Wooden blinds as diffusor?

[Dr X]

In a mag I just read they suggested using wooden window blinds as a cheap and cheerful (but presumably effective) diffusor..just hang em on the wall etc. Any thoughts on this idea?

 

[Alex W]

They'd probably work fine as a diffusor. Basically anyting that breaks up a flat wall surface will give you some diffusion. They won't do much for absorbing any sound.

If you need both you're better off building helmholtz style resonator panels which will give you both (diffusion and absorption).

Alex

 

[barefoot]

How's it going Dr X,

They probably won't help, and might even hurt. They are too small to have any effect on anything but the highest frequencies, and their effect may be to cause strong peaks and dips in the reflected signal spectrum because of their simple periodicity.

"Professional" acoustic diffusor designs are based on things like prime number sequences to achieve even diffusion.

barefoot

 

[Dr X]

I did wonder!

Hi Barefoot..we meet again on the OTHER forum! It was Paul White actually in SOS who suggested this solution in an article!

 

[barefoot]

Maybe I should post a reply to that article then, because I think it's a bad suggestion.

barefoot

 

[sjoko2]

It could work, but only in a carefully thought out design.

I have worked in a fair few studios with these kind of variable acoustic panels, and normally love them. I also think believe John has designed and built a few of them.

Properly designed and built, to suit their intended environment, the system works fantastic. They normally work with a "slatted" fron panel, fixed to a rectangular box, with the inside of the box containing either absorbsion material or resonance panels.

HOWEVER - I would not recommend, neither know of any, commercially available wooden blinds of a size suiteable for this purpose.

 

[Sennheiser]

Aren't most diffusors aligned in the vertical?

 

[barefoot]

It could work, but only in a carefully thought out design.

I have worked in a fair few studios with these kind of variable acoustic panels, and normally love them. I also think believe John has designed and built a few of them.

Properly designed and built, to suit their intended environment, the system works fantastic. They normally work with a "slatted" fron panel, fixed to a rectangular box, with the inside of the box containing either absorbsion material or resonance panels.

HOWEVER - I would not recommend, neither know of any, commercially available wooden blinds of a size suiteable for this purpose.

Slat resonators are not usually intended for diffusion. Variable absorbers with louvered panels could provide some diffusion when they are open, but if the louvers are all the same width, I still maintain there could be problems at certain frequencies. I would design them a little differently (a little better).

barefoot