Acoustic benefits of floors

[Covenant]

The generally accepted advice is that room acoustic treatment is the most beneficial improvement to your listening experience yet many of us are guilty of ignoring it.
My little music room (only about 10 m2) has a ceramic tiled floor with a rug covering about a third of it. I am considering replacing it and thinking about options. What I would really like is a hardwood floor-the planks laid on a membrane (not laminate). Is hardwood going to be better acoustically to ceramic tiles?
Once I have replaced the floor I will move on to try panels and bass traps.

[seoirse2002]

I replaced my carpeted floor with real oak flooring just a few months ago and I couldent believe the difference.As the underfloor was concrete with vinyl tiles on top,I decided not to use the membrane,but instead used a fibre board underlay not only for good insulation but it had a proven impact sound reduction up to 19 decibels.
My room sound has opened right up and is much clearer and I also found that changing my speaker stands to the open type made a huge improvement,and I also found I could better place my speakers.

[Covenant]

Cheers George, that's good to know. The fibre board is a bit thicker I think. I need to be careful will levels as the hall has a slate floor and I don't want too much difference. Is the oak about 20mm thick?

[seoirse2002]

Hi,
Yea,the flooring is 18mm...but there are 2 types of underlay...the fibreboard is 5mm and what they call the "high performance" is 3mm(sound reduced by
20db....I went for high performance.
Soundwise,my room has opened right up,but I found it a bit echoey until I put the curtains and furniture in as previously all my furniture was metal+glass and no blinds or curtains on the patio doors,as you can imagine the sound was bouncing/reflecting all over the place.
Full length curtains and careful placement of speakers and different stands solved it for me.

[bobbasrah]

Hi Jerry, if the wood deck is for cosmetics and comfort off a concrete deck, you can put down T&G any thickness that will work so long as it cannot warp. If the original floor is old concrete at ground level but with no damp it will not pose problems. Any support mat will be thin, and not give much if any spring. The timber deck will slightly soften echo, again not much.
It should look nice and feel a little warmer under foot than ceramics however.

The impact on the room sonics will be minimal, they will reflect muchl the same. Diffusers and absorbers, furniture, rugs etc., curtains, shelving, acoustic panels, etc on the walls will be the only way to soften that IMHO....

[Covenant]

George says it will make a difference, Bob says it wont, there's only one way to find out... :lol:

[bobbasrah]

George says it will make a difference, Bob says it wont, there's only one way to find out... :lol:

Yep..... Let me put in this way Jerry, I have a minimum of 6m2 of 100mm compressed glass wool batt in the living room to dampen the effects and allow the speakers to do most of the talking. :eyebrows:
The batts help tone down room modes, but will never stop them. Even a concrete floor or wall will allow pass low frequencies through, just as you can hear the twit in the car park with his subwoofer impressing his mates ;)
Laminated decking is slightly more reflective than timber, even if LF attenuation is different (HDF v Wood) :eek:
It will change a little, but the floor will look nice and fell good irrespective. Job done...:cool:

[seoirse2002]

I cant say that either me or Bob is right or wrong without going into all sorts of technical stuff. I was messing around with my room for a long time and still couldent get it just as I wanted it until I called on a good friend who is a studio engineer and he sorted it all out for me...first thing he said was "those solid oak speaker stands have to go" he also took off all my lovely little wooden isolation cones from the amp and cd player and replaced them with some kind of a mat straight on to the granite(Ive got 3 granite plinths),suggested the curtains and moved a couple of well placed canvas portraits,and a few other bits and pieces so now my room acoustics are so much better and the sound is far better than it was. But I have to say,every room is different,so its a bit of a trial and error...good luck with it.

[Covenant]

I really don't expect it to make much difference but I hope my feet are a little warmer when I am sitting down!

[bobbasrah]

I really don't expect it to make much difference but I hope my feet are a little warmer when I am sitting down!

If you could squeeze a polystyrene slab under the floorboards the tootsies would appreciate it even more, but dare say that is impractical.:eyebrows:

[seoirse2002]

Oh Yes!
For sure your feet will be warmer and you will also have a new spring in your step!!:)

[northwest]

I used the T50 from these guys before I laid the floor:
http://customaudiodesigns.co.uk/acoustic-membrane.htm

Very knowlegeable and very, very helpful. They really went out of their way to sell me the right stuff and give me advice for proper installation.