Hardwood Floors?

[june]

hello all,

hopefully we'll be moving into our 1st. house soon with hardwood floors. every apartment i've rented had carpet. i heard the hardwood floors will made the home theater sound better.

any hardwood floor vs. the carpet with home theater folks out there

[Hdale85]

I don't know about better, it will make the room more lively and bright sounding. Will cause a lot of reflection issues which for HT I don't think thats a good thing. I would get a nice big thick area rug to throw over the room.

[dyazdani]

I had carpet in my old house and then installed hardwood floors, leaving everything else the same. I didn't notice any huge issues either way. It did sound a bit more lively, I would also suggest a rug.

Are you considering other room treatments?

[wettou]

hello all, hopefully we'll be moving into our 1st. house soon with hardwood floors. every apartment i've rented had carpet. i heard the hardwood floors will made the home theater sound better. any hardwood floor vs. the carpet with home theater folks out there

Positive about hardwood floors :T
* the room is more alive
* music sounds better (concert halls are not carpeted)
* you will feel your sub vibrations
* less allergies, carpets are nasty bug repositories especially microscopic ones
- looks nicer and is easier to clean

Negatives
- reflections could be increased, put a thick rug with padding that will help
- sub needs to be readjusted otherwise it could sound boomy

[Kal Rubinson]

Positive about hardwood floors :T
* the room is more alive
* music sounds better (concert halls are not carpeted)

Nope. Concert hall ambiance is part of the original sound. any additions from your room, e.g., "more alive" is a distortion.

* you will feel your sub vibrations

See above.

Kal

[ShadowZA]

I prefer carpet. My listening space has woollen carpeting on the floor and back wall. In addition I have a few rugs on the walls.

I like to close my eyes and let the musical detail whisper to me as if it is very close and very personal. Having as few reflection points as possible seems to enhance the intimacy of the experience. Similarly with HT.

[Chris D]

Oooooh, yeah, every time I've used or visited a room with "lively" surfaces, it's been very noticeable and distracting for me. I'm even frustrated with the theater that came with my house when I bought it, simply because it's painted drywall walls. You can't get much livelier than hardwood floors, unless you do something like put mirrors on every wall.

Highly, HIGHLY recommend NOT doing hardwood floors in a critical listening/viewing area. Save those for the rest of the house.

[gd]

Positive about hardwood floors :T
* the room is more alive

Not a positive.

* music sounds better

If that happens, it would be by accident.

* you will feel your sub vibrations

No more or less than in a properly treated room, and/or if your sub is properly calibrated.

* less allergies, carpets are nasty bug repositories especially microscopic ones

Irrelevant wrt to music reproduction.

* looks nicer and is easier to clean

Irrelevant under any circumstances.

[wettou]

When was the last time that you found a concert hall with carpet!!!!:B

[Hdale85]

It's not the same, concert halls do not play recorded music.

[gd]

And even at that, concert halls have room treatments up the gazoo.
.

[Chris D]

Well, if I could get all my favorite artists and Hollywood stars to come perform for me in person, (like a concert hall) then I wouldn't mind hardwood floors in my theater.

Otherwise, I'm sticking with carpet.

[wettou]

It's not the same, concert halls do not play recorded music.

I never said no room treatment I am just talking about floors that's all. :T

[oxcartdriver]

I swapped out carpet for solid hardwood flooring in our great room last year. I do not like this room for critical listening, but after the swap I noted the following.

1) The increase in room reflections was significant. The home is 22x18x18 WxLxH and two walls are nearly 90% windows and no sound treatments. With so many reflections before the swap to hardwood I was amazed how much more the room echo'd post hardwood installation.

2) I use a velodyne sms-1 for sub correction/tuning. As a test we tested the sub in the room and were able to tune without issue.

3) Heat duct vibrations are a bit more noticable now with the the hardwood. Probably were there before, but the carpet damped the sound from feeding back into the room.

4) a 1in thick wool carpet which covers 50% of the floor was chosen for appearances only, but did significantly reduce the relections to nearly the level before hardwood installation.

[robert L]

definetly carpet!!! the sound is much better sounding,when u go to theater rooms like in aa best buy or electronics expo they're always carpeted to absorb the sound not reflect it all over the place and sound tinny, but hardwood floors add value to your house so the win win is hardwoodfloors with a big area rug

[Azeke]

I guess I throw in my vote for carpet or throw rugs at the least. Just check out any movie theater.

Peace and blessings,

Azeke

[june]

hello all,

so far the music sounds great. i listen to smooth jazz 90% of the time. the only movie i demo was die hard 4.0 (bluray). tonight will be heroes & terminator: sarah conners cons (dvr).

[DeepEndX]

I have hardwood floors and placed a rug on it. Rug would reduce reflection and lessen distortion