Tweakers' Asylum: REVIEW: RealTraps MondoTrap Accessory by David Aiken

Model:	MondoTrap
Category:	Accessory
Suggested Retail Price:	$300-350 US plus shipping
Description:	Bass traps/acoustic panels
Manufacturer URL:	RealTraps
Model Picture:	View

Review by David Aiken on April 14, 2008 at 16:17:00
IP Address: 124.187.103.29 Add Your Review
for the MondoTrap

While I've now seen a couple of reviews of the Mondo Trap and they have both been extremely positive, they both have come from people who did not previously have acoustic treatments in their room. I haven't seen a review by someone with a treated room who replaced existing treatments with Mondo Traps as I just have. I also haven't seen reviews of the corner or high frequency versions of the Mondo Traps which are the versions I purchased. That means there may be something new in these comments to interest some people.

The treatments I replaced were DIY. The corner bass traps were polyester insulation batts compressed to a density of 2 lbs/cu ft in a wire mesh cage which was then wrapped with thin polyester batting used for quilting. I also had 2 pairs of free standing panels at first reflection points. The first pair used the same batts as the bass traps with a stretched plastic sheet on the rear side, covered with a thin sheet of the quilting batting on the front side, and compression provided only by the tension of the burlap covering which was stretched as tightly as I could manage on my own. The second pair used denser batts with a 2 lb/cu ft intended for in-wall acoustic use without the quilting batting on the front but with an identical plastic membrane at the rear. The differences in density to the Mondo Traps plus the covering of uncompressed thin batting on the bass traps have significance for some of my comments.

And to answer the big question first: why did I replace the existing treatments? I was quite happy with their performance but not with their appearance. I wanted something that looked neater and more finished in my room (I'm a poor handyman so my results weren't all that tidy or neat, though the panels looked significantly better than the corner traps) and I hoped for some gain in performance. Since 8 Mondo Traps at Australian pricesâ€”almost twice the US price after shipping and adding a margin for the local distributorâ€”were going to cost probably around 10 times the cost of my DIY efforts, those DIY efforts were quite effective anyway, and my primary goal was really visual aesthetics with no deterioration in the sound quality of the results I was already achieving, I wasn't expecting a particularly cost effective swap in terms of audible results.

After a long saga with the local distributor, who is still at the other end of the country to me (think distances like Miami to New York), the traps and stands eventually arrived a couple of days ago though 1 trap suffered shipping damage in transit from the distributor and I'm still awaiting a response on that. First order of the day was out with the old and in with the new which involved mounting the Mondo traps on their stands. I chose stands because of my poor handyman skills and a desire not to make a mess of my walls. Attaching the stands to the traps was relatively quick and painless and the substitutions were made within a couple of hours. I did not try replacing corner traps first then panels and trying to identify differences between my corner traps and the corner Mondos, or between my panels and the HF Mondos. I simply did a total change.

I was very pleasantly surprised by the audible results which I'll discuss first since that is why I think most people will be reading this. In short the results noticeably exceeded my expectations which were for a slight gain in bass frequency tightness and clarity due to the higher density of the Mondos and the fact that they are effective to down below 50 Hz and I had doubts that the effectiveness of my treatments extended that low. I did get that bass frequency improvement, and actually a little bit more than I expected, but the improvement that overshadowed that for me and which was totally unexpected was a quite significant gain at high frequencies which became noticeably more open, extended and sweet. In retrospect I think the reason for this gain was that thin, uncompressed batting encasing my traps and covering the first pair of my panels. I suspect it was working far more energetically than I suspected at high frequencies causing a fair bit of roll off there in the reflected sound eventually reaching my ears. The absorption response of the Mondo Traps as shown in the test results on the RealTrap website is extremely even and wide range, and those results are certainly borne out by my experience. The end result was a tonally even, very natural sound with more extension and clarity at both ends of the audible frequency range than I've been hearing with my DIY treatments. In addition I notice a wider and deeper soundstage on some discs than I've previously heard, much wider in a couple of cases. I know that imaging outside of the speakers is the result of phase manipulation but it is a deliberate and intended effect and achieving better reproduction of it confirms the effectiveness of absorption at first reflection points for delivering better imaging and soundstaging although I didn't need to confirm that for myself.

A common feature of both Kal Rubinson's and Jim Austin's reviews of the MondoTraps has been their comment that appearance precluded their use in their rooms on a permanent basis. Kal has some treatment in his room and Jim appears to have none. My view on this is slightly different, but it also comes from someone who has lived with DIY bass traps roughly 18" square in each corner plus 4 panels with absorptive areas a bit under 3' wide and 4' high for several years. Compared to my DIY efforts the MondoTraps are significantly less visually intrusive and much neater in appearance. The corner traps blend into the corner quite well when the trap colour is a close match to the wall paint and the traps which replaced the panels are much narrower than my panels were and less intrusive as a result, despite their greater height. If you don't have acoustic treatments in your room you might find the addition of 8 or more MondoTraps visually unacceptable but if you do have treatments already then you may well find them much more visually acceptable than what you're currently using as I did. I find my room much more attractive with the MondoTraps in place than I did when my treatments were there.

The standard of finish on the MondoTraps and stands is extremely good and the stands are colour matched to the traps, a little detail which helps here as well. Still, good finish and attention to detail don't mean that they aren't noticeable or that they would fit into every room. If you have a living room decorated in 18th century style they certainly won't fit. In a modern styled room with functional looking furniture they'll fit much better but traps placed along the walls will be more noticeable than the corner traps. I have to admit that if I were contemplating a very large, absorptive area on a wall, I'd be tempted to talk to Ethan Winer about some 'custom' traps in a combination of 2' x 4' and 2' x 2' sizes with black frames and a variety of strong primary colours for the fabrics. Wall mounted with frames butted up against each other, the effect would be like a huge Mondrian painting that would become a strong design feature that could be quite effective in the right room. I don't know what Ethan would say to such an idea but it may just tickle his fancy.

So, my overall take on the MondoTraps is that they are an extremely effective product which I think offers real value for money, even at Australian prices. I'm extremely happy with my purchase, both acoustically and visually, and I can thoroughly recommend the MondoTrap to anyone who is interested in acoustic treatments for their room.
David Aiken

Product Weakness:	Not a weakness but size and appearance will be a problem for some people
Product Strengths:	Does what is claimed, and does it extremely well

Associated Equipment for this Review:

Amplifier: NAD M3 integrated
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): none
Sources (CDP/Turntable): Arcam FMJ CD33
Speakers: Dynaudio Contour 1.3SEs on Dynaudio stands
Cables/Interconnects: Kimber Select
Music Used (Genre/Selections): Jazz, classical, pop, world
Room Comments/Treatments: See the review above
Time Period/Length of Audition: 5 days
Other (Power Conditioner etc.): Grand Prix Audio Monaco rack, and see my system page for more details of my room which is irregular in shape
Type of Audition/Review: Product Owner

Amplifier:	NAD M3 integrated
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	none
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	Arcam FMJ CD33
Speakers:	Dynaudio Contour 1.3SEs on Dynaudio stands
Cables/Interconnects:	Kimber Select
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	Jazz, classical, pop, world
Room Comments/Treatments:	See the review above
Time Period/Length of Audition:	5 days
Other (Power Conditioner etc.):	Grand Prix Audio Monaco rack, and see my system page for more details of my room which is irregular in shape
Type of Audition/Review:	Product Owner