Thick Carpet Improved Room Acoustics

Apocalypse

Standard Member
Joined
Aug 14, 2002
Messages
840
Reaction score
0
Points
173
Age
50
Location
Sheffield
As the subject of room acoustics is crucial to most people I thought I'd post my thoughts on the improvements I got after fitting a new thick carpet as opposed to the previous floorboards + thin rug setup. Before I go into the new setup I'd better show you what my previous room looked like.

This is my previous sweet spot for the sub sitting on a little rug, the larger rug is also visible but it only took up about 40% of the room's surface

The sub's position in relation to the corner

N.B - The room measures 3.1m x 3.3m

The sub's position in the picture was the only one that didn't suffer from any room boom, any nearer the corner of the room and the sub lost it's tight sound. Though the sound was indeed fantastic with that setup I knew I would never be happy with the aesthetic look. More and more I got the idea of seeing what a thick carpet + underlay would do to my room's problems. I knew from reading many articles that a small room suffers from reflections/standing waves so my room in it's current state was simply not ideal.

First Good Sign

When I cleared my room out and was sweeping the bare floorboards ready for the fitter I couldn't help but notice the echo in the room, for such a small room it was disconcerting to say the least. Once the fitter had done the carpet I went into the room to check it out and hello, where had the echo gone. The reflections had all but gone, such a difference from just fitting a carpet pleased me no end and I couldn't wait to try out my AV setup.

Good And Bad News

Once I set everything up I tried out the sub further into the corner, I played a bass heavy music CD as that is a good test for how tight the sound is, in this case it was Madonna's "Music". The difference in the overall sound was very clear to me. If I had tried the sub in that position with that song with my previous room the boom would have been unbearable. The bass was tight, it was chest pounding, the overall sound was warmer (less bright) but that was only in the position I normally sit in, when I sat to the left of the room (where guests sit) the bass was too prominent. This was not what I wanted, however if it affected one part of the room I knew there was a possibility it could be the shape of the room and there was nothing I could do about that..............or so I thought. If I could now place the sub near a corner and it could still be tight I now had the option of placing it next to the left front speaker which only allows a placement in the corner due to the room jutting out in that corner.

The Sub In The Corner Next To The Left Front Speaker

After severing my spinal column moving the sub into it's new position I fired up Madonna's "Music" again. This time I was sitting in the position which previously yielded the prominent bass, the sound was absolutely fantastic. Absolutely no overhang from the bass, the corner placement meant that the sub's output was now also increased, each bass beat travelled up my legs :eek:
Now the thought occured to me, what happens if I sit in the other position, if the sound was prominent in that position I'd be well and truly screwed. The result; no difference whatsoever in changing the seating position, the famous chant from Archimedes in the bath came to mind :)

My New AV Setup

Where The Sub Used To Be

Conclusion

The carpet cost me £347 and the difference it's made to my setup both aesthetically and sonically is a bargain of monumental proportions IMO. If you are curious as to how thick the carpet is well if I told you I had to shave half an inch from the bottom of my door and it still doesn't shut without persuasion you might get the idea :rolleyes:

Later on I'll do some sinewave tests and give some more feedback on just what the low frequency characteristics of the new setup are but I can tell you now that the 100-20Hz sweep in AVIA has changed from my previous setup.

Any questions or comments are welcome.

Regards
Phil
 
Yes, carpeted rooms improve room acoustics no end, mind you I have always found Supra or Kimber carpets to be better than standard;)

The added advantage is the room is warmer and the cat has somewhere to lie.

Always suprises me how people have these fantastic systems in big open bare floored areas, must sound terrible.
 
Glad to hear that your room acoustics have improved as coincidentally I have been considering placing some rugs or other material on my walls to try and dampen it down a little. I have a carpet and leather suite with a blind and curtains on the rear wall but suspect that the room acoustics might improve with something on the walls as they are only painted at the moment. Suggestions welcome from any one that has tried this and made an improvement.

Dave
 
Originally posted by Dangerous
Glad to hear that your room acoustics have improved as coincidentally I have been considering placing some rugs or other material on my walls to try and dampen it down a little. I have a carpet and leather suite with a blind and curtains on the rear wall but suspect that the room acoustics might improve with something on the walls as they are only painted at the moment. Suggestions welcome from any one that has tried this and made an improvement.

Dave

Yes done that as well, works on the sides of the walls adjacent to the speaker position, stops high frequencies bouncing around. Also worth putting directly behind your listening position. Itcan suck a bit of life out of the music and you end up turning up the volume to compensate.
 

The latest video from AVForums

Is 4K Blu-ray Worth It?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom