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Trying to avoid corner traps because I find them visually unappealing and will be difficult to install as I have RSJ in 2 corners/along one edge of the ceiling + door in another corner.
I don't mind so much the bass sounding 'louder' as I feel it's something will be relatively easy for my ears to adjust to/can check in headphones. Mainly trying to stop everything else rattling around the room a bit.
lmamammal-
It's not so much that it's louder but that it's uneven (even more so given the square cross-section). You can get a feel for how the room translates and checking with headphones helps but I'd really recommend bass traps of some sort if you can fit them in somewhere!
Bear in mind that corner = any meeting of two or more surfaces, so if your room is a cuboid, the corners are best but the edges work as well. Least effective is a big deep panel in the middle of a wall (what I currently have) but anything is better than nothing.https://amcoustics.com/tools/amroc?l=650&w=300&h=300&r60=0.6 shows the modes for your room if you're interested!
Anyway, like I said - first reflection panels will make a big difference, stopping a lot of flutter/ring and give you a much cleaner sound from the speakers. They will also trap a fair amount of bass if designed to do so.
Diffusion panels look cool but I'd go with more absorption on the back wall for max control given the limitations.
Dramatic_Hammer
In my opinion, yes. Even just sorting out first reflections will take a lot of the ringing out of a typical bedroom.
What bass trap design are you trying to avoid? Mounting panels slightly off the wall increases their effectiveness at lower frequencies but corner traps (or soffits) or really thick panels on the back wall are best for bass. Something I’m looking at doing as I have no wall/wall corners available is using the wall/ceiling corners on top of shelves. You could also hide wall/floor corner traps under a bed for eg.