New Toys: GIK Acoustics Turbo Traps

Turbo Traps are cylindrical-shaped bass traps that take up little floor space, even though they are very efficient at absorbing frequencies starting at 60Hz. Since they are standalone devices, they can be placed as needed around your studio to take care of bass buildups and acoustically rebalance the sound specific to that location. A popular use is to place a number of Turbo Traps around a vocalist or a drum kit in a very live room to obtain good control over the high frequency reflections and easily tighten up the bass at the same time.

In my control room I have a pair of GIK Acoustics Turbo Traps set up directly behind my sitting/listening position to take care of the reflections coming from the rear wall. I'm using 2, 17-inch in diameter and 38.25-inches tall GIK Acoustics Turbo Traps positioned in the exact middle of the width dimension in the back of my control room. They look nice and do not seem to be in the way at all.

I love that, because they are round and free standing, you can experiment with their placement—even stack them in the corners of your room. This is unlike acoustic absorption panels that must be hung on the wall or ceiling. Turbo Traps also work great and are sturdy enough to be used as speaker stands and take care of speaker boundary interference response (SBIR). At 38.25-inches off the floor, your monitor loudspeakers (in affect) become flush to the front wall and are at a good height listening to them while sitting at the mix position.

Turbo Traps have more than twice the low frequency absorption of any foam-based product and start at $272 each and come in all GIK's 15 standard colors as well as nine Guilford of Maine fabric colors. There are also four different wood options for the top and bottom caps.

gikacoustics.com/turbo-trap