Understanding ASC Tube Traps - March 2025

I received another question from a patron on our YouTube channel regarding one of several videos about using ASC Tube Traps. I thought I'd share the inquiry and a follow-up discussion:

"I'm sorry Lou but, I can be rather "basic" in my understanding about some aspects of audio reproduction. What do they do, for whom - what condition might they be needed? I'm assuming booming resonance in corners? If/when I ever get that, it's only when playing vinyl at high, high volumes (which I rarely use). I won't get any of that with my CD player."

The Standard ASC Tube Traps

Let me address your basic understanding from a different angle. The human ear locks in on the loudest (highest amplitude) sound for both location and understanding. When there are two sources (or more) of a sound, understanding may be difficult and it's location undetectable. Thus, when you are trying to talk across a gymnasium, for example, it is difficult to both understand and to know where the sound is coming from. As you walk closer to each other, there will become a moment when both "lock" in. That is because the direct sound (speech) is louder than the first reflections.

In both stereo and home theater, there is a steering logic. In stereo, it is provided by the difference in the arrival time of the sound recorded. In home theater, this is also true but there is also intentional delays to create the effects of things moving sonically. Where devices like ASC tube traps and others come into play is dealing with these reflections or imbalances in frequencies affecting both the clarity and location of the sound. The most common ones addressed are known as first reflections.

Think of sound coming out of the speaker and bouncing off the side wall like a billiard ball hitting the first rail. Thus, some form of control is used at that point to reduce (absorb) the amplitude of that signal. It is easy to find these points by sitting in your listening position and having someone move a mirror down the side walls until you can see the face of the speaker reflected in the mirror. That's a first reflection point. What many people forget, by the way, is that the same thing happens off of ceilings and floors.

Where devices like the ASC Traps come into play, which by the way was first created by Bell Laboratories, is providing a variable adjustment to the absorption or reflective needs. This is done by a tube with a slot in it and depending upon the specific frequency range targeted, the trap diameter changes. Smaller diameters address higher frequencies than say large diameter ones. Conversely, the larger the diameter, the less effective they are at higher frequencies. This is because each frequency has a known length to form a complete wave. Flat panel devices, say office dividers, are very narrow in the range they work and there is no changing their effect. That's why such things are used in call centers so that you don't hear other voices.

Does their "effect" depend upon volume? Not really although volume may make it more obvious. But rooms full of reflections usually disrupt both the sense of stereo imagery and the steering of sound in home theaters. Many original THX certified speakers, for example, specifically controlled vertical dispersion to avoid reflections off the ceiling (principally) or the floor. In theaters, it is quite common to have some form of damping material on the side walls to avoid those first reflections for any location in the theater.

The biggest risk of such devices is a combination of over-damping a room and/or not addressing the right frequency where the problem exists. In a funny sort of way, that's why many equalizers in home usually looked like a smile. They knew they had a problem but did not know how to fix it and sometimes it is the room itself.  Going about it without understanding what is wrong is like constantly adding things to a soup where you end up with a large pot is distasteful goo. 

Hope this helps you see (hear) the picture a bit better.

-Lou

The Cost of LISTENING to Accountants - February 2025

We recently received a comment from our YouTube Channel from a patron about one of our former product offerings:

"Focal Naim really got into some kind of freefall in overall quality (not the product, the brand itself) over the last couple of years. It is like they do not realise that you need goods on stock, or at least available to begin with and even worse, once the product is in the customeres hands - the support is nonexisting nowadys. This is not a hyperbole, this is a reality in europe. Their service department does not even reply or can maintain a somewhat reasonable pace of doing so, if they choose to reply at all. This is not a one dealer problem, this is a brand problem and the worst part - outside of a very few other makes, they are not much worse than most other brands. It is sad to see and by no means limited to the very small island of "Hifiworld", but we are here for the hifi aspect."

An absolutely brilliant series of observations which go further into the reality of the situation that we chose to leave behind. These sort of problems were once the domain of circuit board replacement designs but now has started to reach into the component level designs.

