TR Forums

Changing the shape of the room will likely cause reflected soundwaves to interfere at specific frequencies which results in unwanted volume spikes at those frequencies. It doesn't result in an echo, it's more of an uneven volume issue where you can never balance the high/mid/low properly because certain notes will always resonate louder than other notes. In a typical 10-20 foot wide room, the resonance peaks caused by reflected sound usually occur between 200 and 500Hz so it's going to be in the bass/tenor range of sounds where you hear that. You should be able to sweep a sine wave tone from about 80-8000Hz without any obvious differences in volume. No speaker is truly flat, but big dips or spikes in the volume are often the room's fault and not the speakers.

http://www.szynalski.com/tone-generator/

Echoing is almost certainly a DSP issue with the receiver. Does your receiver have a stereo output that you can plug some headphones into, to check if it's also echoing on completely different speakers without any weirdness caused by reflected sound bouncing around in a bay window?

Large expanses of bare glass will drastically change the sound of a room. When you say "echo" do you mean distinct echos (where you can hear each one individually), or more of a "reverb" sound where things just get kind of smeared together and sharp sounds (like, say, a snare drum hit) take longer to die down? The former case would have to be DSP (as Chrispy_ says), unless the room is truly cavernous. The latter, however, could indeed be due to sound reflections between the new windows and the other walls in the room (especially the wall opposite the window).

To reduce reflections you'll need to hang some sound absorbing materials in front of the windows and/or on the facing wall... time for some curtains or fabric wall hangings.

Almost certainly got switched in to one of the various large hall / cinema modes that receivers have.

I was thinking that too, that someone pushed some buttons or something and you have some reverb/delay emulation going on.

notfred wrote:

Almost certainly got switched in to one of the various large hall / cinema modes that receivers have.

I wish they'd just stop adding those "features". They *never* sound good in any context.

My recommendations:
If caused by Window, try adding some curtains or blinds. Thick curtains will work better.
Adjust the angle of speakers now that you have a different acoustic footprint.

On the Receiver side, as others have stated, you may want to check the sound mode. Many effects processing modes can add echo.
If you have an auto EQ or room calculation mic, I would re-run that function on your receiver (if that is an available function). Regardless of how well those programs work (the older, the worse in the case of receivers) it can give you a baseline for fine adjustment by your own ear.

Alternatively, additional wall treatments and/or acoustic baffling would help, but that is only if you are more serious about the home theatre rather than decor. On the other hand, you can get good looking decor that will help, but that will certainly add to the expense.

Waco wrote:

notfred wrote:

Almost certainly got switched in to one of the various large hall / cinema modes that receivers have.

I wish they'd just stop adding those "features". They *never* sound good in any context.

"I want my receiver to make it sound like we're watching this movie in a place that's acoustically terrible!"

jihadjoe wrote:

Waco wrote:

notfred wrote:

Almost certainly got switched in to one of the various large hall / cinema modes that receivers have.

I wish they'd just stop adding those "features". They *never* sound good in any context.

"I want my receiver to make it sound like we're watching this movie in a place that's acoustically terrible!"

That's called "child" or "parent" mode, depending on your family.

hanklai wrote:

Does the shape of my window have anything to do with the echo?
Please help me with this :|

Quick and easy check: stand somewhere in the center of the room and clap your hands sharply. If you hear a brief reverberation afterward, then you probably have too much exposed wall/window space and need more textiles in the room.

Yup. A room of all hard flat surfaces make for terrible acoustic environments.

I'm afraid I was under the false assumption that you had carpet and/or soft furnishings in the (also an assumption) living room for your home theater.

Yes. Any exposed hard, flat surfaces will create acoustic reflections. Covering them with something soft and/or non-flat will help absorb and break up the incoming sound waves so that more of what reaches your ears will be coming from the speakers, and less of it from reflections.

You can always (well, maybe not always) test your audio setup with windows and doors open. This should remove most of the echo and resonances.

hanklai wrote:

I got some really thick curtains and that has made a significant change in the echo. Would adding carpet make a difference?

We have hard floors but have an area rug that happens to also cover speaker wire that goes from the TV to the couch. It made a positive change in how the room sounds.

derFunkenstein wrote:

hanklai wrote:

I got some really thick curtains and that has made a significant change in the echo. Would adding carpet make a difference?

We have hard floors but have an area rug that happens to also cover speaker wire that goes from the TV to the couch. It made a positive change in how the room sounds.

A 100% hard-surface room will always be a bitch to tune (and yes, you do tune rooms).

Captain Ned wrote:

A 100% hard-surface room will always be a bitch to tune (and yes, you do tune rooms).

That's why I have acoustic treatment on the walls of my office. I do occasional voiceover stuff for work (if you use the software I work on, you've probably heard my voice, too) and use it to cut down on the natural room sound.