GiK Tri-Trap Build Quality

I've talked so much about room acoustics lately that I'm starting to feel like a broken record (or like I'm on the campaign trail). Let's assume that you understand and believe (though belief isn't really required since it is so well documented) that the room makes a huge difference in the sound quality of your system. At this point, you're looking around your room and trying to figure out the best placement of your furniture and speakers to optimize the sound. Maybe you have even used Auralex's Room Analysis service to figure out what you need to do in your room. Perhaps you have just listened to the AV Rant podcast and made some changes based on what you heard? Regardless, you've done all you can and now it's time to go from the no-cost solutions to something that will give you the most bang for your buck.

In my interview with acoustical expert Gavin Haverstick, he stated that bass trapping, specifically corner bass trapping was the single best thing you can do in your room. Along with treating first reflections and a few other tips (check out our section on Acoustics for specifics), corner trapping is on the top of the list of suggestions for making your room sound better. Gavin went so far as to say that you can't over trap your room. While some experts might not agree with that statement, what they will agree with is that corner traps are important and effective.

One of the more traditional ways of treating the corner of a home theater is to place a normal flat rectangular trap and straddle it across a corner. While this works, it isn't as good as filling that corner up with material. This material generally takes the form of fiberglass or rockwool insulation or foam. Acoustical foam is well known to be the red-headed stepchild of the acoustical world - cheaper but less effective. Rockwool and fiberglass are similarly priced and perform the same. When you straddle a corner, you generally take up more real-estate (panels are generally 2 feet wide) than if you fill it up with material. All that for less effectiveness. The problem is that filling a corner consists of buying a bunch of insulation, cutting it into triangles, stuffing it in a corner floor to ceiling, and then constructing some sort of cover for it (you don't want bare insulation in your room no matter how hardcore an audiophile you are). What about those who can't or don't want to go the DIY route? Honestly, one of the few non-custom corner traps on the market is from GiK. The difference? Price. The GiK Tri-Traps are considerably less expensive.

Build Quality

The GiK Tri-Traps are, as you might expect, triangular. They are also shipped in large boxes of two. You must buy them in pairs so their quoted price of $129 each is a little misleading. From a shipping standpoint, this makes a lot of sense as there are a lot more rectangular boxes rather than there are triangular. For all I know, the shipping companies might charge extra for an oddly shaped box like that. Regardless, I ordered six tri-traps for my room, all in black. They arrived in three large boxes. Each was wrapped in a thin plastic bag and was tightly packed. There was no protection other than the box and bag though they didn't really need it. The boxes (and traps) were quite light and arrived without damage.

I ordered six traps because I was in the middle of the Auralex Room Analysis Plus review and their suggestion was additional trapping in all the corners (for a more detailed description please see the review). Well, I felt this was an excellent opportunity to review a product I'd long been intrigued by - the Tri-Traps. The triangular traps are meant to be placed in the corners of a room and are filled with insulation. The Auralex analysis said that I could use as much bass trapping as possible. Well, six was the most I could accommodate at the time - I could probably get four more in here now. Two stacked on top of each other placed in the back corners and two lying on the floor behind the couch. I was a bit concerned about one thing, however, the height.

According to the GiK website, the Tri-Traps are four feet tall. My room is technically 8 feet high so they should fit but if you factor in the popcorn ceiling and medium pile carpet, it is a bit less than that. I didn't want to get them in just to find out they wouldn't fit. So, like I often do, I called them and asked about custom sizes not telling them I was a reviewer. I do this so I get the real deal and not some wink-wink-nudge-nudge thing. For a custom size, it is a $25 premium for the first trap and $15 each for every other trap of the same size. This, of course, is for a trap that is smaller than normal. You can't ask for a custom 7.5 foot trap. Those charges seem just fine to me and perfectly reasonable. I especially like the fact that they charge less for the additional traps of the same size. In reality, the first one tacks on most of the extra work with the additionals not really adding that much. It smacks of business ethics that GiK is recognizing that in their pricing.

What is a bit weird, however, is that regardless of what it says on the GiK site, the Tri-Traps are not four feet tall. They are about an inch and a quarter shy of that. When I spoke to them about it, they said that it was because they wanted to take into account ceilings and carpets just like mine. While I was relieved that I wasn't going to need custom sizes, it did make me wonder why they don't just list the actual size on the website. On top of that, info on the website is sometimes hard to find or missing. You really have to look on the Tri-Trap page to find that the traps are four feet tall and two feet wide (both incorrect as mine were 46.75" tall and 23.5" wide). And what is wide anyhow? Well, it is the hypotenuse (the part that faces the inside of the room for those that are having horrible geometry class flashbacks). But what isn't on the website at all is the length of the other two sides (the ones that would run against the walls of the corner). Now, I could bust out my Pythagorean Theorem and assume that the squares of the two sides added together would equal 552.25 (23.5 squared) but hey, I don't really need to do math do I? These sides are the most important because they will determine how far into your room the traps will go and whether they will cover any outlets or vents. It is a serious omission from the info on the website.

By the way, they said they were 17 inches (I measured them a hair more but close enough).

I, like probably most customers, ordered the Tri-Traps in black. Home theaters are supposed to be dark, corners most of all. If anything is going to blend, black is. They use the well known Guilford of Maine acoustically transparent material for their coverings. You can order black, off-white, bright red, bright blue, hunter green, or coffee at the standard prices. They allow custom colors (any offered from Guilford of Maine) at a minimum of $20 premium. Just make sure you get a swatch from someone first - don't trust what you see on the screen. The top and bottom of the Tri-Traps have a thin plastic plate glued to them. For the white Tri-Traps it is white, for all other colors it is black. This seems to be a vanity item to cover any staples or other adherence methods. For probably 99% of the installations, you'll never see it. The only time you do is when you stack them. Personally, I'd prefer if the plastic plates were removable or if there was another option so that the two sat fabric to fabric creating a more unified look.