Is The Window Behind My Speakers Causing Problems? - AcousticsInsider.com

[@EthanWiner]

There's a lot of confusion in this video. If glass reflects then that's what matters, not how much it absorbs. A thick curtain beats a thin curtain every time, and an air gap helps further. So that part was just wrong. But the main premise - does the window behind your speakers harm the sound? - was never even addressed! The answer is no, because most speakers send sound the other way. Only low frequencies emit from the rear of a typical box speaker.

[@JasonKutchma]

Thanks for commenting on this buddy, I appreciate your extra thoughts on this! haha

[@djcsr]

That's a really good point about avoiding thin absorbers. I've known many people to fill their room with 1" panels (only) and when they hear the obvious effect on the high frequencies they feel like they've done a really effective job. Obviously, actual measurement would show how all they did was damp the HF, but it's an easy trap (no pun intended) to fall in.

[@DoctorJezz]

Came here after setting up multiple Monitor positions in my new studio. Didn’t bother with the obvious position with the huge window in the centre of my large space ... tried everything I could elsewhere with bass traps moved all over the place ... guess what? In desperation I tried in front of the massive windows which is the perfect symmetrical point ... then Sonarworks gave me the best bass response I’ve seen anywhere in the treated space ... even without several bass traps on place. You’ve just confirmed my suspicions when I tried this out. It’s not even especially noisy outside which surprised me. Thanks Jesco - you just confirmed what I found. I should have just gone for the obvious in the first place and not discounted close to the windows bacause ‘it’s intuitively wrong’. My measurements say it isn’t. Thanks man - this is just me coming back with measurements and confirmation 😎👍👍

[@abyde]

This channel is absolute gold! I have a large window to the right of my listening position and I was planning on getting a thick curtain to mitigate the reflections. Glad I found this video so now I know what to do instead. Thanks!

[@user-lo2zw8pw2y]

Hello, I hope you don't mind me asking, what did you end up doing with your window? I have a standard sized, double-glazed window (approx 115cm wide, 120cm tall) in the centre of the wall left to my desk setup. I have a thin-ish blackout curtain same length and wondering what to do with it. Would really appreciate any tips (:

[@stupendousmusic4190]

@@user-lo2zw8pw2y I'd like to know too. I have sliding glass door windows to my left, and a window in front that's half the height of the sliding doors; no wall to the right.

[@ChakrasMusicLab]

Hi abyde, Please reply, we are waiting.

[@PeterBatah]

I suspect that I, and others visiting Jesco's YT channel have seen our share of so-called experts and audio gurus. But, there is one thing here that peaks my interest. And, that is the fact that you tend to ask the very same questions that I have been asking myself as my small studio build progresses. Thank you so much for sharing your time and expertise with us.

[@mjjm6220]

To improve any room, or most, setting a system on the room's diagonal will in fact be every beneficial. No matter if the boundaries are drywall, glass, wood, having the speakers at a 45* angle to the walls then projects the reflected sounds away from the seats. so instead of early reflections being received milliseconds after the direct signals from the speakers any reflected signals will be very late and then no longer a problem. I have certainly noticed on music I'm very familiar with, having the speakers on 45* angles to the walls, I now hear details in the recording that were muffled due to early reflections corrupting the direct signals.

[@norre9ify]

This works! Put my speakers on the diagonal in my living room. Made a noticeable difference 🙏

[@curtisjudd]

Thank you Jesco, very helpful!

[@HopeProphecy]

Is this advice just for people doing audio mixing in their room? I use my room as a KZbin studio and speak into a overhead microphone. There is a large window just feet away from my voice when I speak. I've decided to put a very thick, heavy acoustic curtain in front of that window. Would your advice here still apply to my situation?

[@terryzuniga2473]

Hey Vsauce! Oh... wait.

[@mr.skeleton4346]

Terius Zúñiga Hahaha

[@UncleBenjs]

Massively underrated comment!

