Best Flooring for Home Theater

[KingRadicalPhil]

Just vote and discuss

[drago3451]

Carpet...No echo, non-reflective, comfortable.

[Scooby Blu]

Wood with a nice thick rug placed over floor, and some plush couches and chairs to absorb the reflections. Perhaps a tapestry with a thick blanket behind it.

[prerich]

Due to the signal processing involved in HT, I would say any floor that makes your room acoustically dead (you don't want floor and sealing reflections) is the best - so I voted for carpet (my ceiling is also composed of acoustic tiles).

P.S. Remember - Vertical Dispersion is the bain of Home Theater - to be avoided at all cost!

[Djnx]

It depends on the room, but for studios common practice is: dead walls, thick wood floors. That way, the room is not acoustically dead.

I would recommend carpet walls, wood floor, kill corners with stands, DVD/CD/Book towers or better yet, with carpet. If the room has windows, they should seal, doors should be have solid wood core or thick plastic glass.

Carpet for walls should be thin. Speakers should be at ear level and with some distance from walls. Oh, and get an air conditioner system and set it to run at 21°c.

[prerich]

Originally Posted by Djnx

It depends on the room, but for studios common practice is: dead walls, thick wood floors. That way, the room is not acoustically dead.

I would recommend carpet walls, wood floor, kill corners with stands, DVD/CD/Book towers or better yet, with carpet. If the room has windows, they should seal, doors should be have solid wood core or thick plastic glass.

Carpet for walls should be thin. Speakers should be at ear level and with some distance from walls. Oh, and get an air conditioner system and set it to run at 21°c.

True a thick wood floor is not reflective (unless its polished to a shine and lacquered - haven't seen that in a studio yet) Wood in itself is a pourous material so with increasing density - it absorbs sound and becomes sonically inert or - dead. Correct me if I'm wrong - but vertical dispersion is to be avoided in home theater (no refections from the ceilings or floors). When I say acousitcally dead - I may be mistaken - I don't mean anechoic chamber dead - no one lives in one of those but I do mean free of reverberation - this is calculated in the surround sound processing. I remember owning the Fosgate Audionics THX Model 3A, Citation 7.0, 5.0, and the original Yamaha DSP1, each of these processors (to include the Lexicons ) advise for an "acostically dead" room. Even subwoofer design genrerally uses boxes designed to be inert (mine are mad of 2 inch thick MDF) - to avoid resonance. Some speakers are made to work with live rooms (direct reflecting, omni polar ect) but most HT speakers function better in dead enviornments. Sir Terence, if you are out there - teach me I just may be wrong

[naturephoto1]

As Prerich has indicated, something to deaden the sound of the floor usually with carpet (and basically anything else that is "too reflective"). If the floor is not "deadened" it will sound too "live".

Rich

[Djnx]

Oh, now we enter into the depths of an eternal debate: how dead is too dead? Axial room modes are the louder ones, so walls should be as dead as possible without being moody. The floor and ceiling reflections could be used to give a little bit of life to the room, so plywood is cool as a floor.

[JJ]

Who the heck voted tile?!

Heck, for that matter, why is tile even an option? Its murder.

[JamesKurtovich]

Carpet, right? Because it "absorbs" the waves. lol. Nevermind.

[prerich]

Originally Posted by Djnx

Oh, now we enter into the depths of an eternal debate: how dead is too dead? Axial room modes are the louder ones, so walls should be as dead as possible without being moody. The floor and ceiling reflections could be used to give a little bit of life to the room, so plywood is cool as a floor.

Yes it is somewhat of an eternal debate. Even among professionals

[mattym]

i dont favour completely dead. Diffuse environments are less tiring to listen in and can produce a more enveloping feel, taking away the feeling of boundaries. I also dont use carpet on the walls, looks good, but only absorbs very high frequencies, which can make the room boomy and muddy

[Scooby Blu]

Eternal debate aside. I refer my HT room as my media room. Which to me means I want to not only watch blu ray movies and blu ray concerts but also want to entertain people when they come over. That is why I took out a load bearing wall that seperates my media room from the kitchen. So, when my NFL games are on or my pay per view boxing is on I can have some nice hot Rotel dip in the kitchen for myself and guests. Also, I want a fridge to keep me beer ice cold. And a sink to puke in if I enjoy too much cheer Then I can puke and get right back to the action, without missing a beat

Plus wood floors clean up easier than carpet.

[prerich]

Originally Posted by mattym

i dont favour completely dead. Diffuse environments are less tiring to listen in and can produce a more enveloping feel, taking away the feeling of boundaries. I also dont use carpet on the walls, looks good, but only absorbs very high frequencies, which can make the room boomy and muddy

This discussion is going to get good!!! Good points - where is that point of compromise at? We are looking for a room with no extreme peaks and dips through it. This is where good acoustic treatments and or eq would come in, but to stay on topic best floor for HT- to qualify this we must qualify whats the best paramaters for HT. Hmmmmmm

[Djnx]

Originally Posted by mattym

i dont favour completely dead. Diffuse environments are less tiring to listen in and can produce a more enveloping feel, taking away the feeling of boundaries. I also dont use carpet on the walls, looks good, but only absorbs very high frequencies, which can make the room boomy and muddy

Thats why you kill corners and use it at the same time as bass traps.

[LifeOfAPirate13]

I just voted tile for the **** of it I have no clue in this debate lol. But after reading your good points I am understanding more and more now!~

[gearyt]

what color of carpet works best ??

[mattym]

Originally Posted by prerich

This discussion is going to get good!!! Good points - where is that point of compromise at? We are looking for a room with no extreme peaks and dips through it. This is where good acoustic treatments and or eq would come in, but to stay on topic best floor for HT- to qualify this we must qualify whats the best paramaters for HT. Hmmmmmm

its all about time, you want to get the time between signal leaving speaker and arriving at your noggin to be long enough to give some 'air' to the room without it being too long and introducing echo. That all depends on the size of the room, speaker positioning and listening position..

On topic, i think rugs at a minimum but carpet, not only acoustically, but also for comfort and warmth!

[FIDDYPOP]

I voted carpet because every theater Ie been to uses carpet. If they use it, it has to be the best.

[mattym]

Originally Posted by Djnx

Thats why you kill corners and use it at the same time as bass traps.

yes, but what about the mid range? traps in the corners are great, but if you still only have carpet on the walls you will be missing some absorption from say 150hz upward