Smooth Hard Floors VS. Carpet

[heeman]

So we are planing the flooring for the new HT.

I have heard pro's and con's about the subject.

What do you guys know and want to share?

 

[Flint]

Wood floors are best with natural fiber rugs placed in the area between the speakers and the listeners is best.

Synthetic carpets are not great, and covering the floor with a single monolithic carpet is not good.

Why? A wood floor consistently reflects sound equally pretty much across the spectrum. A natural fiber rug will have a broader, smoother absorption characteristic, and multiple rugs of different thicknesses and materials will create a more complex absorption character which results in a more balanced, natural sound in the room.

A synthetic material generally has narrow, spiky absorption characteristic. This is not terrible for a portion of the reflective area, but covering the entire floor with a poorly behaving synthetic materials amplifies the problems with those materials.

Also, a wood floor with multiple rugs can be adjusted and altered as the room acoustics are added or altered.

 

[Wardsweb]

Your room is the number one thing that affects the sound of your system. Typically carpet and drapes will dampen a rooms acoustics and hardwoods or tile will liven the room. I replaced the carpet in my living room (2 channel system) and the den (home theater) with hardwood. Then I use area rugs to deal with the reflection off the floor between the speakers and listening position. There are a multitude of different acoustic treatments to dampen and diffuse the sound in any given room.

 

[heeman]

Hardwood vs. coated Concrete.................

Silly :teasing-tease: question, however they should be similar? Any hard surface, Tile, Wood, Concrete, ETC.

 

[Flint]

Hardwood has a slightly "softer" reflection character. So, I recommend hardwood. But, concrete can be easily addressed with multiple, varied, and well placed rugs.

 

[Botch]

Bare cement, with strategically-placed puddles of beer, left to dry to varying sticky consistencies, will recreate the venue acoustic experience that will most complement the fine concert repertoire you tend to prefer. :ugeek:

 

[Flint]

A friend who builds recording studio and mastering suites once used this metaphor...

A concrete floor reflects sound similar to how a very good mirror reflects light. Everything which strikes it reflects nearly perfectly.

A wooden floor reflects sound similar to how a dusty or foggy mirror reflects light. You can see what's in the reflection, but it is softer and less perfect.

Both reflect sound relatively easily, and pretty much evenly, but one is "softer" than the other.

That was his argument for always recommending a hardwood floor in all of his projects.

 

[mcad64]

Bare cement, with strategically-placed puddles of beer, left to dry to varying sticky consistencies, will recreate the venue acoustic experience that will most complement the fine concert repertoire you tend to prefer. :ugeek:

Hey...don't forget the pools of dried vomit!! :angry-tappingfoot:

 

[mcad64]

Heeman,
On a serious note. We have cork in the basement and I quite like it!! I forget if you are doing a drop ceiling or not. We have a drop ceiling and the entire basement (i don't have a dedicated HT) is done in black acoustical tile.
Mike

 

[Deleted member 133]

The pretty much non-transmittability of bass frequencies with a poured slab concrete basement floor makes it quite different than other types of floor, and a favourite of mine. Area rugs on top - as others have described - complete the ensemble. (Bonus if the slab is already there: no additional construction cost and ultimately greater room volume / more headroom.

Yet another suggestion of mine to ignore Heemen.

Jeff

ps. While that non-transmittability means less "butt-shaking" going on in your seat, it also means potentially far fewer induced vibrations / noise in other structures.

 

[heeman]

Come on' Mackwood................. Just because I couldn't find your Benjamin Moore Paint, refuses to keep one side of the theater open and use more than a half dozen subs................


We were on a slab in Texas, but a slab is different when it is 8 or so feet under the ground.

I am looking at companies that finish concrete floors. I know that Cmonster did something like this outside of his HT.

We are concerned about condensation under the carpet, even though the home was built with a great drainage system and sump pump.

Yes, we will use some sort of a drop ceiling..................not sure on which one or how yet.

 

[Deleted member 133]

I'd forgotten all about the paint...

Now I REALLY feel bad!

Jeff

 

[heeman]

Heeman,
On a serious note. We have cork in the basement and I quite like it!! I forget if you are doing a drop ceiling or not. We have a drop ceiling and the entire basement (i don't have a dedicated HT) is done in black acoustical tile.
Mike

Cork? That could be a very interesting option.............

Is your drop ceiling a Flat Black?

 

[Flint]

If you do a black drop ceiling, make sure the metal/vinyl runners the tiles sit in are the same color as the tiles. Otherwise the contrasting pattern will reflect on the video screen.

 

[mcad64]

Heeman,
On a serious note. We have cork in the basement and I quite like it!! I forget if you are doing a drop ceiling or not. We have a drop ceiling and the entire basement (i don't have a dedicated HT) is done in black acoustical tile.
Mike

Cork? That could be a very interesting option.............

Is your drop ceiling a Flat Black?

Yes flat black acoustic tile. Including the metal that holds it in place. My wife was skeptical when I floated the idea , but we had a painter in who said "Black ceiling will , in essence,help to make the ceiling disappear. I think it works.

As far as cork, it is on concrete with only 6 mil poly underneath.

 

[heeman]

^ do you have the make and model of the drop ceiling that you have?

 

[heeman]

^ I am thinking, only thinking right now about coming up with our own kind of "Drop Ceiling" design.

If I were to make my own ceiling panels out of OC 703 or similar product, would that be to much absorption? The ceiling would be 100% these panels except for the area's where the frame would be.

 

[Flint]

You can buy ceiling tiles made from OC705 and OC703. No need to invent your own.

What you definitely DON'T want is a ceiling which is absorbing midrange and treble over its entire surface. Only the first reflection points should have midrange and treble absorption properties. The rest of the ceiling tiles, the other 90%, should be reflective or diffusing in the midrange and treble.

 

[mcad64]

^ do you have the make and model of the drop ceiling that you have?

I know you would ask that.... :angry-tappingfoot: . Let me hunt around!!

Armstrong is the make. Fine fissured black is the description. I found a link. We don't have Menards in Canada but I think this is the product!!

http://www.menards.com/main/home-de...-lay-in-drop-ceiling-tile/p-1444424314743.htm

I didn't install it myself because I was born with two left thumbs. However, unlike the white stuff I ripped out, this stuff is stiff with no flex. Also , be warned, whatever they painted it with , they must have rolled it on one micron thick. It chips off very easily!!
Mike

 

[jamhead]

Why not use ceiling tiles with the space between the drop ceiling and floor above use fluffy insulation for bass. Not sure how thick it would be though. You could incorporate broadband absorption around your tiles in specific areas of need, and they would be flush with the tiles.

Just thinking out loud....