Bass Traps for SL3 - a good idea or squeeze the life out of my panels ?

I have a thin, perfectly rectangular room, no treatments, all smooth surfaces, suspended wooden floor - couldn't be worse right ?
It is 2.8m wide by 5.6m long - SL3's are about 0.5m into the room at narrow end.

Despite that my system sounds pretty good but bass has always been boomy no matter the speaker I use.
I think possibly from room modes rather anything else (my room length is double the width so ideal for standing waves) so I use a sub placed in another spot in the centre of the room which helps a lot.

Anyhow, I have the chance to get hold of some rectangular GIF bass traps and can sit them behind both of my SL3's.

My dilemma is, whilst I am confident it will help the bass, I worry that they will suck the life out of my wonderful panels due to the dipole nature of ML's or at the very least I will need to move them much further into the room.

Any thoughts on the ups and downs of this approach ?

Bass traps are most efficient when straddling corners. I would get them and experiment with positioning.

Rich said:

Bass traps are most efficient when straddling corners. I would get them and experiment with positioning.

Click to expand...

Thanks Rich
Corner is where they would go.
Any experience in them having a negative impact on overall sound / energy

Only reason I am hesitant in buying is they are pretty expensive - cost almost as much as my CJ pre-amp !

malcesine said:

Thanks Rich
Corner is where they would go.
Any experience in them having a negative impact on overall sound / energy

Only reason I am hesitant in buying is they are pretty expensive - cost almost as much as my CJ pre-amp !

Click to expand...

I tried bass traps in corners, behind speakers, and behind listener. I always found them to have a negative impact and got rid of them.

You have a very valid concern and I agree with bonzo.

There's a very fine line between under treating and over treating.

I'm currently use a total of 4 ACS panels. I've taken out 8 and they're sitting in the garage.

Do you have reflectivity - smearing issues (mid - high frequencies) with your current setup or is the issue isolated to the bass area only?

Can you buy with a money back option? Best option for you IMO.

GG

malcesine said:

Thanks Rich
Corner is where they would go.
Any experience in them having a negative impact on overall sound / energy

Click to expand...

Honestly, in your room I can't imagine they would have a negative impact on the sound. It's not like you don't already have enough reflective surfaces that a few bass traps in the corners would suddenly kill the sound. And you can get scatter plates built in if you are really worried about absorbing too much of the speaker rear wave. But I do understand they are expensive. Ultimately, you won't know until you experiment. And in my opinion, you won't get anywhere near the sound the Summits are capable of producing until you deal with your room modes. I have Ascents in an untreated basement similar to the room you describe but larger, and I have Summits in a highly-treated 14'x19' room with a ton of bass traps. There is a huge difference in the quality of the sound between the rooms. No comparison.

Here are some traps I built for my SL3s:

http://www.martinloganowners.com/fo...gn-to-Block-the-Back-Wave&p=142285#post142285

I use six bass traps in my room. Eight made the bass too loud and overpowering and single note. Just start with two in the front corners.

I have some advice, may sound crazy, however effective for me. Since inexpensive bass traps not available where I reside. I have placed CLS 4 feet from the back wall. In the corner, but not placed on the side wall but placed entirely on the back wall are one for each CLS single foam mattress. There is an improvement in the sound quality,not too much, however the low frequencies gained strength.

Another thing I tried a few days ago is to place each CLS on three pavement blocks. My friend Roberto’s advice. I tried it and it made a big difference. I know you have the SL3 and not the CLS, however may improve audio quality.

Both are inexpensive solutions for improvement in audio quality and a negative aspect may create optical pollution.

thanks for all the feedback - very helpful !
will ponder my options over the next few days

Merry Xmas !

I have SL3s in a room smaller than yours, but I found that the following works best for me. Skyline diffusers on the front wall (behind the SL3s), GIK absorbing panels at the first and second reflection points, GIK corner bass traps behind the listening seat, and a DSPeaker Dual Core 2.0 controlling both the SL3s and my REL T1 sub. I also turned down the 3dB volume control on the SL3 woofers (amazingly good move in my small room). And my SL3s, but NOT the sub, are on double thicknesses of inexpensive E.V.A. Anti vibration pads, which has significantly improved clarity and sound stage by comparison with the spikes that I had used previously.

Not cheap, but the result is exceptionally lifelike sound with no booming whatsoever, though it took me a year and a half of patient fine tuning to get there, including reducing the sub's gain to only 1/40th of its maximum excursion and experimenting with equalization parameters of the DSPeaker. I listen mainly to classical and acoustic jazz, so timbre and tonal balance, as well as a three-dimensional soundstage are important to me.

Of course, what worked for me may not be a solution for you. But I mention it in case it may suggest an avenue for exploration. If your bass is booming, as suggested by your post, I would seriously consider the DSPeaker Dual Core, or even the original DSPeaker single sub controller. These are essential units for bass management IMO, and yield results that are difficult to obtain through passive devices only.

Regards,

Guido F.