[Pez]

Want to do some pull shades or something for some Glass doors I have on the right side of my listening room. Right now i have those crumby plastic slat blinds and i leave them open while listening so as to have a bit of diffraction rather than a hard surface. Just wondering what people have done for a situation like this or if anyone has any suggestions.

The door is approximately 6'x8'.

Thanks

[Pez]

Come on acoustic experts, should I just throw up some thick curtains? what????

[golfugh]

Pez

Not an acoustic expert, but I have a very similar scenario.  My rear wall is a 3 panel sliding glass door.  I have added some very heavy curtains (heavy suede-like material).  I'd add either a monster bass trap or diffraction panel, but can't fly that one past the wife - I already have 3 GIK 242 panels and 3 Tri-traps in the room (family room I might add).

Hopefully someone with real expertise will chime in, I could use the same advice.

Mark

[bpape]

To maintain symmetry left to right, you'd not want absorption on just that one side. If you could get something thicker and sturdier that would still pull back that would be best.  Something like a vertical version of the 2" horizontal wood slat type of blinds.

Bryan

[Pez]

hmmm hadn't thought of that. On the right side of my room is open with bar seating to the kitchen. There's probably little hope of getting it to match, but would wood panels still be the way to go if it's pretty much open on the other side?

[bpape]

I would.  Even if it's open, it's a kitchen with lots of hard surfaces. The reflections are just later and more diluted. 

[Pez]

interesting.... When listening would I leave the wood slat blinds shut or have them rotated to be open to break up the sound a bit?

[bpape]

I'd probably open them a bit to scatter things and not have them act like a flat hard surface.

Bryan

[Pez]

  wow my logic was correct. *waits for universe to implode*

Thanks for the advice Bryan.

[Jibara]

You might give a look at cellular shades such as Comfortex Symphony.
I use them to close off hallways to the bedrooms.

[JerryM]

Pez,

I have the same big ol' sliding glass door in my room, also going 8 feet down the right side of the room.

There is a store called "3 Day Blinds" not too far from my house, and they hooked me up with some of these. The guy I was dealing with was pretty upbeat at first, but made me know (for sure) that it was a pain in his ass by the time I had them to install.

They work surprisingly well, and look good, too. I bought them some years ago, and don't remember the exact price, but that's a good thing. If they were 'expensive', I would remember    If they were 'crazy expensive', they wouldn't be here. 

Have fun,

Jerry

[Pez]

Jerry, I really like that soulution.  I can still use the blinds open to reduce the amount of absorption a bit if necessary and it looks like it will match my decor. I think I may go with that.

Thanks for this!

[Ethan Winer]

Want to do some pull shades or something for some Glass doors I have on the right side of my listening room.

Bryan has the right answer about the need for symmetry. You can't treat only one side! But I can add a little more. There's nothing special about how glass reflects. Glass reflects the highest frequencies (only) a tiny bit more than other "hard" surfaces like drywall or wood paneling etc. But the difference is much smaller than many people seem to think. You can see my calculation of the difference between various materials:

Surface Reflectivity

So at places where reflections are a problem, such as right behind your head or at a side-wall reflection point, absorption is needed anyway regardless of the surface material.

--Ethan