To carpet, or not to carpet, that is the question...

[spiritofmusic]

...but what is the answer?
After a five month gestation, my new listening room is almost ready.
It'll be a dedicated listening space in the roof loft, w/no pesky family, pets, random furniture to intrude .
10' high at midline apex, sloping down eaves at 30 degrees both sides, to maximum width of 18', where side walls will be 4' high
38' overall depth w/rear storage area well behind listening position for lp.s, cd.s etc.
Eaves and floor treated both thermally and acoustically.
Room will have a dedicated power feed split from rest of property via 6.5" copper SWA cable to dedicated consumer unit, from which will run 1.5" Oyaide dedicated lines to a half dozen Furutech rhodium duplexes.

So I've kinda covered a lot of bases here, my remaining decision seems somewhat mundane, but may be ultra critical - do I carpet the floor?
Currently I have a serviceable, but not very pretty new fibreboard floor laid onto acoustic insulation and 150 year old existing ceiling/roof joists.

I've always lived in, and by necessity listened to my music in, non carpeted/hardwood floored spaces, adorned with rugs etc. But this space lends itself to carpeting.

So the question is if there is a consensus view on whether carpeting is a no brainer, aesthetic considerations aside?

 

[PeterA]

Interesting question, spiritofmusic. I have bare old wide-pine wooden floors with an oriental carpet between me and the speakers which has two thick pads under it. It seems to work well, but my room is fairly conventional. In your case, I wonder if the sloping ceiling will effect what bounces down given the different heights. Also, I assume your floor is suspended with no reinforcement, so it may be bouncy with that width. This might also be a factor which carpet may address.

I would consider finishing the floor with good quality wood for aesthetic reasons. Listen to the result once everything is properly set up. Live with it for a while. Then, add good quality area rugs if you find they improve the sound. Move them around, experiment with sizes, etc. This should give you the most flexibility, but it may be the more costly option. Have you discussed this with an acoustician?

 

[KeithR]

hardwood floors with an area rug are preferable to fully carpeted rooms in my experience.

 

[Ron Resnick]

Consensus? Do you think this is basic arithmetic?

I think a majority of people use carpets. I thought your prior loft was too bright and reflective and I certainly would have used wall-to-wall carpet there.

In my first three listening rooms (apartment in Manhattan, equipment room in LA, listening room in LA) I installed wall-to-wall carpet over a natural jute carpet pad.

Mike L is of the view that wall-to-wall carpet is too dampening, and sucks some energy and life out of the music. Also, he analogizes to concert halls where the stage is usually hardwood floor, not carpet. Mike's solution is to carpet the rear five-eighths or so of the listening room and leave the front three-eighths or so -- with the speakers and the amplifiers -- uncarpeted. This also has the nice advantage of allowing one to move speakers around much more easily on a hardwood floor.

I have decided to split even Mike's idea. I am going to carpet the entire listening room except for a strip of hardwood floor which will start four feet from the front wall and continue for six feet (i.e., a strip of hardwood floor six feet deep, from four to 10 feet from the front wall). This will allow me to locate the front of three foot deep speaker towers either seven, eight, nine or 10 feet from the front wall.

 

[JackD201]

hardwood floors with an area rug are preferable to fully carpeted rooms in my experience.

Same here.

 

[spiritofmusic]

Thanx for the input gentlemen
Tbh I'm going to struggle to afford an expensive hardwood floor at 850 sf ft since I've already had major cost overruns
I intuitively prefer this option with free placement of rugs as per my previous place
Another consideration is that I've moved away from the stock spikes on my Zu speakers, to siting them on Symposium Acoustics Rollerblocks>Svelte Platform>floor, and this setup really only works with direct mating to hardwood floor

So I guess my decision may be to carpet the listening part of the room leaving the equipment end uncarpeted, or hardwood throughout with use of central rug

 

[the sound of Tao]

hardwood floors with an area rug are preferable to fully carpeted rooms in my experience.

+2
The better rooms I have heard have all had hardwood timber flooring with an area rug... It seems to bring a kind of life to the sound of the room. I imagine that given how good it sounds and how sustainable and more affordable it is as well as its nature that bamboo might also be worth exploring. Good luck with the new room tho in the final mix it is about what is ultimately affordable and since your equipment is good that what you have on the floor may certainly not be the most critical part if the shape and materiality of the rest of th room is good as well.

 

[still-one]

The best rooms I have auditioned systems in have all had carpeted floors or at least area rugs that covered virtually the entire room. That doesn't mean you won't get great sound from a room with hardwood floors assuming care has been taken in other areas to reduce reflectivity or similar issues.