[@SunTzu192]

hahahhaha

[@carlitomelon4610]

This channel is a Good cure for Audiphile paranoia. Thanks for the PDF tools you provide. I'll start testing them when winter starts here in western Montana. I don't think you and Denise Foley of Acoustic-Fields would see eye to eye ;-)

[@kevinkleinaudio]

I really don't like absorption coefficients without having a context coming with it. What means glass and plaster board? Is it measured with 0 distance to a concrete wall of a reverb room or 20 cm distance or randomly placed in the room or build into a concrete wall with a big room behind? All of this will give totally different absorption values! If I want to know the absorption value of glass I build the setup totally different then when I want to know the absorption value of a window that has free space (aka outside) behind.

[@johnrountree370]

I just found this channel, and I think it is great! I really enjoy the way you present the information without hyperbole or hysteria.

[@Martin-kn6vc]

My living room is really weird; it has a window well that is 87cm long (you could climb up and sit in it), 164cm wide and 103cm high. It's also off centre to the room and has double glazed windows at the front, as well as the left and right sides. I was thinking about covering the whole wall where the window well is (which is 335cm total and the remainder of the wall is plastered brick) with curtains. I have NS-10s, but was also going to get a pair of Kali Audio IN-8, or maybe the IN-5, for the extended low end response when I need it which I feel is when this window well would create the most problems.

[@milkyroad9593]

I have a room 1st floor street side and was more wondering what could help to reduce the noise coming in. The cars don't pass very frequently but do you know if it makes sense? I can imagine that any window let's more outside noise through and noises from birds, wind (trees) are always there

[@themarvelloushearts3712]

Im setting up my studio Ive currently got a window behind the speakers I can however move the desk someway out from the wall allowing absorbtion panels behind & around the speakers the window is just above the speakers This would be prefereable to moving the listeningposition to the other end of the room the room is around 6m x 2m

[@trybgod1041]

This video needs way more views. Thank you

[@ZenWorld]

Thanks for this information!

[@SaschaRissling]

One of my four walls in the studio is basically glass. It is to the left of my mixing position and i have a very thin curtain infront of it. It somehow works but i end up with that nasty high frequency ear fatigue in my left ear after some time. I had the same fatigue after a couple of hours when i had an absorber on the first reflection point. So i pretty much just live with it as it is.

[@jukeplays7572]

Get rolling acoustic panels

[@youngmozardtpeterlindhardt3829]

If you shold come up with some tips.. I have a very small room , The longest Walls are a bit over 3 meters, and The same on The other wals, The longest Wall “on The right “ has three Windows that fill up The intire Wall from mid and up to The celing. The ceiling is tiping about 5 to 10 degrees angle but from Where i have placed my monitors, The ceiling is not equel on both sides. My questien is: should i replace my speakers against The Long Wall Where The Windows are, Where The celing is lowest or The other Way around, or do you Think that The placement is alrigt considered it’s a very small room and The celing is idk 40 cm higher on The right. As of right now Where i have placed my speakers, i have a window on my current backwall, a door in The left corner to my booth that is as Big as my “controll room” a door on The left wall “up against The other Door” an on The right Wall, half window half Wall from The mid of The room in hights. My room is 10 m2

[@accentontheoff]

One side of my room is a massive French window. My question is this: if I am adding bass absorbers in the rest of the room shouldn’t I also add some kind of material (such as a thick curtain) to the window. To balance it out that is. Please note mine is a very basic set up.

[@philjones2981]

Thanks Jesco. informative as usual. But what about brick wall compared to glass? I imagine brick would reflect even more than glass or drywall? My window in on the short wall of a small rectangular room, I've always wondered whether it should be on the back wall or the front wall?

[@AcousticsInsider]

Hey Phil, A brick wall will basically let less low frequencies pass through than either drywall or glass, since it has even higher mass. But in terms of your window: The question isn't so much which end of the room it should be on, but rather what it does to the low end response of your room, and how that affects where you should position your sweet spot to get a more balanced low end response. The Bass Hunter technique that I linked to in the description will tell you exactly that.

[@oledahl.]

