Concrete flooring

[flossy]

Hi all, I’m new to forums as you can see... So please take it easy on me

I've been doing some researching on a home system and finally decided to purchase the Pioneer VSX-1015TX along with the Athena Micra 6 speaker system. I've crossed a couple of articles and users saying that concrete flooring is a big NO NO for subwoofers.

Well it just happens the room where the system is going has concrete flooring with a thin layer of carpet over it.

I guess my question is, will this make my sub sound like total crap, and are there solutions around this concrete flooring? I'm thinking about sitting the sub on a couple of carpet mats, do you guys think that will work?

If there are any members that have subs on concrete flooring, what does it sound like, is it all that bad, what have you done about it in terms of solutions to make it sound better?

Thanks to anyone that can help and thanks to Audioholics for being so informative.

 

[MDS]

I don't know specifically about concrete flooring being bad for a subwoofer, but I really don't see how it can affect such low frequencies to the point where it would sound like 'crap'.

At my sister's house, they have ceramic tile on top of terrazzo, which is essentially concrete, and it sounds just fine to me.

 

[flossy]

Thanks MDS, that’s really comforting to know

 

[louhamilton]

I have also read plenty of articles that suggest you put a hard surface (cement yard tiles, thick terracota tiles, etc.) under your down-firing sub instead of having it fire directly into carpet. The carpet may diffuse the impact versus reflect it.

What a concrete floor will not do that a wood floor will do is vibrate (as much). A wood floor may cause the rest of the room to vibrate more than a concrete floor would under the same circumstances.

If you have a front firing sub, I think the question is moot.

-Lou

 

[Bryce_H]

I built a dedicated HT in my basement and installed a wood subfloor in U-Boats. Then pad and carpet on top of that. Serves 2 purposes - first, as mentioned, adds a little vibration to the room during big bass scenes. Second - adds warmth by having a layer of air between the concrete and floor.

 

[WmAx]

I guess my question is, will this make my sub sound like total crap, and are there solutions around this concrete flooring? I'm thinking about sitting the sub on a couple of carpet mats, do you guys think that will work?

A non-resonant and stiff floor is preferable. I wish I had a concrete floor in my listening room. I built special suspension units to prevent my woofers from vibrating my wood substructure floor, which before I did so, was being vibrated by the speakers(still is because of acoustic transmission, but now by a lesser magnitude) at the frequecy related to the main floor structure resonance.

You can place the subs on carpet mats if you want, it won't hurt anything.

-Chris

 

[Rip Van Woofer]

The main "problem" with a hard floor is the so-called "floor bounce" (reflection) involving your main speakers that can mess up your midrange and highs. But it's nothing that a nice cushy area rug between you and the main speakers can't fix in addition to the thin carpet. If the room is not strictly a man cave, it makes a good excuse to involve the female half in the decorating.

And you guys complaining about wooden floors: what, you don't like the floor to shake with those bass drum thwacks and bomb explosions?? I thought that was half the fun!