TubeTrap (Original)

TubeTraps, the original, archetypal bass trap, dating back to 1984, are set up in the corners of the room where they act like sonic shock absorbers. TubeTraps eliminate excessive build-up of bass energy in the room while their built-in diffusers minimize flutter echo by horizontally scattering mid-high frequency sounds to provide fine grained lateral ambience.

The TubeTrap was developed using acoustical engineering principles and voiced by the consensus of “golden ear” audiophiles and engineers.  It was the first full bandwidth sound absorber/diffuser (abfuser) and has become synonymous with quality listening and performing spaces.  TubeTraps quickly became the worldwide defining icon of high performance audio room acoustics, and remain so to this day.

TubeTraps are used to make music from the beginning to the end of the audio chain.  In the recording studio, TubeTraps are used to control the acoustics that surround the talent and mic during the creation of audio tracks.  Next in the process, TubeTraps work to create crystal clear mixing environments.  After that, TubeTraps are used to create the perfectly translatable acoustic environment needed for song and album mastering.

Finally, TubeTraps are used to create reference listening rooms for the manufacturers of audio equipment, great demo rooms for the equipment dealers and fantastic playback rooms for the audiophile listener…amazing rooms which help audio gear turn great recordings into great sounding music. TubeTraps are involved with music from creation to consumption.

TubeTraps are very busy at work, from the making of music to the playback of music…or as we like to say…..from music to music.

Room Acoustics & TubeTrap Bass Traps

The loudspeakers and subwoofers in today’s high performance audio playback settings produce tremendous amounts of bass energy.  Professional recording studios have long used speakers powerful in the bass range, and traditionally have used built-in bass traps to balance the sound in the room and prevent unwanted buildup.  On the other hand, rooms constructed for residential or retail demonstration use have no accommodation to handle the build-up of excess bass energy. And so the uncontrolled sound pressure builds up inside the room, which not only is unpleasant for the listener, but it additionally shakes the walls, floor and ceiling, windows and doors of the room.

These shaking surfaces act like giant uncontrolled loudspeakers that bother the neighbors and additionally ruin the quality of sound in the room. High power audio playback at home or in commercial spaces is no different than what goes on in recording studios. Bass trapping, combined with treble range absorption/ diffusion, is needed for quality sound to be heard, regardless of how expensive the speakers and amps may be. The TubeTrap is a self-contained, broadband bass trap, utilizing a reactive acoustical circuit that is energized by and works off of the presence of sound pressure.  It performs best when placed at locations in the room where the sound pressure is the highest, which are typically in the corners and against the walls of the room.

Because the TubeTrap only reacts to sound pressure it is sometimes referred to as a pressure-zone bass trap. Although the TubeTrap is a broadband sound trap, it can be modified by adding additional acoustic circuitry to give it an enhanced narrow band range of sound absorption in addition to its broadband bass trap properties. However, this is not to be confused with a “tuned bass trap” which is exclusively a narrow band bass trap and has no broad band properties.

For the most part, the “tuning” of the TubeTrap is actually not done with internal circuitry, but done by the room itself.  When a room resonance is stimulated, the sound pressure is always the highest in the corners of the room and in select locations along the walls.  Placing TubeTraps in the corners and at certain wall locations puts them in the high pressure zones of the room modes. The higher the pressure, the more efficiently the TubeTrap absorbs energy.  For tones that are not room modes, the energy in the room is diffuse and sound pressure is more uniformly distributed.   Properly placed TubeTraps ensure that loud, long lingering modes will be more highly damped than the more quickly decaying diffuse sounds in the room.  This gives any room in which TubeTraps are used a much more tonally balanced reverberant field.

Unlike any other bass trap, the physics behind the TubeTrap are based on a capacitive-resistive circuit. The acoustic capacitor (C) is the air chamber inside. The bigger it is, the more efficient the TubeTrap is at low frequencies. The acoustic resistance (R) is DC impedance matched to the radiation (LC) impedance of a freely radiating soundwave. Because of this design feature, the TubeTrap is more than 100% efficient.

Another unique feature is the adjustable diffusion grid built into the TubeTrap. The specular diffusion panel that covers half of the TubeTrap is an acoustic choke (L) which is sized, ported and mass loaded to backscatter the treble range.

TubeTraps (all variations)

Diameter

• All of our TubeTrap products are also ~3/8″ oversize in diameter.

Standard Height

• Standard TubeTraps products are built taller than the nominal listed height by 1/2″ to 3/4″
• Maximum available single height for any full-round product is 48 1/2″
• Custom Sizes under 4′ available

Custom Heights

These are built within 1/8″ tolerance.

• A 13 x 3ft TubeTrap will have a diameter of 13 3/8″ and a length of approximately 36 5/8″
• A 16 x 46″ Custom made TubeTrap, which will have a diameter of 16 3/8″ and a length of 46″ +/- 1/8″

This includes but is not limited to:

• TubeTraps
• IsoThermal TubeTraps
• Quarter Rounds
• Half Rounds
• TowerTraps (all variants)