B&W 600S3 on hard wood floor - How will it sound?

[Amar]

Having nearly completed the purchase of my new flat, I've started thinking about the flooring of the main room where my speakers will sit.

My wife has always been keen on hard wood flooring and I have, so far, agreed. However, I'm starting to think about how they might sound in a room with hard wood flooring. Would carpet be a better option?

The room size is is roughly 11.5 by 13.5 feet. I currently use the speakers in a slightly bigger room with carpet and they sound fine.

I'm starting to wonder that they might sound awful on the wood floor in a slightly smaller room. I'm even concerned about the sub now. Also, I reckon the front 603's will probably have to be fairly close to a wall but not in the corners.

Any advice would be great from someone who has been in a similar situation.

 

[James Ferrier]

one question i would ask is, is your flat in a converted house or a purpose built block?

i live in a flat in a converted house and in the convenants of the deeds we have to have all floors carpeted, or suitably insulted so noise does not travel between floors and make life hell for the people below us.

 

[Amar]

It's a ground floor flat in a purpose built block with concrete in between floors and I'm pretty certain we can have wooden floors fitted.

 

[deaf cat]

I think I read somewhere that if the speakers sounded better before you put the new flooring down put the speakers on a nice big slab of marble on the new floor, or even some sort of hard wood, to give them a sturdy base. Not too sure how sound reflecting off the new floor would go though.

Mind you you could drill through the new flooring and sit the speaker spikes back on the nice solid concrete floor

We have flooring planned for the summer sometime and no more carpet, so if your done before me.........

 

[Amar]

Not a bad idea with drilling holes in the floor and letting them sit on the concrete. Only thing is, I'm not planning to live there for long so would have to cover up all the holes in the floor before selling.

My main concern is how reflections will affect it. I don't want to have to put a massive rug down if it sounds too bright as I might aswell have just got carpet in the first place (if that makes sense).

 

[BenW]

I think most people here would say carpet or wood with a reasonable amount of carpet (I guess the more the merrier)

 

[sploo]

My main concern is how reflections will affect it. I don't want to have to put a massive rug down if it sounds too bright as I might aswell have just got carpet in the first place (if that makes sense).

You don't actually need a huge rug, but you will get benefit from treating the first reflection points (i.e. the points at which sound from your treble bounces off the floor* to your ear). If you have multiple listening positions (i.e. multiple listeners) then you will have many reflection points, so a large rug would be easier.

I went through these problems in a very reflective room, take a look here: http://spikyfish.com/acoustics/

* Or any wall or ceiling for that matter.