[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

I think it's significant that you didn't find REW's recommendation to degrade decay.

Well, since REW only recommends cutting filters, there isn’t much chance that would happen! However, I did notice some sonic degradation with the modal filters (which were more numerous and narrower than I like to use). The uneven bass notes I complained about in the Hard Knee article returned.

Decay may not be much of an issue if the ear/brain takes care of it. Unless maybe the decay problem is severe. I mean a boomy room is a problem, but beyond that maybe decay isn't much of an issue.

To my ears it isn’t, at least not like long decay in the upper frequencies is.

Can we actually hear the difference if the decay is in a credible range?

Supposedly you can with bass traps (although I’ve never heard them).

Here are a few more graphs, this time from Ethan’s Traps vs. EQ face-off (the ones added after the fact). Again, the equalizer was not adjusted properly, which may account for why we don’t see the “fast attenuation” effect. But one thing's for sure, looking at the Traps graph, I don’t think anyone can say they got they get that kind of reduction of decay from equalization (although I don't think I want 17 traps in my living room!).

Regards,
Wayne