We have experienced, more and more, where the dealer is put in the crosshairs of customer dissatisfaction when we have no control over service and support at all. For years, unseen by our customers, I spent a lot of time researching for companies that provided excellent support as part of the purchase price of the product.

We bore a fair amount of expense in making sure our customers product fulfilled the promise of years of enjoyment. But when audio companies started to be purchased by investor groups, they did not see the relationship between product support and brand value. Instead, the accountants only focused upon the manufacturing side of things and quickly got caught up in chasing production where more and more distribution was required to keep up with the production capabilities.

As this occurred with less care about how your product was sold, the service infrastructure was ignored. Even the American company McIntosh had to appoint independent service companies, sometimes one man operations, to take on the factory service overload, sometimes stretching out as far as a year. Even then, parts availability began to show further weakness in support.

And who took the verbal abuse from customers?

The very dealers who sold the customer the product. Management was sheltered from this grief which takes its toll on the humans of the selling dealer. This ultimately puts the dealer in the difficult position of having to choose between continued brand support with sales, which they had built up over many years or walking. We walked. This is not the first company we have had to leave but I hope it will be one of the last.

Only time will tell. But for the consumer, brand loyalty will likely go out the window the same way believing in a sports team has gone with its stars moving from team to team with the biggest check.

-Lou

Angel Flight East - December 2024 / January 2025

Sometimes in life there are special things that happen. 

I want to share with you the opportunity that you, family members, or others might need as well. I am making a special request and Audible Elegance will also contribute to them as well.  Angel Flight East is a 501C registered Non-Profit organization.  Donations to them are tax deductible.  We are willing give a portion of our net sales proceeds towards them in relation to the donations made directly by you to them.  That way, you get the proper tax documentation for your records.  Clearly, our ability to donate a portion of our sales relates directly to the amount of our sales in December and January.  In no way are we saying you have to make a purchase to donate to them.  Of course not.  They are a great organization that stands on its own and could use your support. You can make your donation by contacting through their website:  www.angelflighteast.org.  

A few months ago, Lisa Salberg of 4HCM.org ( wonderful person who helped Deb & I work through her first heart issues with Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy) brought to my attention a fine organization known as Angel Flight East.  

Angel Flight East has a clear mission statement:  To provide free air transportation to qualified patients and their families by arranging flights to distant medical facilities, delivering supplies to disaster areas, and reuniting families during desperate times.  Their website is simple enough, angelflighteast.org.  I ask that you take the time to visit their website, particularly if you are within the 14 states they serve.

A month or so, ago, Debbie had the need to return to the Cleveland Clinic for continued check-ups on her newly 2nd transplanted heart.  As some of you may know, it is an 11 hour trip from where we live in Virginia to the Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio.  At last count, I have made the trip to them from one place or another now counting at 72 times.  The old man is a bit worn on this, not to mention the time and expense of doing so.  She contacted Angel Flight East who were willing to assist her with the request.

What is so very important to recognize is that the individual pilots, in their private small planes, do this as a public service.  It is completely voluntary and done so without compensation.  That's right, they do it because they care and many of them find as a way to give back to the community.  Angel Flight East, themselves, make the arrangements with these pilots to make these trips possible. I want to share with you now, Deb's personal experience with them and, to her delight by chance, a check on her bucket list of life:

"Kley was my lifesaver tonight. First encounter with Angel Flight. A few hiccups, but Kley stayed with me through it all. There were 2 scheduled legs to my Cleveland journey. First was a layover in this teeny WV town. The hotel they booked was 1/2 hr away, and no Lyft or Uber service, although one was scheduled. Kley borrowed the airports service car and drove me to the hotel. That is where we found out there was no service. So, he drove me back to the airport and flew me the rest of the way in to Cleveland. Luckily, Richard was on duty at the hotel I usually stay at, and I’m in my room getting ready for a snooze fest (hopefully). Tomorrow is a “lazy” day and Wednesday I go to my appointments. Since the HCMA has partnered with Angel Flight, I had to wear my ambassador shirt!"

-Lou