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Acoustic Treatments Discover how to enhance your home theater's sound quality with acoustic panels. From "Home Theater" episode DHTW-104

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Bass Trap

Another acoustic treatment you should consider for your home theater is a "bass trap" (figure E). The high frequencies were tamed with the acoustic-absorption panels, and now the lower frequencies produced by subwoofers, which will eventually be placed in a cabinet beneath the big screen (figure F), can be tamed with the bass traps.

It's best to place the bass traps in the corners of the room because this is where bass tends to build up. Since bass traps are objects of mass, they can be decorative columns or specially engineered pillars designed to handle low frequencies.

Figure E

Figure F

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It's easy and inexpensive to build your own bass trap --

• Take a concrete form and tape off the bottom of one end, fill the form with sand and then tape off the other end. It's that simple. You can place the bass traps next to the front left and right speakers (figure G), then eventually hide them behind a fabric panel (figure H).

Figure G

Figure H

Figure I

There's one more area that needs to be treated for acoustics in Peter's home theater and that's along the back wall, which also has reflection points.

Bookshelves (figure I) were built in this area to house CDs, DVDs and LPs. The uneven surface of the bookshelves will help diffuse the sound.

Q: How is this different from what was done on the front and side walls?

A: On the side walls there was a primary reflection point where absorption-acoustic panels are being utilized. There's also a primary reflection point on the back wall, but you don't want to absorb it because it would deaden the sound in the room "too" much. By doing the diffusion, it will scatter the sound, killing the primary reflection and keeping a good balance of sound "inside" the room.

In the next segment find out how to connect the core of your home theater as Corey and Mark show you how to hook up the electronics.

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RESOURCES :

Don Fillers & Assoc.
Website: www.dfasolutions.com

McDougall Bros. Construction, Inc.
Website: www.mcdougallbros.com

Middle Atlantic Products, Inc.
Website: www.middleatlantic.com

Terratex Fabrics
Website: www.terratex.com

Absolute Sound, Inc.
Website: www.absolutesound.com

GUESTS :

Mark Midyett
Engineer/Designer
Don Fillers & Assoc.
1003 North Broadway St.
Knoxville, TN 37917
Phone: 865-523-4470
Website: www.dfasolutions.com

Ted Hollander
Home Theater Designer
Phone: 407-629-0230
Website: www.absolutesound.com