Carpets - yay or nay?

Posted by: engjoo on 18 January 2016

We are doing a little refresh of our home after being here for 5 years and what we did last weekend was to get a little (150cm x 90cm) carpet from Ikea which we had placed in the living room between both speakers and our sofa. To my surprise, it has robbed a noticeable amount of "sparkle" of life from the sound.

I think it is fair to say that the carpet has absorbed the high frequencies but shouldn't that be a good thing that I have a carpet to remove some reflection?

Apart from removing the carpet (wife will kill me!), is there anything alse I can do now ?

Posted on: 21 January 2016 by feeling_zen
sharik posted:
Steve J posted:

So you want a totally reflective live room Sharik? 

but it seems to me hifi speakers are initially designed with 'reflective room' in mind to some extent ?

err how? Bose and specific direct reflecting designs sure but your standard front firing drivers not so much. 

Every surface that is resonant or reflective colours the sound by reflecting and resonating certain frequency ranges, not to mention phase shifting and echo. Soft surfaces dampen these effects creating less colouration. The question is how much is desirable? A fully dampened room may deliver the most tonal accuracy but may also sound pretty lifeless. All hard reflective surfaces on the other hand can sound like youre in a fishbowl.

Posted on: 21 January 2016 by Richard Dane

One of the best sounds I've had with Naim gear was when I lived in Dorset - 3 foot thick cob walls and a nice fitted wool carpet - so not very live at all and very little flutter echo.  Wonderful deep, tuneful bass from the SL2s, the like of which I've never quite equalled since.

Then again, I also had great sound from an old coach house (now an art gallery) that had large airy rooms lined with french windows, wood floors, and had very high ceilings.  It was a very different kind of sound that worked very well with choral music and the like - reverberant and spacious without being annoying or wearing.  Big MGIII panels and large powerful valve amps thrived here, but even modest amps and speakers seemed to work as well. 

Posted on: 21 January 2016 by sharik
feeling_zen posted:

Every surface that is resonant or reflective colours the sound by reflecting and resonating certain frequency ranges,

however let us not overestimate the reflectiveness of an average room.