Preferred Flooring for Speakers

dminches

Well-Known Member
Oct 22, 2011
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What is better for speakers to sit on, a suspended floor or a concrete slab? I have always assumed a slab so less energy is transferred to the floor.

Is the answer different for subwoofers?
 

JackD201

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
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Manila, Philippines
Suspended floors differ very greatly depending on construction but generally speaking I would likely find need to reinforce them or mass load them if that is the floor I already have. Heavy concrete is best but I would go crazy if I had to look at a concrete floor. I don't even like walking on them. I like stone tile only marginally better and long term maintenance can be an issue with large slabs. I do not like the sound wall to wall carpet brings to the table generally so my choice would be engineered wood with at least a 4mm hardwood layer set on concrete and a big area rug, which is what I did. My answer is the same for subwoofers. As always YMMV
 

DaveC

Industry Expert
Nov 16, 2014
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IMO, you're best off isolating the speaker from the floor and preventing cabinet vibrations from "driving" the floor no matter which type of floor you have. Suspended floors can be driven to the point they make items all over the home resonate.

I've had decent luck with IsoAcoustics products.
 

GaryProtein

VIP/Donor
Jul 25, 2012
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NY
What is better for speakers to sit on, a suspended floor or a concrete slab? I have always assumed a slab so less energy is transferred to the floor.

Is the answer different for subwoofers?

When I got the IRS, I had the floor double joisted for both the weight of the speakers and the air movement capabilities of the woofers.

Loud orchestral passages pose no problem, but on loud, long, prolonged VERY deep organ notes the floor still takes on a life of its own along with the walls in the rest of the room where paintings on the walls could sometimes be heard rattling before I put felt pads on the back sides of the picture frames.

I am sure there is a balance between floor rigidity, resiliency and its resonant frequencies, but I don't know where that lies.

My system sounds pretty damn good to me in spite of the speakers not being on a concrete slab.

It's probably the same for subwoofers.
 
Last edited:

Al M.

VIP/Donor
Sep 10, 2013
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Greater Boston
The stands of my monitors are on concrete slabs, which are on a carpet covering wood floor.

My sub is on an ASC SubTrap which I can strongly recommend. My notes on the sub trap from 2016, supporting my downward firing REL, read:

"Without subtrap the excellent rhythm & timing that I had gotten used to was diminished to some extent; the bass seemed just a tad slow on rock music. Also, there was a somewhat 'plasticky' and 'thuddy' coloration to the bass. What is more, I could not contain my surprise when, while spinning a piece for six percussionists and choir (Wolfgang Rihm, last part of Tutuguri), I heard a 'brownish' coloration from large snare drums the sound of which did not even have lots of bass output! (The somewhat thuddy sound upon subsequent entry of the heavy bass drums was the final nail in the coffin for me.) Putting back the subtrap under the subwoofer confirmed that the 'brownish' coloration of the snare drums had been no illusion; the pristine sound that I had been used to returned."

***

The SubTrap (available in 18" and 22" format) will accommodate JL Audio subwoofers and smaller RELs, for example. I just ordered dual JL Audio Fathom 112v2 subs, and a second 18" SubTrap to go with them. These subs are front firing, but since without the SubTrap the woofers would be very close to the floor, I expect the same kind of benefits.
 

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