Fantastic important channel! Glad I found you. Thank you for sharing sir! Kindest regards from Oslo/Norway

[@WarrenPostma]

Do you ever have some object in your home studio space causing audible noises because you've reached either it's own resonant frequency, or the resonant frequency of some adjacent object? Imagine someone hit a corelle dinnerware plate (basically glass) with a silver dollar on top, somewhere in your studio. Whenever you hit that resonant frequency, let's say a bass amp outputting a peak in the low range of bass amp output, you get a horrible sound and your own ears are not helping you find it. What do you do? Any ideas? I've been concocting a test setup with a looper pedal, a bass guitar, and a bass amp on a wheeled trolly so I can "test" fire loud amounts of certain frequencies around my room. Say playing a chromatic scale on my bass from it's low E, up to the E one octave up. It's often for me the 41 hz, and the sub-bass 20 hz where I hear these horrible resonant or rattling sounds in my room.

[@surrealistix1]

If the window is 4 feet behind the speakers and the speaker baffle is 16 inches wide, then would it be fair to say the only frequencies below approx 300hz will have direct incidence from the speaker to the window? In which case treatment should be more focussed on low frequency for the wall/window behind the speaker?

[@johncornelius3162]

Well that was insightful! Guess I will just enjoy my view rather than cover. Thank you Jesco

[@albrackets8446]

What do you think of the Primacoustic Radiator diffuser? They are an open grid and could be placed in front of windows. They still will let light in, but are supposed to diffuse sound.

[@sbonamo]

The problem is - you glossed over the fact that glass and drywall reflection sound different and that they both " don't sound particularly good" generalizing the detrimental affect on sound. However, the difference in the materials' reflected sound is actually staggering. Most people have sheetrock / drywall rooms and left untreated usually sound quite poor. But imagine a cube made of glass and how absolutely abhorrent it would sound. Net - be careful to not generalize.

[@denzeltaves]

Wow exactly what I was looking for, thank you for this detailed video!

[@cm96yyc]

A heavy curtain pulled halfway, like shutters behind the speakers. Would that be acceptable or no? Room is very bright.

[@halrichard1969]

To the point Explanation. Well Done.

[@indranilsen51]

Hello Jesco- I have big flat panel TV behind the two floorstanding speakers which according to many mess up the imaging due to harsh reflection coming from the glass. What is your opinion about it and what could you do to remedy the situation?

[@kjmusic2541]

I will be adding a later of insulation to the inside of a single brick outbuilding which will then become my studio. I will put up Rockwool insulation or possibly coldstore panels (as I can get them free). I would then add either a layer of 9mm ply or plasterboard, followed by the acoustic absorber panels in the right places. Is there any acoustic plus or negative to ply board or plasterboard? Thanks

[@kylegushue]

I thin curtain doesn't manage the mids and highs properly. The curtain fullness and spacing can be used to improve low mid performance.

[@NathanOakley1980]

Subscribed. I think I have now watched all of the videos made by acousticians. Yours are the best. Also you have the least subs. Sometimes youtube sucks. I would love to chat to you about this subject if you are interested. I have worked in the hi-fi industry in manufacturing and sales, the technology you promote simply isn’t touched on in the stores we have in the UK (there may be exceptions). I wish I knew about this stuff 20 years ago when I was buying and selling by equipment. The improvements since starting to treat my room have been vast. Go big or go home eh, the wife is umm, ok with my 18cm panels and 30cm bass traps. Drop me a line if you would be interested in doing an interview on my KZbin channel sometime.

[@rdfilms.]

great video ! quick question. I will build a studio on a room with 6 by 4 meters. Is it ok if i place the monitor speakers on the window wall?

[@astrarivm]

Thank you so much! Please continue, you are brilliant

[@cobenaut]

strange but I'm not hearing any audio in this video, your other videos in this channel are working fine.

[@haukurhannes8626]

Hey! Love the channel - it's super informative! I saw a studio in Stockholm years ago that did this so I'm curious about what your position is on, rather than absorbing with curtains, diffusing over the window with a a clear polycarbonate diffusor like the EZ 1D Clear Diffuser. We all love natural light, right? :)

[@DjClimamusic]

Thank you very much for the information.

