Physics of downward firing woofers


Ok ... this question will show my complete lack of knowledge about physics ... but here goes anyway:

Every now and then I come across a speaker with a downward firing woofer. I wonder: why don't the sound waves bounce off the floor back towards the speaker, rattling the bejeezez out of it and / or messing up the woofer itself?

~Jim
128x128jimspov
inna 

I just make a joke. I learned long ago at a motivational seminar that "there are no dumb questions" 

Not sure what motivations they were using. The only thing that motivates me know is a good night sleep. 
Ralph, did you remove the carpet to compare or move everything to identical room ?
Now, why do I get tired of hearing about Classic Audio speakers? Seemingly no reason, right?
The main advantage of a downward firing sub is to avoid forward driver modulation that would compete for your attention by adding confusion to the highly perceptive mid and hi frequencies.
try reversing your subs and experiment with 180 switches and this is for many folks an improvement in focus.
Downward subs, when used with neutral speakers, will be complementary
 in balance.
Ralph, did you remove the carpet to compare or move everything to identical room ?
As you know I have a set and have shown with them at shows since the early 1990s.

I've had carpet underneath mine and also bare wood floors (went from wall to wall to tribal rugs about 10 years ago). At shows we've often had carpet and it seems like other factors of hotel rooms are issues- usually we are trying to tame the highs in the room. Things like false walls and false ceilings are far more problematic for bass. Such things act like bass traps but usually you don't run into problems like that at home.