Wood floor headaches

[maypole]

I recently gave in to the wife and let her install wood floors in our living room. This is of course where the home theater set up is. I need to buy new speakers and was wondering if I should look at some of the omni-directional ones, such as Mirage omnisats, to help out with the wood floor issue. My reciever is a Harman-Kardon AVR745, and my sub is a Velodyne Minevee. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[agarwalro]

What speakers are you running now? Are you upgrading only because of the addition of hardwood floors?

Sound control measures would be required irrespective of which speakers you get. In particular, to reduce the high frequency boost due to the hardwood floor. Here are a few options,

1) An area rug (but it partly detracts from the beauty of the floors)
2) Electronic FR control. Placing a device like BFD helps by providing the ability to control peaks.

That said, the first thing is to know where the peaks and dips are in your setup's frequency response. This can be done manually using a test tone CD and a SPL Meter or using software.

 

[mazersteven]

I recently gave in to the wife and let her install wood floors in our living room. This is of course where the home theater set up is. I need to buy new speakers and was wondering if I should look at some of the omni-directional ones, such as Mirage omnisats, to help out with the wood floor issue. My reciever is a Harman-Kardon AVR745, and my sub is a Velodyne Minevee. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Sounds like no matter what speakers you get you'll need acoustic treatments. An area rug will help, but not solve the problem.

 

[Warpdrv]

Sounds like no matter what speakers you get you'll need acoustic treatments. An area rug will help, but not solve the problem.

Don't go buying special speakers to fix your problematic room, it won't work.
Good call mazersteven, +1 on the Acoustic Treatments...

Not enough people are willing to treat their rooms.... If your room has become bright because of all the new echo introduced, area rugs, Flotaki Rug, Drapes, or acoustic panels are some of the things you can consider...

click on my sig, and you can see why I have to invest in acoustic panels.
My room is extremely resonant. Tons of Echo. I get my first shipment of panels tomorrow !!!

I got the same advice and ordered a number of panels... Or you could build your own... Check the acoustic area on the forum for more help in this regard. http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=10

Good luck, you can fix that room... Enjoy the nice hard wood floors.

Warp

 

[mazersteven]

Warpdrv,

Beautiful home. Love the Floors. Well except one thing. Go Giants LOL

 

[Warpdrv]

Warpdrv,

Beautiful home. Love the Floors. Well except one thing. Go Giants LOL

Nice.... I get so much $hit about that packer blanket...

I have to redoo my pictures after I treat my room.. all painted new colors now too...

 

[mazersteven]

Did you make your panels or purchase them? From where is you purchased them?

Yes you have to post pictures in the Members Area.

 

[Warpdrv]

I ended up getting 4 custom panels made from ATS Acoustics, they are not far from where I live....

I went with 2 - 18" x 60" (2" thick) behind my plasma, and 2 of the same to the left of the bay window... in This Color fabric

And I bought a setup like THIS in THIS COLOR on the opposite wall behind the couches...
I looked everywhere to find some attractive looking panels....
I should be getting those soon, and will post pics when I get them all hung..

 

[mtrycrafts]

I recently gave in to the wife and let her install wood floors in our living room. This is of course where the home theater set up is. I need to buy new speakers and was wondering if I should look at some of the omni-directional ones, such as Mirage omnisats, to help out with the wood floor issue. My reciever is a Harman-Kardon AVR745, and my sub is a Velodyne Minevee. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

As was mentioned, speakers cannot solve a room acoustics issue.
What can you add to that room? Floor rugs? Some wall panels or heavy curtains? in ideal locations?

If not much, you are stuck.

 

[mazersteven]

As was mentioned, speakers cannot solve a room acoustics issue.
What can you add to that room? Floor rugs? Some wall panels or heavy curtains? in ideal locations?

If not much, you are stuck.

The OP should look at the panels Warpdrv purchased. Might be something he is interested in. Those panels look very nice.

 

[pbarach1]

I recently gave in to the wife and let her install wood floors in our living room. This is of course where the home theater set up is. I need to buy new speakers and was wondering if I should look at some of the omni-directional ones, such as Mirage omnisats, to help out with the wood floor issue.

I would think that Mirage or similar speakers would make things worse, since by design they are emitting more sound to be reflected than direct-radiating speakers.

Previously I owned Carver Amazing speakers (which are dipoles). They were in a room with wood floors and plaster walls. Although normally these speakers had excellent imaging, the result in that room was an acoustic sea. Putting an area rug in front of them helped, but not much. So I sold them and replaced them with direct-radiating speakers (B&W 704's). Without making other changes in room acoustics, imaging is MUCH better. Some acoustic treatments are on order.