[@jimfurman6410]

Thank you very much for resolving this nagging question which I've had for so long.

[@user-lo2zw8pw2y]

I have a standard sized, double-glazed window (approx 115cm wide, 120cm tall) in the centre of the wall left to my desk setup. I have a thin-ish blackout curtain same length and wondering what to do with the window - for better image context, i I'm in a small University bedroom (approx 3m long, 2.7m wide) and trying to gauge what I could do amongst the limitations of a small room, both window and door opposite each other on the shorter walls (2.7m) and likely permission issues for moving/adding furniture. Would really appreciate any tips (:

[@infectropodo]

Hey thank you, very informative but I have a question. Wouldn't the window behind the speakers act as a filter, letting some of the bass frequencies 'escape' the room, therefore being more beneficial than a regular wall? because the bass is leaving and not being reflected back into the room? I would appreciate your thoughts on this.

[@oledahl.]

heypussy hi 🤝😃 I was questioning myself this a time ago myself and couldn't find an answer so I hired a focused decibel meter and went outside to measure and actually it didn't come more sound from the window than the wall. The window was a double-layered 3mm (each glass plate), and the wall was a wall made of wood with rockwool inside (about 30 I'm deep) both made for cold winters here in Norway 🇳🇴 kindest reg. Hope I could help a little, but I am far from an expert on this!

[@infectropodo]

@@oledahl. Oh thank you, thats good to know. My window Is a regular one layer window. I will try to test it with a dB meter from the outside. Cheers

[@markvmmm]

@@infectropodo what was the outcome?

[@flexistudio7810]

Congratulations for your nice channel. Helpful!

[@precisionsoundworksstudio]

This video is great... just subscribed... Thank you for posting. Question for you... My understanding is that I should be setting up my desk on the short wall in my 11x12 room. My problem is that I have a room with a window that is not centered on the short wall. When I set up the desk and the monitors, they obstruct the window. Also, with the window, off center and in the way, I have no way to mount a large monitor on the wall above the desk. The space behind my back is a closet so I can't set up on that wall. I have considered setting up on the long wall, but I know I'll get more pronounced peaks and nulls if I do this. Also, not that this is scientific at all, but the room just begs to have the desk on the short wall with the window. I would be grateful for any insight you might have.

[@luisharo9204]

We must live in the same building or something because I have the exact same issue would have loved to get some insight on this! What did you end up doing? I watched a few more of this guys' videos and came across his studio tour. It looks like he also has windows behind his desk and he treated it as if it were a wall. (as he mentioned) Now I just don't know what to do about my closet with sliding doors!

[@precisionsoundworksstudio]

@@luisharo9204 Hi. I installed a curtain rod and hung 2 velvet curtain panes in front of the closet doors behind me. I still have the desk facing the wall with the window. I put up a curtain rod on the window wall behind the desk and put up a 2 pane curtain. It covers the window and is wide enough that it looks like it's covering a centered window. Helped with the imaging, too.

[@kelvinwilkins8406]

My room is treated but I have a window right behind my speakers I would like to put foam behind the speakers

[@ninja0724]

How about puting moving panel infront of it?

[@venusbleeds]

what about open windows?

[@soulshinobi]

Thumbnail looks like he's hitting on you. But who could say no? Place is going to sound AMAZING after he moves in!

[@mauromantovani5937]

Hi. I am building a small home studio in the garden. It's gonna be 3x5 meters and i want to place a window in it. I can chose wherever i want to place it bit i'm not sure if it should be in the back of the computer screen or in front of it on the far short side. Obviously i don't want to put a close it with a panel. Any advice?

[@samuelo.4663]

Hi Jesco, thanks you clarified many doubts I have a window in my room that goes from side to side, it is very large and I currently have the monitors in front of it, but not very close. I do not have acoustic treatment, but I would like to invest a little in that. Another fact that I have is that my room is like a rectangle, but one of its shorter sides is the window. I do not have another space to put the monitors in the room, I would like to know what I could do?

[@surrealistix1]

Very insightful indeed!

