Wooden Floor Coverings

A friend replaced his living (and listening) room carpet with Pergo flooring last year. The effect was as you'd expect -- sound got harder and more complex, and IMHO less listenable. This was with a Meridian CD player, Musical Marketing (sorry, Fidelity) Electra pre and (2 x) power amps, with great big Kef RDM3s.

It was found that the addition of a Very Serious Rug (400quid Ikea job) in front of the speakers made a lot of difference. the more of these you can add, IMHO, the better. Large areas of glass also imply large areas of curtains, which is fine when it's dark outside, but is a bit stygian when it isn't, so the glass "goes off" a bit", aided and abetted by floor reflections.

Best;

Mark

(an imperfect
forum environment is
better than none)

[This message was edited by Mark Ellis-Jones on WEDNESDAY 16 May 2001 at 22:39.]

I replaced fitted carpet with laminate flooring about a year ago (on a traditional suspended wooden floor). SBL's sounded better in the mid and bass than before (cleaner, deeper, faster), but room was a bit bright, mainly due to reflections, I think, not the hard interface of speaker with floor (I also have one whole wall of glass, behind the speakers.) The perfect answer turned out to be a genuine thick Persian rug about 5' x 7' (bought half-price for £250) in the centre of the room.
Incidentally, I would use the fibre-board type of underlay rather than the thin foam stuff. It's a better 'damper' of the new flooring, and not as springy. The new floor in effect becomes partially isolated from the rest of the building structure, which is good. I definitely prefer the sound of my room now to pre-laminate carpeted days. Good luck with the laying (long job!).
Regards
Henry

I recently did the same thing (Swedish girlfriend - no choice!). I liked the brighter harder sound the floor imparted to my Rega EL8s and my new Intro IIs seem to share the effect. I do have a sofa and armchair in the room which isn't huge and a curtain which helps. Haven't found the need for a rug yet. I'd suggest trying it before you part with the cash!

Regards

Stephen Bennett. Composer and sound design. (UK)
http://chaosstudios.gen-next.com

henry fool http://www.collective.co.uk/henryfool The Fire Thieves: http://tft.gen-next.com

Author of 'The Fast Guide To Logic' http://www.pc-pubs.demon.co.uk/fgel.htm
and 'Making Music with E-Magic Logic Audio http://www.pc-pubs.demon.co.uk/mmela.htm

Yes, the flooring will change the sound - I dumped the ol' grey carpet for Jewson's best laminated cheap oak effect stuff. And I've got an Ikea persian rug.

I suppose it depends what you like, as room acoustics will always colour the sound. I happen to very much like the clean sound I get.

Don't worry about changing. Go with the aesthetics and then add rugs or inflatable coffee tables as necessary if you don't like the acoustic effect.

Many thanks, it's off to "Mr Wood" I go today for 70 square metres of the stuff..
Malcolm

New problem. What can I do to stop spikes destroying this floor which costs more than a CDS2?

Quote

'What can I do to stop spikes destroying this floor which costs more than a CDS2?'

Try a penny under each spike until you're pretty sure of the speakers positions [listening tests ?] Then take a chance, remove the pennies, jump on the puppies and NEVER move them again.

Mind you, I set my speakers up stictly in line with Wilson's handbook and also position my listening chair so I can 'just' see the inner side faces of the toed-in puppies. Seemed to work beautifully first time - beginners luck?

Might be worth waiting for a few other views first

Cheers

Don

'What can I do to stop spikes destroying this floor which costs more than a CDS2?'
--------------------------------------------------
I lived with the penny under the spike solution for a while, until I was persuaded to exchange $50 for a set of target thingy's with rubber feet underneath and a hard metal surface with a dimple in the middle.

On removing the pennies I found the speakers had been well on the way to punching a hole through them. The base tightened up a little on fitting of the target thingy's and the soundstage grew a little.

Regards, David

I quite like the isolation offered by Richard's holes in the floor idea. I think it would be wise to check the availability of matching wood plugs for the holes (if I decide to move) before getting the big drill out.

I tend to agree that clean holes through the floor with the spikes sitting directly on the concrete, sounds (seems) like a good idea.

Are you sure the present position of your speakers (you have accurate records of them?) will still be the best with the new floor (they probably will) - might be worth thinking about this carefully before getting the big drill out

cheers

Don

There are various implementations of cones that rest in a cup rather than directly on the floor (e.g. Tenderfeet and Tendercups). The problem with these is that it can be a bit fiddly to get the cones properly lined up with the corresponding cups.

I just read in the most recent issue of UHF Magazine about another product called Superspikes from a Norwegian company called Soundcare. These are apparently a spike and a cup together in one sealed unit. The magazine is offering them for sale in the most recent issue (No. 61), although this information hasn't yet shown up on their web site (www.uhfmag.com)

Cheers,

John Schmidt
"90% of everything is crud" - Theodore Sturgeon

Richard,

Ooooops, see your point Just as well Rockingdoc hasn't drilled his floor yet! ooooorr has he ?

However, remeber that Watt/Puppies are incredibly heavy and will tend to 'squash' a 'floating' floor, even through quadraspire spike cups

Cheers

Don