AVAA Active Base Trap

[Guest scumbag]

I have putting off posting this on Stereonet for a while but here goes. I posted a previous thread on the Bag End E-trap which is an electronic bass trap. I sold that and acquired an AVAA Active Bass Trap to try it out. 

 

There are plenty of reviews and graphs on this device but I thought I'd do my own, in my own listening space to compare it against the Bag End unit.

To recap on my previous post that I did on the Bag End, my listening room is a very bad at 3.9m X 4.0m X 2.9m high. Almost a cube! I have no passive room treatments in this space.

There have been some minor changes in things since my last round of measurements so direct comparisons are difficult. The magnitude of changes is still relevant i.e. how much do the peaks and dips get dealt with by the AVAA?

 

So straight into it, here is the room as it is currently with both speaker driven, no DSP or room treatments of any kind. Using REW, a Tascam US-1x2 with a isemcon reference microphone set at mylistening position facing directly towards the middle of the speakers. Blue is without the AVVA on, orange is with in ON, in the best position.

 

So to show the effects, 

 

To compare with the Bag End, roughly equal effects. Remembering that the Bag End requires the ability to measure and understand the room modes, then to tune the device manually and make a series of measurements which can take hours, even if you are familiar with the process.

 

 

Back to the AVAA, some other comparisons:

RT60 - again Blue is with AVAA off, orange with it on. Some good improvements up to 250hz (which is exactly the range of influence that the manufacturer states for the device):

 

Clarity is better with the AVAA on. No idea what these figures mean. I assume "clarity" is a unitless measurement?

 

Spectograms. In this case, I actually think the measurement with the AVAA off looks much the same. Perhaps others with more experience can comment:

AVAA off:

 

 

AVAA on:

 

 

 

Subjectively I much prefer what the AVAA is doing versus the Bag End. With the latter unit there was always a tiny hint of high frequency ringing that I could detect at certain times. It became clearly audible in a certain location in my room and very high volumes and I always felt that there was a slight hollowness to the sound that gave the music an odd effect.

The AVAA does have an obvious and positive effect. It only affects the critical bass range and I (and others who I've done tests with) can hear a definite cleaning up of the sound. You would be best to experiment with measurements to find the optimum location but you would most likely hit on the location using common sense and experience.

 

Is it worth the money? Well if you have a chunk of cash to spend and you have very strict aesthetic and/or space restrictions then this is worth considering. If you move around a lot then it might also be a great solution. It's being marketed towards pro audio people who might have to go to studio to do a mix and they need to clean up the bass in a poorly treated room.

The cost is pretty prohibitive and in a larger room, you are meant to use more than one unit. It won't be of any interest to the DIY crowd of course so there is still lots of life left in passive bass traps. But it's a valid alternative to some people.

 

I think though, given the horrendous nature of my listening space, I've demonstrated to myself that it's done a pretty good job in the circumstances. It's a discrete unit that looks a really cool subwoofer that hides in the corner. It goes a long way towards cleaning up the bass in my otherwise terrible room. It's a keeper for me.

 

 

Edited November 17, 2019 by scumbag

[frednork]

Thanks for the write up. Glad to hear it helps.  The room does look challenging!!! 

 

you could easily put another unit in with no chance of overkill!!

 

 

 

 

[tubularbells]

7db of improvement between 40 -60hz is a very significant gain which traditional traps would struggle to do in my experience. Where did you purchase it from if you dont mind me asking as I see them on ebay for $2500US with $50 shipping.

 

On a budget I reckon this would have a better overall improvement on sound than spending the same amount on any hifirelated gear.

[Guest scumbag]

I got mine as a b-stock unit from Thomann.de. The exchange rate has taken a bit of a beating since then. The unit was as new so I think it was maybe floor stock. Certainly couldn't see any imperfections on it. Interestingly I came across an Australian distributor the other day. Can't find a link off hand. Rrp is just shy off 4000 but you would get a warranty buying from an AU Dealer. 

Edited November 17, 2019 by scumbag

[Guest scumbag]

7 hours ago, frednork said:

Thanks for the write up. Glad to hear it helps.  The room does look challenging!!! 

 

you could easily put another unit in with no chance of overkill!!

 

 

 

 

Most of the reviews use multiple units. That would allow you a much higher degree of control and adjustment.

I should also note that I have been taking measurements of the right speaker only in all my testing. When you measure the stereo pair the results are much flatter but the are some obvious fluctuations in bass response during normal listening. So the graph looks better but the room is still doing its thing.

I did so some measurements quite a few years ago with some passive thoman tube bass taps in this same room under the same circumstances. They should be up here on stereonet. Both the avaa and the bag end were more effective than the passive units. In my setup the avaa sounds the best, to my ears. 

Edited November 17, 2019 by scumbag

[almikel]

significant impact on the FR - it's hard to see much on the spectrograms - what do the waterfalls show?

 

good write up - cheers

 

mike