness, and a thin panel sold as a bass trap is the most common wasted purchase in room acoustics.
What this panel replaces is the deep corner trap that eats the room. It is 43 mm, it goes in the corner, and it was measured in that corner rather than in the configuration a standard makes convenient. What it does not replace is the structure. If a room's bass problem is a rigid wall build, no surface device at any depth is the answer: a surface trap working at 30 Hz is a fallacy, because at 30 Hz the wavelength is over eleven metres and a panel flat on a boundary sits where the pressure is high and the air movement is low. That is the wrong place for a device that works on air movement.
The order that follows from that, and it is an order of spend
Get the wall build right first. Then subwoofers and their processing. Then, and only then, resonance panels. Two of those three are construction rather than product, and they come first. The most useful thing this page can tell you is which of the three your room actually needs, and it is often not the third.
Why the honest version is better for you
A deep corner trap costs floor area you cannot get back, and in a room where the corner volume is already spoken for by seating, screen wall or services, it is not available at any price. A 43 mm panel that was measured in the corner is a different proposition from a 300 mm one that was measured flat.
What to read next
The measured data, and how to read it. Or, if you are specifying a room, the design service.