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TubeTrap

Corner Loaded Bass Trap Voiced with a Treble Range Diffusor Panel for Top Shelf Acoustic Conditioning

The TubeTrap is a corner loaded bass trap and voiced with a treble range diffusor panel and is included on Stereophile's 500 Recommended Components List for 2007. The TubeTrap is known as a ‘pressure zone bass trap’ and is perfect for the studio environment due to its unique acoustic properties. Ideal for mixing rooms, control rooms, live rooms and foley rooms. Acoustic energy is rearranged when sound waves impact a wall or corner. This transformes kinetic energy into potential energy (sound pressure) resulting in loud bass against the walls and corners. TubeTraps convert high pressure fluctuations into air movement within the dense walls of the Trap. Sound energy is damped out of the wave through regulated friction in the walls of the TubeTrap. In other words, the TubeTraps soak up low-to-high bass standing-wave resonances like sponges. The TubeTrap is a basic acoustic component in high performance sound systems. Available in a wide range of sizes, shapes and colors. Extreme placement flexibility encourages experimenting in acoustics and has resulted in many unique innovations. The TubeTrap is patented, lab tested and proudly made in the USA. Fractional TubeTraps are also available. Additional applications include Attack Wall and Quick Sound Field.

Color Options

Stock Colors (actual colors may vary)
538 Silver Papier	408 Black	380 Quartz	238 Grey Mix	298 Medium Grey
Special In-Stock Colors and Special Order Colors are also available.

TubeTrap Specifications

Basic Construction

Standard 4 ft. TubeTrap Diameter Options 9, 11, 13, 16 and 20 in. Trap Height 4 ft. (actual (47 1/2 in.) Weight in Lbs. 18, 18, 26, 32 and 38 Full Bandwidth Absorption (Rolloff Frequency)   9 in. (110Hz) 11 in. (90Hz) 13 in. (70Hz) 16 in. (55Hz) 9 in. (110Hz) 20 in. (30Hz) Adjustable Mid-Range Diffusion (Crossover Frequency) Above 400 Hz Stackable Yes Fire Rating Class 1 fire rated ASTM E-84 Colors Guilford 701 Warranty 1 year parts and labor Fully Adjustable Reflectivity

Full Round Absorption Coefficients	Corner Loaded Bass Trap
Response Curves

TubeTrap Placement & Setup

The tri-corner of a room transforms and compresses all of the acoustic energy in a sound wave into pure pressure fluctuations. TubeTraps are designed to take full advantage of the acoustic pressure zones created in the corners of a room. The patented design of the TubeTrap converts these pressure changes into air movement, and, through the regulated friction in the walls of the TubeTrap, energy is damped out of the sound wave. Simply put, placing TubeTraps in your tri-corners will maximize the benefits of bass trapping due to the accumulation of acoustic pressure in these zones. Bass trapping the corners behind the main speakers will stabilize reverb buildup in the front of the room and add shock control for attack transients. This will remove room boom and clarify tonality and soundstage.

Place TubeTraps in the front corners (behind the speakers) of the room. First, orient the reflector to point towards the listening position to maintain room ambience. Rotate the TubeTraps to find the prefered personal listening arrangement.

Add two additional TubeTraps to the back corners to smooth out peaks and valleys of major room modes. Orient reflectors toward the listener.

Add additional side wall TubeTraps halfway between speakers and the listening position to block early side wall reflections and enhance imaging. Orient the reflectors toward the back.

Boundary Reflections

When a woofer is located near a wall, its freefield frequency response becomes distorted. The nearby reflection drives a pressure wave back over the speaker cone. Walls, floor and corner reflections produce 5 to 20ms delay signals that mix with the direct signal at the driver to induce comb filtering effects into the bass range of the speaker and as well, side lobe beaming patterns. A TubeTrap located at each of these reflection points will reduce the strength of the reflection. This reduces the comb filtering and side-lobing effects in the bass range. But not all wall reflections are bad. Speakers located near walls deliver better deep bass. Our boundary conditioning Traps are bandwidth limited to allow them to defeat comb filtering and beaming effects but not at the expense of wall loading in the deep bass range. Diffusive strips in the Traps are oriented behind the speakers to better develop the ambience.

Bass Loading

TubeTraps can also be used in the open, close coupled to speakers in order to improve their performance. By stacking Tube Traps to expand the effective size of the speaker baffle board, the effect of increased bass directivity and efficiency is achieved. This works with sealed, front ported or dipole speakers, flown or stage mains, hi-fi, studio monitors, portable PA and nightclub systems. In addition, the TubeTraps can be stacked in a forward stepped array that casts an acoustic shadow to the side of the speakers. Note that the Traps nearest the monitor should be set slightly behind the front face. The diffusive strips of the Tube Traps are oriented away from the front of the speaker for color-free horn loading. This shadowing technique protects on-stage mics from feedback, small room listening from side wall reflections and halls from excessive reverberation.