Are hardwood floors detrimental to good room acoustics?

[jakegt3]

I currently have wall-to-wall carpeting in my listening room and I'm considering remodeling the room with hardwood floors. Over the years I've found that adding a lot of acoustic damping (sound absorbers, soft furniture, etc.) has really help the sound blossom, particularly in the area of imaging and soundstaging. I'm wondering if hardwood floors will be too reflective acoustically and will result in underdamped acoustics. I know I can put down rugs over the floor but they won't be the same as plush carpeting. Anyone here have experience or advice regarding hardwood floors?

[Masterlu]

Twenty years ago, I had a great sound room with all carpet. I made the mistake of putting in all hard wood flooring, and killed it.

Of course, today I know about room treatments so all wouldn't be lost.

[asindc]

My experience is that carpeted is better than hardwood.

[rnrmf1971]

I have all hardwood and it's been a challenge. Reflections, brightness, and vibrations are all forces to contend with!

[audio bill]

If you end up going with hardwood floors, wool area rugs can be very helpful in taming reflections from the floor. Experiment with placement, but having one centered between the speakers at the half way point between the plane of the speakers and your listening position is usually very effective. That would be the primary point of reflected sound.

[antipop]

I have hardwood floors in my listening room aka living room.

I've done a few things to help such as putting a thick carpet, I've also put the speakers on large and heavy marble slabs.. The last thing was to put treatment on the ceiling which kills second reflections.

[JBT]

Great room2300 sq ft 16ft ceilings, hardware floors and my system sounds great!!. Game room has cement floor with rock walls and system sounds great!!

Maybe my ears are too old, but to each his own.

[chessman]

If you have a hard floor you will need a soft ceiling (i.e., absorption), which most wives will veto. I have seen a number of listening rooms where only the portion of the room under the speakers is hardwood and the rest of the room is carpeted. I have been assuming the listener wanted solid coupling to the floor for the speakers (and maybe some gear), while wanting to kill reflections in the rest of the room.

[chessman]

Originally Posted by JBT

Great room2300 sq ft 16ft ceilings, hardware floors and my system sounds great!!. Game room has cement floor with rock walls and system sounds great!!

Maybe my ears are too old, but to each his own.

The 16 ft. ceilings are a great blessing. A ceiling that high is much less of a reflection issue than a low one.

[mwjw]

Some room treatments and an MEN220 and you will be in good shape.