Home Theatre Flooring Choices

[Pondosinatra]

I'm looking at getting my basement done in the near future. I realize the ideal is to have the home theatre in an enclosed room with suitable dimensions etc. But as the basement isn't overly large blocking off the one corner to create a room would just make the basement seem to small.

So it's going to be open concept.

The problem is I want to have hydronic heating put in the concrete slab and have it acid stained. I absolutely HATE carpet in basements (and in general). Plus I have a number of Pinball and Arcade games which would be a pain in the rear to have to move around on a carpeted floor. And flooring in other material such as wood defeats the purpose of the in floor heating as wood is an insulator.

Finally I could have just the area where the home theatre will be carpeted, but I hate rooms that transition from one floor type to the other that doesn't occur as part of a door opening ie. just one floor type meets another with no walls and door to mark the transition. (ya I know, I'm picky)

Now I've read and it pretty much makes sense that concrete would be the worst type of flooring to have in a home theatre, so I would obviously have a shag type floor rug to help soften the sound bouncing off the floor.

Has anyone had any experience with concrete floors in their home theatres?

[Beta Man]

no experience with concrete floors in a theater, but I'd research cork flooring with the water- radiant heating system.....

[Coltboy]

Hello

I am in the process of building a theater room to in my basement. i have a concreat floor that is about 4 in thick. i was looking at a gray office carpet or indoor outdoor carpet. reason for that is that i have a theme in mind, wanted the floor to look like deck plateing. i woud think taht thick carpet or a thick pad would soften the sound.

[Pondosinatra]

Well I've done a bunch of digging and as usual everyone has a conflicting opinions - some have said that a concrete floor is the BEST for a home theatre, others say a subfloor and carpeting is best.

Some say cork is horrible, others say it's terrific.

Some say downward firing Subs are best, others say it doesn't matter if it's a decent Sub.

Some like wood floors because the Subs will 'rattle' them, others say while that might appear to be great, acoustically it's not accurate.

Sigh.

Well a sub is going to resonate very nicely through dense material like concrete. That could be a plus but concrete is terrible for reflecting highs and causing feedback. I've done live sound in rooms with concrete walls and not much dampening material. It can be a nightmare of feedback and somewhat distorted sound backwash.

If you cover the walls a bit to keep the highs from reflecting off the walls you should be able to make it work alright.

Of course I'm the guy who hates concrete and loves carpet

[kareface]

From an acoustic standpoint, if you can afford to treat the ceiling going with a hardwood, tile or any solid surface is will produce the most natural sounding room. The problem with that route is if you don't use carpeting you have to be more aggressive with room treatments. However, if you do both the room will sound brilliant. Remember, your room accounts for over 50% of what you hear. The room is like adding a filter to the sound your speakers produce, it changes everything. A poorly thought-out room can ruin even the best of speakers.

[Blown 4.3]

concrete floors AND ceiling here. carpet&rug and ceiling treatments.

i love carpet. except when it wears out.

[Pondosinatra]

Well the walls and ceiling would be insulated with sound proof batting, as well as using the noise reducing drywall.

If it was concrete flooring I'd probably have a throw rug in the middle.

I'd probably also have the Sub off the ground on one of those special stands that there's numerous threads on.

Bear in mind I'm far from an audiophile. When you guys start talking crossover frequencies my eyes tend to glaze over

[Fanaticalism]

Originally Posted by cliffdodger

Well a sub is going to resonate very nicely through dense material like concrete. That could be a plus but concrete is terrible for reflecting highs and causing feedback. I've done live sound in rooms with concrete walls and not much dampening material. It can be a nightmare of feedback and somewhat distorted sound backwash.

If you cover the walls a bit to keep the highs from reflecting off the walls you should be able to make it work alright.

Of course I'm the guy who hates concrete and loves carpet

I think you have that backwards. A concrete floor will not resonate because it is such a dense material. That is the reason why we use MDF/HDF for speaker construction, to minimize resonance.

[Fanaticalism]

Originally Posted by kareface

From an acoustic standpoint, if you can afford to treat the ceiling going with a hardwood, tile or any solid surface is will produce the most natural sounding room. The problem with that route is if you don't use carpeting you have to be more aggressive with room treatments. However, if you do both the room will sound brilliant. Remember, your room accounts for over 50% of what you hear. The room is like adding a filter to the sound your speakers produce, it changes everything. A poorly thought-out room can ruin even the best of speakers.

This is pretty much the route I'd take, heavily treated ceiling and walls with a hardwood floor/area rug. As long as the area rug can be positioned that so that it catches the first reflection point one should be "ok".

[Pondosinatra]

Originally Posted by Fanaticalism

I think you have that backwards. A concrete floor will not resonate because it is such a dense material. That is the reason why we use MDF/HDF for speaker construction, to minimize resonance.

But isn't that what you want? No resonance? Hence concrete would be ideal no?

Here's something like how I'm picturing things (with the addition of a throw rug):