Gaara should be BANNED!!!

nspindel

Hahaha, just kidding

So now that I've got your attention....

I had the opportunity to meet James not once, but twice this weekend. What a super guy. I popped up a thread a few months back asking for advice on acoustic treatments for my listening room. James had 6 GIK traps that he wasn't using, so he gave me a sweet deal on them. I finally made it up into Red Sox Nation on Saturday night to pick them up from him. Man, this dude takes acoustic treatment seriously! GIKs everywhere! Very sweet setup.

I thought that was it for seeing James for the weekend, but boy was I wrong...

I woke up Sunday morning and had a PM from James pointing me to a headfi thread. Check this one out!!!!

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f44/fs-free-gik-acoustic-panels-347363/

Having been on head-fi for several years, I know the OP and knew that this was serious. The guy's a concert pianist and has an ear for audio like few I've ever encountered. Tyll from Headroom uses that guy to audition experimental headphone amps that they're working on...

So I was all over that offer. I'm only about 40 minutes outside of NYC, so I wasn't going to let those get away. By the time I answered his post, he only had the eight tri-traps left. EIGHT FREE GIK TRI-TRAPS!!! They sell for $130 each, do the math!

So on the way home from running to New Jersey to pick up those 1C's on Sunday, I ran through NYC and picked up the first four, then ran back into the city to grab the other four.

I only need four of them, but I knew James would want them. So James headed down here into Yankees Universe on Sunday night to pick them up. We got a chance to hang, listen to some music on the SDA's, and he gave me some great advice on how to position all my new acoustic treatments.

So this was definitely my lucky weekend. A pair of SDA 1C's, four GIK tri-traps, and 6 GIK 244's. Total cost.... $550. Oh, yeah, I got an iphone too :cool:

But the icing on the cake was I made a new friend this weekend. James, thanks for the deal on the 244's, and way to go spotting that thread!

By the way, in case you're wondering why this guy was giving away all these GIKs... He's English and had already moved back home. He was only in town for the weekend to clear out his apartment, and just didn't have the time to deal with trying to sell them. SCORE!!!!

SKsolutions

SCORE! It'd be cool to read your impressions after you install them.

nspindel

Well, let's put it this way.....

It's a 12' x 12' room, that now has 10 bass traps in it:cool: It hardly takes ideal placement to notice a huge impact. They make a very dramatic difference.

One thing I notice with James was that the SDA's used to be very sensitive to the height of your listening position. The change in the sound was dramatic if you moved from standing up to sitting down. No more. If I stand up and then crouch down in a catchers position, I notice no difference in the sound.

Overall, a major improvement. Much, much tighter bass, more focussed and precise. Better extension in the highs, and a slight improvement in sound stage. I'll never have awesome soundstage in a 12' x 12' room, but it was noticeable.

And I haven't even hung them up yet. The tri's are in the corners, but the 244's are just leaning against the walls.

I'm very impressed....

Serendipity

I don't get it - you met Gaara? Or are we talking about someone else?

nspindel

Heh. Gaara is James.

Serendipity

I thought Gaara's name was Jared.

nspindel

Nope. At least got the first two letters correct...

schwarcw

I thought it was Jared also.

Oh well, sorry James! Nice guy for sure!:)

Gaara

Clear up a few things, first Neil is awesome. I fell kinda bad actually, I sold him the traps and the next day he could get em for free...oh well c'est la vie.

As for the name, used to go by Jared...kinda long story. Actual name is James, I stopped going by Jared after college as I didn't feel like explaining it to co-workers, and didn't really talk with anyone that knew me as Jared anymore. Sorry for the confusion, always messes with people who I did business with me in the past, they don't know what to call me.

As for the traps, we both made out like bandits. Truth be told I didn't only PM Nspindel, sent it to Face to since I knew he was local. Just turned out that Neil is lightning fast, sorry Mike.

As for the weekend it was very constructive. Drive was a **** but it was worth it (construction on 91 on my way home, stop and go again took 20 mins to go 1 mile, ugh), Neil is a cool cat with a lovely wife. He was very accommodating and I got to checkout SDAs for the first time, very impressive. Neil has a very unique system, I love that he uses a headphone amp as a pre, very innovative.

nspindel

Oh, I didn't know you hit traffic on the way home, too!!! So what time did you get home?

I wish I could claim credit for coming up with the idea of using a headphone amp as a pre, but the LD is actually marketed as both.

Apologies appadv, now I know the rest of the story...

Gaara

A little before midnight. After the backup I got stuck behind a cop for ~10 miles, no one would go above the speed limit, and I didn't want to be that guy. Even going 5 over I would be zipping by some cars.

nspindel

Ugh.

You forgot to mention that you got nailed with some serious traffic on the drive down to me as well....

By the way, don't feel bad that freebies came up the next day. I'm completely psyched about the ones I bought from you. You gave me a helluva deal, don't think twice about it! I need them all, the tri-traps by themselves wouldn't have been enough.

Face

Thanks for the heads up anyway James.

Neil, you're lucky I didn't get up till late on Sunday.

nspindel

Face wrote: »

Thanks for the heads up anyway James.

Neil, you're lucky I didn't get up till late on Sunday.

Early bird gets the GIK! You're welcome to come by and check 'em out:p

SolidSqual

Oh man, I was about to come down on this thread with guns ablazin'!!!!! I thought the Gurus at CP finally decided to kick Gaara out because of all his muddling around with T amps and the like.

I got your back man.

nspindel

Gotcha...

reeltrouble1

very cool guys, meeting folks and making friends has always been what sets CP apart from just an internet forum.

RT1

nspindel

Free stuff ain't bad either!

demaples

Hey guys, I'm just getting interested in the bass trap thing and am considering building my own according the the plans in this link.
1. Is this a good design?
2. My room is 14x24. How many would be appropriate?
http://webpages.charter.net/jdgeisen/BassTraps/BassTrap1.htm

nspindel

To be honest, I'm really not qualified to answer that. That's probably why I purchased them. There are plenty of threads where people are discussing DIY traps though....

demaples

Thanks.

Gaara

demaples wrote: »

Hey guys, I'm just getting interested in the bass trap thing and am considering building my own according the the plans in this link.
1. Is this a good design?
2. My room is 14x24. How many would be appropriate?
http://webpages.charter.net/jdgeisen/BassTraps/BassTrap1.htm

1. Design is fine, there are tons out there. Designs like this are very similar to how GIK, ATS, Real, Ready, etc make their traps.

2. Not a clue, depends on more then room size. Depends on positioning of speakers, subs, listener, what is in the room, windows, openings, etc.

You could go the technical route and measure the rooms response in including decay times and then start making traps, or look around on AudioCircle or GearSlutz to find someone with a similar room size. I assume you have done your pre req. readings on how bass traps work.

demaples

Thanks James. I've done some research and will continue. As long as this design is functional I can build them easily and make them fit into my space and look decent too.