RealTraps raved by Stereophile

[Rob Babcock]

Congrats to Ethan on a very positive review of his ReatTraps on the Stereophile website! Looks like impressive measured performance. I'm anxious to try themself when I can afford it.

 

[Ethan Winer]

Rob,

> Congrats to Ethan on a very positive review of his RealTraps on the Stereophile website! <

Thanks very much!

--Ethan

 

[WoodieB]

Realtraps in my house

Here are a couple of photos of my setup with my Realtraps in place. The flash makes it look kind of harsh, but the overall effect is very pleasing, very theater-like. As far as sound goes, there is a big improvement. As I mentioned in a previous post, the room has a nice, quiet audio environment now. Conversation is very pleasing, music and movies are great. I did a big upgrade and now have Axiom M22ti fronts, VP150 center, and the SVS PC Ultra subwoofer that you can see by the pellet stove. Surrounds are still PSB in-walls mounted in the ceiling, but one of these days I'm getting the Axiom surrounds as well. Axiom, SVS and Realtraps are about the best audio companies I have dealt with. Ethan at Realtraps responded to my e-mails within hours every time. Couldn't be happer with all three companies.

This room is a nightmare acoustically, being 17x17 it has a huge peak at 33hz, and a big suckout at about 47 hz, (not sure why of the latter) The Realtraps helped a lot, especially above the 47hz null. Everything above that is pretty much + or - 4 db. I would post some graphs, but I've had consistency problems with my measurements, some were with different speakers, and I have been trying to corrrect the raw RS SPL reading with a chart from the owners manual of my subwoofer. I think I'll get the Rives Audio cd with corrected tones to make my life easier, although I'm tired and bored with listening to test tones and now am just enjoying my setup.

______________________
Denon 2805 av receiver
Pioneer 578A multiplayer
Sony KDF55-WF655 RPTV
Sony 300 cd changer
Axiom M22ti fronts
Axiom VP150 center
PSB in-wall surrounds
SVS PC Ultra subwoofer
XBox with hi def connections
RealTraps room treatment

 

[Rob Babcock]

Is that wood stove just for decoration, Woodie? It seems like your sub is perilously close to it, and they get pretty darned hot! Very nice looking setup, though. I really like the appearance of the Traps.

 

[WoodieB]

Hi Rob,

It's a pellet stove, and all of the heat is directed out of the front. Since it has a pellet resevoir in the back, even when it's putting out pretty much max heat, you can lay your hand on the side back where the subwoofer is and it's just barely warm to the touch. The sub doesn't get any heat at all, fortunately. I have had the stove for a long time so I wasn't worried about putting the sub there. My sub placement options are pretty limited, but I wouldn't risk putting it there if it would get hot. When I replace the stove with a gas unit I'll have to make sure that doesn't change.

I like the look of the traps as well. I was worried that they would look industrial or clunky, but it gives the room a nice cozy theater feel. Now I need to get some movie posters, props, etc to kind of complete the look.

Cheers,

WoodieB