Please comment on your experience with Plantation shutters. Yes they look great,


but do they act as good sound diffusers over windows? Has anyone noticed they improved the sound in a room with windows? I am thinking they may do a good job when tilted, but not fully closed. Perhaps even better than 2 inch wide standard shades?
128x128grannyring

My room has three large windows on the left wall with plantation style shutters.  The speakers are designed for a 45 degree toe in but I prefer them at 40 degrees.  Therefore, sidewall reflections are not a major factor.  The toe angle intersects in front of my listening position. The speakers also have a side firing tweeter which on the left side is 23 inches from the window so there is some direct sound involved from this.

I prefer the sound with shutters on the first two windows closest to the speaker pointing downwards and the third window shutter pointing upwards.  In this configuration the imaging is more precise and the bass better defined.  The right side speaker intersects on axis with the third window.   With the shutters open to the horizontal position, the sound does get brighter and less focused.  Fully closed in this orientation gives a more intimate denser sound.

Reversing the orientation described above results in larger sound with bass that is less defined and a more forward presentation.

I'm satisfied with the sound and the opportunity to make adjustments with predictable results.  In my environment of AZ, I need to block out the morning sun as much as possible.  Buy the shutters.  I think you will be satisfied.

They will obviously reflect sound differently than bare windows. If that is a good or bad thing will depend case by case. Its the acoustics of the room as a whole that matters, not any single part, though any of those might be tweaked as needed to get desired results.
I have blinds on my right wall. If I position them so they are say,  3/4 closed wouldn't the sound waves once it gets reflected off the window glass get diffused on its way out on the back side of the blinds?
Blinds make poor diffusers unfortunately.My former house had a wall of  windows that the speakers fired directly into.What worked is semi sheet curtains on tension rods next to the glass,2"white "egg crate" foam for the next layer,then blinds on the interior side.The curtains next to the glass were for aesthetic purposes only so it didn't appear to be a crack house:)If course no natural light could get through but it looked good and worked like a charm.