Room is way too bright.


Question?
Unfortunately, my listening room has a lot of windows.

I’m happy with my system, but I need to decrease the higher frequencies at bit.
What is the best and most cost effective way of achieving that?

 

 

 

lovehifi22

I had a similar issue. My listening room is 16' wide by 33' long. It is an "A" frame with 12:12 pitch and no truss cross members. each end of the "A" frame is all glass. The floors are Oak Hardwood and the ceiling is Cedar planks. We have a large masonry fire place in the middle centered in the 16' width of the room about 2/3 back from the front wall where the speakers sit. Yes, a very reflective room, but a very good listening room. we treated the front windows with horizontal accordion blinds, the floor has a large wool rug and we have some large fabric paintings on walls. I also included a Schiit Loki Max, started with everything neutral and dialed down just a bit of the top end. Room sounds fantastic. I'm currently designing a kitchen addition and new listening room but it will be similar to the current one, simply adding the room to the end of the "A" frame but a bit wider with more non- glass corners for behind the speakers. Try the blinds, they fold away nicely so you can enjoy your views when you want to.

@panzrwagn has it right.  

 

The acoustics treatment route is the only way out.  If it were my space, heavy theater curtain type drapes (so you can completely close all the glass off) would be step one.  That will cost a more than the speakers probably.   Then progressively more treatment on the floor (rugs) ceiling (cloud/panels), until the reflections are tamed down enough to get a decent balance.  After all that, if it still isn't great then correction software like Trinnov (that works on good rooms and speakers to amp them better) would be worth trying out.  

"Room correction" is a complete misnomer as you cannot correct physical acoustical problems without changing the physical properties of the space.  Electronics cannot fix room issues, it can make them less apparent in one or two locations but it will never "correct"/ "fix" them.  We work with Trinnov on the pro side and there this type of software is called room optimization-which works on the way the speaker sound and the room sound combine with each other and create a third sound, the sound you hear.

Brad 

I feel your pain! My listening room has 2 4x10 floor to ceiling windows, hardwood floors, and a stone wall at one end. It was bright. 1st reflection is the stone wall on one side, then an open doorway on the other side. 

1. rugs, blankets over furniture. 

2. window treatments, fabric blinds works well, but you get no light (also affects plants) added blackout curtains (they are super heavy, made to absorb sound) also added shear coverings over the entire window. 

3. Fabric wall hangings. Have a few canvas pictures up, packed the backs with rock wool. There are 2 just behind each speaker. Along the long walls to my listening position. 

4. big plants. Have huge fern, a palm, other plants, they really do make a difference, and warm up the room. 

5. Weirdly, my record collection along the wall, helped calm the room down. 

6. Added L-Pads to my tweeters. Not sure this is really a thing, as they are replacement tweeters that are +6db louder, kind of needed to be done. 

I'm very interested in the ZW-damping disk. What are they made from? Are they just Sorbothane disk? Windows absorb resonate and reflect so much sound! 

Elimination of reflections of hard side windows has been discussed. Don't mess with the content or origin, simply eliminate the problem temporarily when listening, that's the flexibility of Acoustic Fabric Vertical Blinds. Keep all that daylight, a few live plants, a living space, not a dungeon.

Toe-In combined with Tilt, directing the tweeter's output in and up to your seated ear height, will give preference to direct, essentially equal volume of primary drivers, minimizing reflections from floor, ceiling, and side walls.

Ability to adjust frequency balance at listening position to your preference is important. CD with test tones to document pre and post adjustments, 

Amazing Bytes, CD with 29 1/3 octave test tracks

and SPL mic on tripod

SPL Meter, with bottom hole for tripod mount

are needed, then use your ears, a helpful friend is always good.

Open Space behind you increases the time delay of eventual reflections. Diverse mix of angles reduces similarity of reflections to initial direct sounds.

Adjustable Toe-In for Imaging, for Single Centered or Two Off-Center Listeners

Toe-In Alternates, Stereo and Video

 

Having a picture of your space may help us determine solutions.  The ceiling panel, also known as a cloud, is probably your best bet without covering your windows with absorption.  Handling that ceiling bounce will at least mitigate that reflection angle and may make the space much better.  I also agree with speaker placement and toe in are critical and by moving your speakers away from the windows, you can reduce the amount of acoustic energy hitting the walls.  DSP and cables are the absolute last thing I would do.  Building panels is not hard, or you can reach out to a company like gik acoustics and order paneling from them.