Hardwood floors vs Carpet


I am about to pull my carpet flooring to install wood flooring in my home. I had a non-audiophile over who stated that the acoustics will change with the addition of wood vs carpet. It dawned on me that he was likely correct. Anyone know what changes in sound could be forthcoming with wood flooring? I have recently got my system to sound like ive alwasy wanted and hope this home improvement doesnt serve to be a audio downgrade.
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Showing 3 responses by dekay

Khrys: How do you figure out the first reflection points from a 101 piece orchestra?
Khrys: I currently have zero traditional room treatment (just a listening room full of literally thousands of objects which include books and other collections). The walls are pretty much covered with paintings on canvas (the right wall is partialy patio doors which are now covered with a clear plastic shower curtain, with giant fruit on it:-), which does help some and the rest of this wall, is again, paintings. My wife want's to put up a metallic sheer to replace the shower curtain and I will see how that goes. The sub floor is plaster, covered with bad pad and horrible carpet, covered with nice cotton rugs (no wool rugs with 5 cats). The ceiling is yucky cottage cheese, which probably does sound better than a smooth plaster ceiling would. I generally listen from a sofa that is placed on a side wall (5 degrees off axis) and what I do for further oddball reflections is to merely place a leather pillow from the sofa against the side wall (a foot or so behind my head and between myself and the speakers). I also throw a wool blanket over the edge of a dining table made completely from iron plate and girders (to cut down on reflections). This room is so odd that it defies description as it is a lopsided "U". I have tried to shoot digital photos, to post to the web, but without a wide angle lens, they just do not depict the room in an understandable manner. In the past when I have had more traditional rooms, I would treat the side walls and the floor as many have described above (always with good results). I have never treated a ceiling for first order reflections, though the ceilings in my old rooms were all very high (old Spanish architecture in the LA area). I do not mean to imply that your setup does not sound good, as our listening rooms themselves (I assume) can be so diversified as to defy logic. If I were to run one of the computerized treatment systems on our room the computer would probably either blow up or the calculations would take years. I have also tried some of the standard setup formulas for speaker placement, though I could not leave the speakers in those positions on a permanent basis, and the sound sucked. If your setup does not improve by softening and defracting the first order reflections, then there must be other factors at work in your listening room. I consider everything that is placed into a room, to be a form of sound treatment as well as the placement of such objects.