Getting Started

7 Simple Rules for Broadband Acoustical Treatment

  1. Lay out your system and furniture as symmetrically as possible, ensuring that the left-hand half of the room is as close to a mirror image as possible to the right-hand side. Your system should be oriented so that the side of the room that allows for the most symmetry possible (room shape, speaker/acoustic treatment placement, furniture) falls in front of the listener.
  2. Try to place the listener at 40% of the room depth from the front wall. Example: If your room is 14’ (168”) deep, place your listening position 65” away from the front wall.
  3. Avoid placing the listener or the speakers at the following locations:
    • Against the wall
    • At 50% or 25% of the room depth away from the wall in front of the listener
  4. To smooth out low frequencies, install thick corner-mounted treatments. Add one pair of vertically stacked corner panels of 4” thickness in each of the four room corners. If vertical corners are not available, use any available horizontal corners (ceiling-wall or floor-wall). If you are unable to install eight 4” panels, use thicker 6” panels or NEST™ dual panel arrays in the corners you do have available.
  5. Use broadband absorbers for all acoustic panels so that they work on all frequencies (i.e. lows, mids, highs) evenly.
  6. Treat “early reflection points” with additional broadband absorbers of at least 4” thickness. A typical application will use eight reflection point panels – at least one pair of panels on the front wall, at least one panel each on the side and rear walls, and at least three panels on the ceiling. Keep all panels below ear level by using short 28”/70cm racks.
  7. Stop and sample the results. Add more treatments only if the room creates too many echoes. In this case, add broadband panels incrementally, two or three at a time, as symmetrically and evenly spread on walls and ceiling as possible.

Using Ready Acoustics Products to Meet the 7 Rules

Here are two examples of broadband panels – the Ready Traps™ 4” Broadband Bass Trap, and the 4” thick steel framed Chameleon™ Bass Trap.

The Ready Traps™ 4” Broadband Bass Trap and the Chameleon™ are acoustically equivalent. The difference lies in the frame – the Chameleon™ has a rigid steel exoskeleton while the Ready Traps™ 4” Broadband Bass Trap has an internal plastic frame.

Compared to the Ready Traps™ 4” Broadband Bass Trap, the steel-framed Chameleon™ is more versatile in how it mounts. It is particularly suited for ceiling mounting as its steel exoskeleton provides high rigidity and external hard points for hanger hardware like decorative chain or Quicklink fasteners. The Chameleon™ can be easily flush mounted on walls for a built-in look. Corner mounting a Chameleon™ is also simple with the use of a bungee cord(s) hooked to the holes in the back of the frame.

The Ready Traps™ 4” Broadband Bass Trap is priced lower than the Chameleon™ and mounts easily and attractively on walls and in corners. Hanging a Ready Traps™ 4” Broadband Bass Trap on the wall simply requires attaching a hanger to the wall and looping one of the straps over the hanger. The Ready Traps™ 4” Broadband Bass Trap can be easily corner mounted by installing screw hooks in the corners and connecting them to the strap on the back of the panel with a heavy duty (18”/75lb) cable tie

Floor-wall corner mounting requires no hardware – just lean the panel against the wall.

Where maximum low frequency performance is desired, consider using NEST™ dual panel arrays. These units consist of a 4” thick, 1’ wide nested panel and a 6” thick, 2’ wide face panel. NEST™ dual panel arrays sell in pairs and include all parts needed for assembly.

If you mount a NEST™ dual panel array in a floor-wall corner, no bracket is required. If you mount a NEST™ array in a ceiling-wall corner, you will need two RANCM brackets (included with purchase). If you purchase a pair or NEST™ arrays and plan to install both in ceiling-wall corners, you will need two additional brackets. Extra RANCM brackets can be purchased in pairs.