| THE
REALTRAPS PLANTER BASS TRAP When appearance concerns
and "spouse acceptance" prevent a full complement of room treatments, RealTraps Planter bass traps ($199.99) are a
terrific alternative. These attractive bass traps work surprisingly well given their
diminutive size and stealth appearance.
RealTraps
Planter bass traps are broadband bass absorbers, but they're only 22 inches high by 21
inches in diameter, 13 pounds, and disguised to look like a planter. [Metric 56 by
53 cm, 6 kg] Placed in at least two corners of a typical size room they make a
modest but very real improvement in the response and tightness at low frequencies. The
photo at right shows the size in context with an 8-foot ceiling.
RealTraps Planter bass
traps optionally include a base layer of Spanish moss plus your choice of artificial
foliage on top ($20 additional). You can also use your own plants - real or artificial -
to achieve nearly any look. Or sprinkle a layer of pine cones and potpourri on top instead
of a plant. The available styles shown at left from top to bottom are Ferns, Ivy, and
Fuschia. But these clever bass traps are not just pretty - they also work.
The graphs below show the low frequency response (Figure 1) and
ringing (Figure 2) after adding four Planter bass traps to a 16 by 11 by 8 foot room (one
in each corner). As shown in Figure 1, peaks were reduced up to 2 dB, and nulls were
raised as much as 7 dB, reducing the overall span by 9 dB. This is impressive for four
very small bass traps! Especially considering that nulls were improved as low as 82 Hz.
The waterfall plots in Figure 2 were derived from the same data in
Figure 1 to show the reduction in low frequency ringing. As you can see, even the lowest
peak at 38 Hz was improved. Ringing is just as damaging to bass clarity as peaks and
nulls, and is responsible for the problem commonly known as "one-note bass." In
this type of graph, the "mountains" come forward over time. Note that as bass
traps are added to the room the peaks are reduced, and are also made wider (lower Q), and
the forward slopes pass through the floor sooner. |
