Acoustic absorption

[Cruzin]

I am planning to remove the carpets in my home theatre room and lay timber on a conrete floor. However, I am concerned that the sound of my home theatre will be adversely affected. Is this concern justified? Can anyone suggest a solution such as material, etc that is not obtrusive but can be used to maintain the acoustics?

 

[XEagleDriver]

Yes, it might

I am planning to remove the carpets in my home theatre room and lay timber on a conrete floor. However, I am concerned that the sound of my home theatre will be adversely affected. Is this concern justified? Can anyone suggest a solution such as material, etc that is not obtrusive but can be used to maintain the acoustics?

Welcome to the forum. Your acoustics can be negatively impacted, by the change you describe. The floor you describe is more acoustically reflective, so your concern is probably justified. However, the rest of your room acoustics may mitigate any noticable change or if your AVR/preamp has a YPAO or Audessy equalization program re-running the program with the new floor may solve any noticable problem as well.

I take it you are changing the floor surface for reasons other than home theater acoustics. Therefore, make the change, listen to the result and see if it bothers you.

If it does, a reasonably dense area rug between your front sound stage speakers and your theater seats should mitigate most of the increased reflections. These rugs can also have designs which add to your theater decor. We have one, which you can see in the Members System Gallery, under the title "Eagles Roost" bottom of the pics in the first couple posts, link follows:

http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=49306&page=2

For more detailed acoustics info, the Audioholics/AV University/Acoustics Princilpes area articles are quite informative (but farily technical at times), link follows:

http://www.audioholics.com/education/acoustics-principles/


Cheers,

 

[highfigh]

Not might, it will change the sound. At most listening levels, the combination of surface materials causes multiple reflections. Some of the mid-range frequencies will hit the ceiling or floor and reflect to other surfaces without losing enough to make them inaudible, so they'll adversely affect the sound quality. If you want to hear a rough example of how it may sound and you can get some plywood, lay that on the floor in front of your speakers, extending most of the way your listening position. It will definitely be more reflective and if the room is large enough, it will cause the sound to actually echo. Flutter is one problem that makes any sound with sharp transients into a problem. I carpeted my place specifically because I had hardwood floors and it was impossible to have good sound. For sounds that have a soft attack or low volume, it's fine but once it reaches a certain SPL and for sounds that have fast transients, it's not.

 

[KODG]

removing rug.

room acoustics are what most people overlook aim really into acoustic treatment it is the best bang for your buck.

$950 ac cables & $13000 speaker wires??

go to this web site they have exactly what you need.

truesoundcontrol

 

[santeini]

Stay with the carpet.

 

[Ragnar]

New to your board here and a real novice to boot.
Just reset my stereo equipment wished to ask a question.
I am using a powered JBL 150 Watt sub woofer with a pair of down firing 8 inch woofers.
Have it sitting on the carpeted floor and worried that the short legs on it will of course sink into the carpet putting the speakers too close to the carpet,It weighting 42lbs.
Yesterday placed a piece of 1/4 plywood under it to spread out the weight and keep seperation between speakers /floor and did notice some reduction in bass response.
Would it be better to simply place rubber spacers under the legs and forgo the plywood piece?

 

[highfigh]

Having just reset my stereo equipment wished to ask a question.
I am using a JBL 150 Watt sub woofer with a pair of down firing 8 inch woofers.
Have it sitting on the carpeted floor and worried that the short legs on it will of course sink into the carpet putting the speakers too close to the carpet,It weighting 42lbs.
Yesterday placed a piece of 1/4 plywood under it to spread out the weight and keep seperation between speakers /floor and did notice some reduction in bass response.
Would it be better to simply place rubber spacers under the legs and forgo the plywood piece?

Try thicker, heavier material. Down-firing subs need a solid surface to fire into and 1/4" plywood doesn't qualify as that. Also, the carpet is acting as a cushion and you'd be better off leaving it the way it was. Carpet fibers don't block bass unless the carpet is so thick that the feet sink so far that the bottom of the cabinet is mashed into it.

 

[BMXTRIX]

Gotta say, I've never been inside a single movie theater that decided to go with a tile floor instead of a carpeted floor.

I've been in enough homes and theater setups to say that the lively nature that accompanies hard floors is not something that I've ever enjoyed. But, going with soft furniture and adding some wall treatments - if not ceiling treatments - could help tame the sound when all is said and done.

Still, not something that I would recommend in a home theater.

 

[Ragnar]

Thanks for the replys,I removed the plywood,and if need be will simply look into replacing the legs on my sub with some bit longer ones.