I would have kept the Carvers, but they essentially blocked off the view through my front windows, not a problem you can fix with room treatments

 

[stratman]

Hey guys,

All of you with real wood floors (I stress real, not Pergo style) be very carefull with area rugs on top of wood floors, sometimes the pads etch the finish, requiring the floor to be refinished, also wood changes color over time so you might have a "patch" where your area rugs sits, my advice is: if you're going to use an area rug over wood flooring, make sure it's going to be for the long haul.

 

[Davemcc]

I just threw an area rug down on my hardwood floor the other day to help with some resonance issues. It made a noticable change in the sound, especially in the vocal range, that I've noticed. I'm not too worried about any minor damage to the floors. They're over 50 years old and I figure anything I can do to them will be minor if they survived this long already.

 

[ParadigmDawg]

Simply move the rug when you treat your floors every 2 months or is that just me?

 

[Buckeye_Nut]

Wood Floor Rant: ON

What is it with the wood flooring obsession in recent years? C'mon.... wall-to-wall wood floors are for log cabins and the Ted Kaczynsky types who live off the grid!! What's wrong with a little civilized soft padding and plush carpet against the soles of your bare feet, huh?

I often DVR "Flip That/this House" episodes for my wife, and when we watch the shows together, I have to laugh because 75% of the homes that are rehabbed don't have a single stitch of carpet when they're finished!! Wall to wall hard floors is sooo IN!! (they say) At least in these shows, there is a clear and obvious carpet phobia that makes no sense to me.

Wood is so the trendy "in thing", that it's completely eradicated from homes. Dont get me wrong because I have wood flooring too (foyer, dining room, kitchen), but when I see wall to wall wood, it makes me cringe inside.

Yea, yea... wood floors are fine and all that, but the entire house? I want my carpeted theater, bedrooms & living room dammit!! If you want a quick and easy way to ruin HT audio......... wood flooring is the ticket. This post is not directed to anybody in particular. I simply felt the sudden urge to rant about my love for wall-to-wall wood, and there ya have it.

I feel much better now

Wood Floor Rant: OFF

 

[MDS]

What is it with the wood flooring obsession in recent years?

Same as I said before with regard to granite countertops. It's the latest fad made popular by the housing bubble and HGTV shows like Flip That House. I don't want to hear that granite and wood have been around for 50 years - Houses have been around for hundreds of years.

However, wood or tile is far better than carpet. Carpet gets filthy in no time and wears out incredibly fast, regardless of how often you steam clean it.

Wood and/or tile can be mopped and returns to brand new in a matter of minutes. I'm about ready to rip out all of the carpet in the house sans the bedrooms just to be rid of the hassle of trying to keep the carpet looking clean.

 

[Davemcc]

Carpet gets filthy in no time and wears out incredibly fast, regardless of how often you steam clean it.

I am forced to live with 4 cats. I don't even want to think about keeping wall to wall carpeting clean in this situation.

 

[stratman]

Come on guys my people have been using stone floors for millenia without a hitch!

Seriously,

I worked for a big design firm back in the early eighties (before the hacks on HGTV) and we were spec'ing granite counter tops and wood flooring for the longest time, HGTV makes it look like it's the latest fad trust me it's not. By the way, those so called designers on HGTV are not real designers they're decorators, the difference between a designer and decorator are light years apart. A designer knows how to draw and read blueprints, needs to understand how space works (space planning), knows ergonomics, materials, basic building principles, basic lighting design, is required by most states to be licensed by a governing body (architecture is the AIA)usually has 2 years of architectural design, knows how to design furniture including the production drawings, etc, etc. I have friends that are architects, engineers and a couple that are interior designers, they all laugh at the monkeys on HGTV.

 

[Davemcc]

I've seen "finished" rooms on some shows that look like they should be "before" rooms on another show. Most of the designers are awful. I can't stand seeing people paint over wallpaper just to meet the show's arbitrary time limit or painting over beautiful wood fixtures just to meet somebody's arbitrary taste limit.

 

[NYyankeeboi]

I had the exact same problem. I will admit i put in the hardwood floors myself, but I wouldn't change them for anything. I have read what lives in the carpeting and the thought of dust mites and such makes me sick. I don't worry about people spilling things and above all, I love the way they look.

It took a lot of arranging and a much bigger sub than I originally thought to get things sounding the way I wanted. After all that, it was well worth it. I would say every room and layout is going to be different, starting from the items of furniture, dimensions..etc..