question about room


I am about to move to a new place. The new listening room as before is the living room. As I see it the best position for the speakers are actually in front of the windows as otherwise not enough space btwn my listening position and the speakers ...if I had mini motors and listened a bit more nearfield guess it would be OK the other way but that's not how I prefer things. The windows is basically the whole wall top to bottom, side to side (incredible view!)....but given the reflective nature of glass what to do? Would curtains do? Any suggestions?
henryhk
I presume you have monopole rather than dipole or bipole speakers.

I think there are two possible issues: A strong, distinct early reflection off the glass behind the speakers, and slap-echo back and forth between the glass and the opposite wall.

Whether or not you'll be getting a strong, detrimental early reflection off the glass depends on how directional your speakers are. Think of the front baffle as a 180-degree wide horn. The wider the front baffle, the lower the frequency down to which it will control the radiation pattern and prevent wrap-around. I would think you'd be in good shape with a front baffle a foot or more wide. With a significantly narrower baffle, more midrange energy is going to wrap around and possibly cause a detrimental early reflection. At treble frequencies the baffle should be plenty wide enough to prevent wraparound, unless your tweeter is perched atop the enclosure a la B&W.

The other issue is slap echo, sometimes called flutter echo. Slap echo is obvious in unfurnished rooms, but it's equally obvious that furnishing a room reduces or eliminates it. Now you don't have to treat both opposing walls to eliminate it - you only have to treat one. It's quite possible that you'll have enough furniture and stuff along the wall facing the big window that slap echo won't be a problem. If it is (and a few handclaps will tell you), then as an alternative to hanging curtains and obscuring your view you can treat bare areas along the opposing wall to either diffuse or absorb the reflected energy. I usually prefer diffusion, unless the room is overly bright to begin with.

Best of luck to you,

Duke
Thanks.

I have Kharma's Ceramique 2.3Fs: width is 14 inches. I will be using echo bass busters in the rear corners. The living room is actually part of a larger room which we will also using as a dining room. So Window-Speakers-Listening Position-Dining Room-Wall. On the 'rear wall" also exists a door to the kitchen. As such there will be a fair amount of furniture in between as well as wall to wall carpeting. The speakers can position up to around max 3 ft from the window.