HiFi Acoustics Articles

Feature Articles

Click on the titles to read articles online.

Room Acoustics: Audio's Final Frontier
- by Robert Harley
- A roundtable discussion on room acoustics, equalization, and DSP-based room correction published in The Absolute Sound, October/November, 2004. Download PDF Version

ASC TubeTraps - Creating A Listening Studio
- by Ann Turner
- Published in The Absolute Sound Issue 112, 1998

Acoustic Sciences Corporation StudioTraps
- by Jonathan Scull
- Published in Stereophile, December 1998

The ABCs of ASC's Tube Traps
- by Jon T. Gale
- Published in Audiophilia Online Magazine, 1998

Room Tuning: ASC TubeTraps & the MATT Test
- by Brian Damkroger
- Published in Stereophile, February 2000

Optimizing ASC TubeTraps
- by J. Peter Moncrieff
- Published in IAR Hotline! Issue 56, 1989

ASC TubeTraps
- by Bryan Southard
- Published in Audiorevolution.com August, 2001. Download PDF

Your Room: The Final Link
- by J. Peter Moncrieff
- Published in IAR Hotline! Issue 39, 1985

From the President's Desk

Articles by Arthur M. Noxon PE. Click on the titles to read.

Home Theater Acoustics
-a five-part article in Home Theater magazine, October 1993 - February 1994, still relevant today.

Volume 1:
Recreate the Theater Experience for Home

Volume 2:
Room Modes & Standing Waves

Volume 3:
Subwoofer Placement

Volume 4:
Ambience Speakers I

Volume 5:
Ambience Speakers II

The Chain Is As Strong As Its Weakest Link
-An article written for the first Hong Kong Hi-Fi Show, 1993. Even the highest quality gear won't sound good if the room acoustics are ignored.

The Wall in the Desert
-from a lecture given at the Hi-End Audio Show in Milano, Italy, 1993. Reflection control is key to a good sounding listening room.

AES Articles by Arthur Noxon

The first two articles written by Mr. Noxon are about room acoustics and corner bass traps. The first paper introduces the TubeTrap, shows how it is designed and how it is used in rooms. The second paper takes a look at how room modes are managed by corner bass traps.

Listening Room - Corner Loaded Bass Trap
-presented at the 79th AES Convention, October 1985. PDF Version

Room Acoustics and Low Frequency Damping
-presented at the 81st AES Convention, November 1986. PDF Version

These next two papers were written in response to the difficulty in accounting for the satisfaction from TubeTrap use when doing traditional, steady state room mode analysis, pink noise and tone sweep evaluation of room acoustics. Articulation accounted for the dynamic aspects of room acoustics. The first paper covers the details of MTF testing and the second paper looks at MTF as a global concept in performance spaces. This led to what is now known as the MATT Test.

Articulation and the Small Room
-presented at the 85th AES Convention, November 1988. PDF Version

Articulation-Prerequsite to Performance
-presented at the XXth AES Convention in NY, Nov 19XX. PDF Version

This last AES paper by Mr. Noxon addresses the hot field of acoustic diffusion. It introduces the concept of coherent and incoherent diffusion, how to measure it and what each type is good and not good for.

Coherent and Incoherent Diffusion
- A discussion of various forms of diffusion and their effects on the listener.

Product Reviews

2007 TubeTrap Review
as reviewed by John Acton for Positive Feedback Online.

Room Acoustics - The Final Frontier
Part 2
by Roger S. Gordon for Positive Feedback Online. Mr. Gordon recounts his experiences in setting up TubeTraps for increased imaging and a wider, deeper, more clearly delineated soundstage.

Check out Peter Moncrieff's IAR Reference Rooms

Audio Revolution's TubeTrap Review (PDF)

Customer TubeTrap Review

Customer StudioTrap Review

SubTrap review in Secrets of Home Theater & High Fidelity
By Ed Mullen.

Raise It to Get Down
SubTrap Review in Home Theater Magazine.

Treat Yourself
-By Brent Butterworth, CFG Labs, Home Theater, February 1998

California Brisson and the Soundroom of Doom
-By Wes Philips, Stereophile Magazine, May 1997. A HiFi review of the ASC StudioTrap

Equipment Reports: ASC Tube Traps
-By J. Gordon Holt, Stereophile Magazine, April 1986

Review Excerpts

from various magazines. Full article reprints are available upon request. To read the full article online in PDF format ( Adobe® Acrobat® Reader. required), click on the Read Article link.

" Pace, timing slam and quick-as-life transients were there for the hearing, delivered with a particular ease, as if the [speakers] were no longer fighting the room as before. "
Jonathan Scull,
Stereophile Magazine, December 1998

Read Article (in PDF, 60k)

" The sound was reasonably controlled, but very lively and airy, with the broadest soundstage and the best treble detail we heard in this test. "
Brent Butterworth,
Home Theater, February 1998

Read Article (in PDF, 54k)

" I'm convinced that ASC TubeTraps, BassTraps, and StudioTraps are powerful tools that will free a speaker from fighting the room, and I intend to make them a permanent part of my reference system. "
Wes Philips,
Stereophile Magazine, May 1997

Read Article (in PDF, 20k)

" There are few "accessories" I can think of that I would consider to be absolutely necessary for good audio system performance, but the ASC TubeTrap is one of them. "
J. Gordon Holt,
Stereophile Magazine, April 1986

Read Article (in PDF, 30k)

" Broad bandwidth and infinite variability make TubeTrap a powerful tool for tuning the most important link in the audio chain, your listening environment."
-Neil Patel,
Avalon Acoustics-

" We have been using ASC TubeTraps for many years. We use nothing else in our sound room in Montreal, as well as in my personal sound room at home. I have never heard a better sound than with the ASC TubeTraps."
-Mike Viglas,
Classe' Audio

" The knowledge and insight provided by ASC in the design of our lab allowed us to build an uncompromising environment. The use of the TubeTraps allowed us to create the ultimate performance room. "
-Gayle Sanders,
Martin-Logan

" TubeTraps are the only properly engineered acoustic product in the marketplace. ASC flat works. "
-Bruce Brisson,
MIT

" ASC TubeTraps are absolutely essential components in our research and development labs and listening rooms. They have solved our acoustical problems in a most effective and elegant way. ASC TubeTraps have contributed enormously to successful product development at Sony. "
-Daniel P. Anagnos,
Sony

" Spectral has supported ASC since the beginning and we were the first to require our reference dealers to use ASC treatment. "
-Richard Fryer,
Spectral Audio-

" Wilson Audio has used and recommended ASC TubeTraps for the past 15 years. We have found them to be very effective in reducing unwanted low frequency room colorations. "
-Troy Kosovich,
Wilson Audio-