ceramic tiles

[radio]

:scratch:hi laa,i posted this on blank canvas i think it should have been put here,sorry,we are redcorating our lounge,my hi fi will be going in here,i was wonderind if anybody could tell me, would a tiled ceramic floor be a good or bad idea for my speakers,sound wise,i have only ever had spiked speakers on a carpeted floor,when the room is ready i will post size of the room,thanx for any reply,cheers maria

[Jac Hawk]

it depends on soft furnishings, a hard floor will create an echo which you may not want, sofa's and rugs will help to soak up the echo though, it depends how big the room is and how much furnature you have in it, the rule is more soft furnishings less echo.

[Jac Hawk]

it depends on soft furnishings, a hard floor will create an echo which you may not want, sofa's and rugs will help to soak up the echo though, it depends how big the room is and how much furnature you have in it, the rule is more soft furnishings less echo.

[radio]

hi there,thanx for the reply,yeah there will be 2 sofas in theroom,i was looking for a clean cut,thats why im thinking tiles over carpet and i dont really want to spoil the sound of the hi fi,i will have to give this a lot of thought:scratch:thanx again for your thoughts

[Ali Tait]

It may well be fine. Our room is laminate flooring without a rug, and it sounds fine to me.

[radio]

cheeres ali.maria

[Reid Malenfant]

It may well be fine. Our room is laminate flooring without a rug, and it sounds fine to me.
Imo it may well not be & i'd be inclined towards it not being too hot in all honesty ;) Yes with a rug it should be ok, but wood tends to flex a bit & would not be as good a sound reflector as ceramic tiles.

Just think back to the time you went swimming at the local leisure centre, those tiles sure do act as good reflectors :doh:

A fairly thick rug would probably be mandatory ;) I know you could argue that a concrete floor would make a good reflector, well better than wood at any rate & i'm sure that'd be correct, ceramics are in a different league altogether though :scratch:

[Ali Tait]

Yep I know that Mark, but since none of us have seen the room, we can't possibly know how it's going to sound. There are plenty other factors that affect sound in a room, the floor is just one.

[Reid Malenfant]

Yes i tend to agree Ali, but turning it into a "perfect" sound reflector compared to everything else means it'll need to taming imo :eyebrows:

[Ali Tait]

Yep, hence me mentioning a rug.

[Alex_UK]

Lots of lovely big fluffy cushions Maria - if only us men would see cushions as sound absorbers we would finally understand what the point of them actually is! ;)

A bean-bag or two, if it will fit in with your decor will help, as will heavy curtains, and canvas pictures rather than framed glass. I'm in a similar dilemma as moving to wood floors from carpet imminently - you might find this thread that I started (http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?t=9260) concentrating on alternatives to speaker spikes of use, or not! ;)

[radio]

yes alex fluffy cushions should not be a problem,curtains,no probs also pics no probs,i checked out your thread and will be looking into all of these things,i thoght about 2 pieces of carpet under the speakers if the floor is tiled,as i said we,ve a bit to go before that ,you know us woman though ..impatient want it yesterday,tiles would look stunning,though i know carpet is better for sound,hope your hi fi sounds good with wooden floors,my friend has this and he put up heavy curtains and other things to improve the sound,i would like to thank everybody for there thoughts it is much appreciated,i will post pics when hubby has put up ceiling and removed all his junk,he was working for his boss today when he came home he said i thought you would have finished the ceiing for me:rolleyes:,iv been on this all day and listening to my tunes;)i dont think he could put up with beanbags alex the hi fi take up to much floor space , he keeps telling me,ali thanx again for your reply:cool:maria

[hifi_dave]

There's nothing wrong with a ceramic tiled floor, provided that a large chunk of it between speakers and listener is covered by carpet or a rug. I have just such a floor and with the rug, curtains and strategically placed absorbent panels, it sounds very good indeed.

Maria, IMO you shouldn't stand the speakers on pieces of carpet. Either carpet the whole room or use the largest rug you can to cover the floor but place the speakers directly on the floor.

[Welder]

Hello Maria.

I think a lot is going to depend on what’s underneath.

If it’s a concrete substructure then in all probability you’ll be bonding the tiles to the concrete and while you may get problems with reflected waves, vibration, which can often be more of a problem won’t be :)

If the tiles are going on chipboard or block board flooring sheets nailed to wooden joists then I would take this opportunity to screw the sheeting to the joist every 30 cm with decking screws (they tend to stay in) :eyebrows:

If you have floorboards underneath then a chipboard layer will be put down before the tiles and its worth screwing the floorboard to the joists and then screw, rather than nailing the chipboard sheeting to the floorboards. In theory this should stop individual floor sections moving relative to each other and decrease the chance of low frequency vibrations turning into sectional rattles :eek:

While rugs and carpet may help wave reflection, they don’t tend to do an awful lot with regard to vibration (think thin walled speaker enclosures without adequate bracing :eek:)

My view is in general higher frequency problems can often be sorted by absorption; large soft furnishings for example while vibration caused by low frequency tends to be more problematical.
Having fairly recently moved from a heavily plastered direct to brick wall, carpeted concrete floor and heavily insulated between floor ceiling, to a flat with suspended chipboard flooring, plasterboard on studwork walls and plasterboard on modern thin joist ceiling, the difference isn’t just noticeable, its heartbreaking. Its like having a 200 watt bass bin in a car :(:steam:

[radio]

hi there john very kind of you to give me all this info,the floor is solid concrete,the walls are brick,john has put insulating up for the new ceiling,he says it will keep heat in more,im thinking oh that could help the with the sound of my hifi,i dont really want to compromise my sound:(soory to hear your sonic problems,as my hubby is allways telling me we,ve just got to make the most of what we,got,when my bro come up i,ll get him to take some pics.thanx again maria:cool:

[Welder]

Oh that’s good then Maria. You should be fine with some soft furnishings and a rug or two then :)

Thanks for the sympathy. I’ve stopped crying now and made a few adjustments :lolsign:

[Ray]

I dislike hard floors in rooms where you listen to music,, I think the negitive impact of sound bouncing of these surfaces is all to often overlooked,, specialy when the wives demand the decor is a certain way.
In my opinion it is hard to overdamp a room!

[awkwardbydesign]

I dislike hard floors in rooms where you listen to music,, I think the negitive impact of sound bouncing of these surfaces is all to often overlooked,, specialy when the wives demand the decor is a certain way.
In my opinion it is hard to overdamp a room!

Well found. A nearly 5 year old thread! :rolleyes:
And it is perfectly possible to overdamp a room. I am sitting in one now. :doh: