Hypothetical Question About Acoustics

[hookiefree]

Say if one foam corner bass trap absorbs 1/2 as much of frequency X than one sheet of 703, would two foam traps absorb the same amount as the one sheet of 703? Or is that just stupid?

[Innovations]

Originally Posted by hookiefree

Say if one foam corner bass trap absorbs 1/2 as much of frequency X than one sheet of 703, would two foam traps absorb the same amount as the one sheet of 703? Or is that just stupid?

Not stupid, but not exactly right. The absorbtion coefficients are the fraction of the sound absorbed that hits the panel. So a typical foam corner bass trap covers one foot on each wall for a length of two feet. So it intercepts the sound that would have hit about four square feet of wall (2.8sf if measured across the diagonal). If you are using 703 then you are most likely using full 2 foot by 4 foot panels...or eight square feet of wall space. So in your example not only is the 703 absorbing twice the frequency X that strikes each square inch but it has more square inches being covered.

But unlike isolation, where you can hardly have enough, absorbtion it a matter where you want your room to be dead enough to sound the way you want but not too dead. This is a mistake that a lot of beginners make. ABSORBTION (keeping the sound from bouncing around badly inside the room) is different than ISOLATION (keeping the sound from escaping to the rest of the world or keeping outside noises like aircraft from getting in). Neither foams nor wall-hung 703 is going to help with isolation.