[klh]

I don't know which circle this is most appropriate for, but I'm wondering if Ethan Winer would explain his Soffit Trap and what makes it better than other traps at low frequency absorption. Since he doesn't have a circle and he'd be tauting his own professional product; as such,  it seems like this circle would be as good as any to put this post. BTW, they look great on his website! Ethan, in particular, please explain how they are different than making a soffit out of rigid fiberglass.

[zybar]

I asked this same question in the Acoustics Circle last week:

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=19467

George

[klh]

Thanks George... I completely missed it

[Ethan Winer]

Krister,

> please explain how they are different than making a soffit out of rigid fiberglass. <

I never measured a soffit made out of rigid fiberglass so I can't offer a direct comparison with hard data. I'm sure the outer skin of a SoffitTrap, which serves as a membrane, increases the absorption at very low frequencies compared to plain rigid fiberglass. The membrane we use in MiniTraps and MondoTraps certainly gives more absorption compared to plain rigid fiberglass.

The main appeal of any commercial acoustic treatment product is you don't have to make it yourself, and (in our case, anyway) you're assured it will work as advertised. We've already sold several sets of them and, as an example, one fellow told me bought them because he wanted to avoid the expense of hiring a carpenter to build soffits as his designer had instructed. So while SoffitTraps are not free , he figured the cost was less than custom construction.

--Ethan

[ctviggen]

If you want to go the "I'm going to build this myself" route, the Master Handbook of Acoustics lists data for triangular/corner bass traps formed of particle board as "outer skin", followed by an air gap, then followed by rigid mineral wool (you could use fiberglass).  I was thinking of doing this, but then there's the cost of figuring out how to do it, doing it in a way that looks good, and the time involved in doing it.  I think you'd need a table saw and probably more equipment, so if you don't have tools like this, that's an added cost.  A lot of people look at the price of the parts, not factoring in time to determine how to do something, mistakes along the way, the time to do it, the tools to do it, etc.  If I was going to redo/build a room from scratch, I'd probably do everything myself.  As it is, I want to make the minimum amount of modifications to the room I have, so getting something built is easier for me than buying the stuff to build it.