• Welcome to The Audio Annex! If you have any trouble logging in or signing up, please contact 'admin - at - theaudioannex.com'. Enjoy!
  • HTTPS (secure web browser connection) has been enabled - just add "https://" to the start of the URL in your address bar, e.g. "https://theaudioannex.com/forum/"
  • Congratulations! If you're seeing this notice, it means you're connected to the new server. Go ahead and post as usual, enjoy!
  • I've just upgraded the forum software to Xenforo 2.0. Please let me know if you have any problems with it. I'm still working on installing styles... coming soon.

Room layout, what to do?

Okay, what to do with the large window behind me? Currently it has a thinner curtain that bleeds a little light. My wife asked what type I wanted . Is a heavy type curtain going to deaden the the room since diffusion is preferred? Not sure the impacts currently of the window except I can hear road noise. The windows in the house are older ones
 
Okay, what to do with the large window behind me? Currently it has a thinner curtain that bleeds a little light. My wife asked what type I wanted . Is a heavy type curtain going to deaden the the room since diffusion is preferred? Not sure the impacts currently of the window except I can hear road noise. The windows in the house are older ones

Can you remind me how far your seated head will be from the window?

Generally you don't want too much absorption behind the listening position, so maybe a light acoustically transparent curtain would be better. If it were me, I'd fill in the window with a sheet of wood and put some sort of diffusor or angled acoustic reflector back there to kill direct reflections.
 
Can you remind me how far your seated head will be from the window?

Generally you don't want too much absorption behind the listening position, so maybe a light acoustically transparent curtain would be better. If it were me, I'd fill in the window with a sheet of wood and put some sort of diffusor or angled acoustic reflector back there to kill direct reflections.
I believe the window is about 6 ft. Behind me. I'm about 12' from the TV and then 6' to the window. It is our front window of the house so I didn't want to fill it in or junk it up
 
I believe the window is about 6 ft. Behind me. I'm about 12' from the TV and then 6' to the window. It is our front window of the house so I didn't want to fill it in or junk it up

Paint a picture of lovely lace curtains on the wood you fill in the window with. It'll look pretty from the street.

But seriously, this one of those difficult decision moments. You could just let go and do whatever is most aesthetically pleasing according the current standards for room décor. Or, you could try to apply something that improves the sound in the room. A heavy drapery, like thick velvet or insulated multi-layer fabric, will absorb sound, which is only a problem if the space behind the listener is too dead. Our brains prefer some ambience to feel like we are in the real world, so some reflections are important.

You could put some sort of free standing reflector in front of the curtains/drapes, like a two or four panel reflective room divider - angled to reflect away from the listener. Or you could get artistic and make some 6 foot tall modern sculptures from standing tubes or boxes to reflect sound around the room in a diffuse way.

Or... you could completely deaden the entire room and insert ambience through the surround sound speakers by turning on the synthesized sound-fields. Yamaha has the best DSP algorithms for recreating real ambient spaces, like concert halls and clubs. They used to allow you to adjust the intensity of their effect so you could choose a Vienna concert hall and just turn down the effect until it feels natural in your room.

But, ultimately in a perfect world there will be some good ambience in the room. Preferably it comes from behind so you can absorb the early reflections in the front of you and get a better stereo effect.
 
Currently there is a lighter weight curtain over it. I trust there's not much absorption there, correct?
 
Currently there is a lighter weight curtain over it. I trust there's not much absorption there, correct?

Probably not, though it may have a little audible impact. It is easy to test, just stand at the listening spot and clap your hands listen to the decay, do it again, and again. Then pull the light curtain back and do the clap tests again. Then close the curtain and repeat. You may hear a little difference, but put a couple of your acoustic panels which are not yet installed in the window sill doing the same test and you'll hear a real difference.
 
As a follow up. I'm getting my 2nd panel and plan to put behind the mains. At what height from the floor should I put them? Same question for the side walls (excluding one below light switch).
 
As a follow up. I'm getting my 2nd panel and plan to put behind the mains. At what height from the floor should I put them? Same question for the side walls (excluding one below light switch).

If you are placing the panel directly behind the speakers, I recommend the panel be centered on the midrange/woofer which is operating in the 200Hz to 1,000Hz range. This should put it high enough to help with the entire room's tweeter reflections (as in, it is as high as the tweeter) while focusing absorption on the mid/woofer's output which wraps around the speaker's baffle and causes the "step response dip". A mere 3dB of reduction of the step-response frequency will audibly improve the dip significantly.
 
Back
Top