[@y_chefy9821]

What about my bed being the back is that okay

[@infinaneek]

Thanks so much!

[@SunTzu192]

Thank you man, I like people that tell me what I want to hear haha

[@gt4viking789]

Brilliant video thanks 👏🏻 ATB Peter

[@ZalasOrg]

BUT how to treat a window with thick absorbers without blocking it all together? Seems impossible to me.

[@fidrewe99]

So glass absorbs sound starting at 250 Hz at increasing efficience towards the low end... wait what? The most difficult part of getting high audio quality in a room is not trashing it with long decay times in the low end while not overly dampening the highs. This appears to be even more essential given all somewhat affordable speakers tend to have poor directionality in the bass range. The only thing that damps the lows better than the mids and highs, I was told, are bass traps. Now you're telling me windows are doing just the same thing? Isn't that good news? I mean, we probably don't want it on the first reflection points, but doesn't that mean that generally, a good percentage of glass is a good thing to have?

[@robertdallas2317]

Hello Jesco, I have signed up for the Bass Hunter Guide but I don't see any download button/link. I just keep getting the form that says to enter your name and email and you will instantly get access to the download.

[@Jorge-Fernandez-Lopez]

In the web, there's another form. The link should be sent to your email. Great great guide.

[@shaunmills4611]

Hey I have a problem I think you can help me with. I have a problem everytime I run my EQ for receiver. It always has my dialogue panned toward left phantom area between left speaker and center. I know these eq companies tell you to tweak after you run but I am concerned that when I change things I am altering things. If I do this then I find that S sounds sound much more pronounced on my right side. I can never get the imaging just right(especially in 2 channel) if someone talks from left on screen it sounds like the dialogue comes from that person but if it's is 2 people in the same scene, the person on right doesn't sound quote present in same frame(lacks punch I guess) the stereo effects come through from proper channels though. I have tried altering levels, distances etc. Have not tried any room acoustics materials yet because I have no idea where to start. I do love in an apartment and my speakers are in front of a pretty sizable window. My living room has carpet and absorption from couch and furniture. There is 2 open ways connecting loving room to entrance to apartment and kitchen and a small hallway that leads to 2 bedrooms and washroom.

[@clairehoke8909]

Wow what an amazing rubber tree!!

[@Matt_Morgan]

The more videos I watch about the subject of window reflections, the more I hate my window. You say it shouldn’t be treated any differently to a dry wall and yet GIK Acoustics say different. I’m obviously more likely to trust them, due to this being their job, but there’s the question of “What if…?” FML 🤦🏻‍♂️

[@nicopicopiconico4628]

Thank you! :))

[@ctr289]

Windows behind speakers are the best, they let some bass out, minimizing standing waves, and the highs don't get there because it's behind the speakers

[@joshua43214]

Just open the window... Now you have an infinite absorber with the benefit of sharing your hobby with your neighbors :)

[@purpleheart69420]

yeah but one of the reasons I use an "acoustic" curtain is also because it helps blocking sound from outside of the window...

[@vikassm]

Live in a cave. Got it :)

[@kpminsuk]

What about using wood blinds?

[@adelkharisov]

Yes. I also want to put wood blinds in the front wall with window on the window.

[@blisssenseripzyzz4evermiri176]

If bass goes out of the window, wouldn't you have problems with lack of bass? should you just bass trap all corners anyway?

[@jasonstam8661]

You don’t get “less bass” if some is escaping through a window. You would get less bass reflections, which is desirable for bass clarity. The whole idea of bass traps is to minimize bass reflections from bouncing around in your room and causing standing waves and cancellations.

[@jasonstam8661]

Thomas Vadasis if you’re question is where best to position a window in your listening/mixing room, I don’t know. What’s probably more important though is too try putting your speakers in different locations and listen/measure to see what sounds best. A good rule of thumb is to set your speakers so they fire down the length of your room, and that placement is probably more important then where the windows are located.

[@geckovision]

watch the first 24 seconds and move on. (synopsis: a window is not much different from a regular flat wall) Don't fuss about windows that are behind monitors. Thick curtains help.