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From the notebook of ASC Founder and TubeTrap inventor Art Noxon, Acoustical PE, comes this week’s acoustic tidbit. The focus is manipulating reflections to create an enhanced sense of spaciousness in any room. Enjoy!

Spacious Sound Room

By Art Noxon

There is an area along the back wall, just in from the corner. It is about half way between the speaker and the side wall. The reflection from this area causes a “wall wash.”

TubeTraps are placed along the sidewall so they intercept the wall wash reflection. The treble diffuser panel is rotated so only the wall wash is reflected to listener.

The listener hears the direct signal at 10′, then hears the reflection from the curved cylindrical diffuser (#2 TubeTrap). The path difference is 10 – (16 +6 + 8) = 10 – 30 = -20 feet delayed, or about 20 milliseconds. We want this reflection to be about 20 dB below the direct signal so that it is a spacious signal.

The diffuser panel is set toward the back wall. In this position, the TubeTrap absorbs the early reflection from the right speaker and crosstalk reflections from the left speaker.

Early side wall reflections are absorbed and replaced by late sidewall reflections all by the same set of sidewall TubeTraps. This technique creates quiet, very time delayed side wall reflections: the acoustic signature of a wide, spacious room.

Try using your existing TubeTraps to sonically enlarge your space. Experimentation is half the fun of having the world’s most flexible acoustic control devices at your disposal.

~Team TubeTrap