What is the diff between distributed subs and lots of bass traps???

[bentoronto]

Many wise comments above. Gawd, far too little attention to rooms.

One-note bass? Might be the subs as much as the room.

Looking at pictures at the forum, lots of rooms which gotta sound just awful due to lack of old-fashioned upholstery, rugs, and drapes. There is no way to reproduce music in an echo chamber. Control of speaker dispersion helps - as does Linkwitz' argument about dipoles - but what happens in the 300 ms (or 300 feet of bouncing around) after the direct sound gets to your ears?

Listen to music in your room through a mic and headphones. Think of what your brain has to do to clear up all that added sound-junk. Below is the decay in my music room which is a bit smaller than yours. The reverb is gone to asymptote just past 250 milliseconds.

For sure, you need to measure stuff. Easy: USB Dayton mic (or better, use a cheap Behringer mixer with mic power), and REW software, study.

I've recently become a true believer in DSP (Behringer DCX2496... can't go wrong once you know how to work it). But EQ really doesn't address room modes properly even if it does other stuff really great (time alignment, broad EQ, Xover, and quick as could be endless "what-if" testing).

in another thread, big learned debate about direct sounds, reverb, modes, what each contributes to perception, and how to measure them individually. No consensus yet but much in-depth thought.

Ben

 

[youknowyou]

Distributed subs actually works in a normal room which is more than you can say about bass traps.

For bass traps to work in the low bass they have to be unrealistically large. And if you have that then you are probably listening in an anechoic chamber which at least to me sounds horrible.

its true that you need, when treating your room, to ensure to not make your space overly dead. This is a very serious concern and many will overly treat the room without adressing the deep bass so they end up with very short decay times in mid and highs and longer decay times at LF which make the sound very incomfortable.

theres many ways to add bass traps and still not make a space ''dead''. I personally front my bass traps with FRK. theres many other method that is very simple.

OP, you are on the right track. you need to add bass traps,. every normal sized rooms will have very serious problems in the LF that can only be adressed with absorption.
Theres two types of bass traps: pressure based and velocity based. https://www.gearslutz.com/board/bas...locity-based-vs-pressure-based-absorbers.html
Im not sure why the believe in adding subwoofer will help with resonance but its simply false even if its smooth FR: https://www.gearslutz.com/board/7887830-post32.html

Most audiophile are total noobs concerning rooms related problems. Professional will all tell you the same thing: treat your room.

go to gearslutz and start reading. I also highly recommend to absorb not only bass but also ensure to create a free reflective zone at the listening position.
good luck!
https://www.gearslutz.com/board/studio-building-acoustics/?daysprune=-1&order=desc&sort=replycount
https://www.gearslutz.com/board/bas...-etc/?daysprune=-1&order=desc&sort=replycount

 

[youknowyou]

this should help you to understand the basic
RealTraps - Acoustic Basics
RealTraps - Creating a Reflection-Free Zone
Educational Videos - Acoustic Panels | Bass Traps | Diffusors | GIK Acoustics
Articles - Acoustic Panels | Bass Traps | Diffusors | GIK Acoustics


if I were to start again, the only thing I wouldnt do the same is instead of having built velocity bassed bass traps, I would have opted for pressure based bass traps.
if you do go with velocity based bass traps, you absolutely need to front them with a membrane to return mid and highs to your room: this ensure to create a not overly dead room.
I highly recommend treating your room. It really transformed my system. I used to really never be otally satisfied with LF accuracy. treatments changed everything for me!

here's some must read:
https://www.gearslutz.com/board/studio-building-acoustics/584207-sbir.html
https://www.gearslutz.com/board/6523860-post15.html
https://www.gearslutz.com/board/stu...ng-sense-modes-standing-waves-bass-traps.html
https://www.gearslutz.com/board/5763532-post17.html
https://www.gearslutz.com/board/studio-building-acoustics/471553-floor-reflection-what-do.html
https://www.gearslutz.com/board/stu...07-above-schroeder-frequency-diffraction.html