PSI Audio AVAA turns 10. Since its introduction in 2016, the active bass trap system AVAA has changed the way people treat their rooms. With its compact format and outstanding efficiency, the Active Velocity Acoustic Absorber is the perfect solution for eliminating room modes in smaller spaces and rooms that don’t allow for traditional acoustic measures. It clears up the audio across the whole bass frequency spectrum by removing excess energy from the room. With the newest, most powerful model C225 recently introduced, and exciting online tools providing great support for planning and setting up the bass traps, AVAA celebrates its tenth anniversary with a flourish.
10 years of active bass absorption
In 2016, PSI Audio introduced the AVAA C20. The active bass trap embodied a wildly different approach to treating room acoustics and has since markedly changed how people around the world deal with room modes. While it was intended for home studios and compact listening environments, AVAA systems have since made it into all kinds of spaces, from professional studios to boiler rooms that have very little to do with audio. PSI Audio has found a way to treat ever-bothersome room modes with a device that is far smaller than classic passive absorbers with comparable effectiveness, and far easier to set up than frequency-specific solutions. Small wonder then that in the past 10 years, AVAA has found a home in thousands of listening environments all over the world.
Active Velocity Acoustic Absorber: the working principle
The PSI Audio AVAA system is designed to deal with room modes, those pesky low-frequency resonances that are so hard to treat, but so easily disrupt the listening experience. As room modes rely on walls to reflect off of, the AVAA system basically is a wall that takes a step to the side when required. The result is an acoustic hole in the wall, sucking in those resonant frequencies and taking the energy out of the room. The room mode disappears, not just for a defined listening position, but for the entire room, beating room EQ solutions. The AVAA provides absorption equivalent to that of a traditional passive absorber 45 times its size, making it an ideal solution where space is limited. And while more targeted devices like Helmholtz absorbers require minute configuration and tuning to the exact frequency they are supposed to manage, the AVAA is active between 12 and 160 Hz (depending on the model) and just eliminates all resonances in that range. Simple, elegant, compact, and easy to move to another room should it be required.
The AVAA family
In 2023, PSI Audio expanded the AVAA system to form a range of products: the original C20 was complemented by a digitally controlled sibling in the shape of the C214. While the C214 is just as widely applicable as the C20, it was developed with the hi-fi enthusiast in mind, and hence sports an even more compact, sleek look and a variety of mounting options to perfectly integrate into a room visually. With the accompanying app, the C214 gives users additional control over the intensity of the effect. This flexibility continues with the most recent addition to the range: as the original C20 is phased out, the new C225 retains its iconic shape, only a little bigger – and significantly more powerful. Targeting an even lower frequency range and providing even stronger absorption, the powerful AVAA C225 is ideal for environments with lots of bass oomph at high levels, like home cinemas.
New online tools for improved planning and setup
On the PSI Audio website, two new tools can be employed to optimise the planning and setting up of AVAA systems. The AVAA Audio Theory Estimation Tool uses room dimensions and reflectivity parameters to estimate how much of an effect AVAA will have on a room. It is particularly helpful to estimate how many devices would be required for the desired result. Once the appropriate number of AVAA units is acquired, the AVAA Audio Test Tool can help find the ideal position and orientation by providing various test sounds. With the absorption meter in the AVAA app, users can then easily see how much work every unit in the room does.
10 years later: the story continues
As evident from the new AVAA C225 and the online tools, PSI Audio continues to develop the AVAA principle ten years after its introduction. AVAA has shaped room acoustic treatment for a decade, and will no doubt continue to shape it for the foreseeable future. The AVAA story is far from over.