New flooring, different sound?

My current basement floor is some "commercial tiles" glued to the concrete and now I'm redoing it in laminated floor. Am I going to hear a difference? or since it's still a hard floor it will be pretty much the same?


on a side note... it's been a week now since I unplugged my HT :( hopefully I'll be done this weekend...

Tiles can certainly be more reflective than laminate, but niether absorb or diffuse sound. You'll have to let us know your clinical diagnosis.

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Originally Posted by popolz

My current basement floor is some "commercial tiles" glued to the concrete and now I'm redoing it in laminated floor. Am I going to hear a difference? or since it's still a hard floor it will be pretty much the same?


on a side note... it's been a week now since I unplugged my HT :( hopefully I'll be done this weekend...

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I don't think you will hear a difference. They are both VERY reflective surfaces, and are terrible for both music and hometheater.

I agree with Terrence...I put laminate flooring in my basement HT room...It's great, durable stuff, but you'll probably want to consider taming it down. I went to ye trusy ol' Walmart and bought a few surprisingly nice area rugs for cheap. Helped a ton! You'd be surprised.

I have marble floors which is very reflective. I have a large area rug that helps tame things down. Otherwise, it kinda echos. With the rugs, cottony couchs, drapes, etc. things are much better.

It's a nice Japanese Cherry color... I can't put a rug on it :eek: :D


I'll finish the walls and ceiling in foam and black cloth in a near future... I guess with only the floor as a "reflective surface" it shouldn`t be that bad.

well It did change the room a little... I had to lower one of my front 3db, raise the center 2db, lower a surround 2db and raise the subs ~4db... I didn't expect that kind of change :eek:

I recently moved into a somewhat similar 2 bedroom wall to wall apartment, albeit on the 2nd floor of a 3 floor building as opposed to being on the ground floor before in a 2 floor building. Anyway, because the living room is bigger and slightly differently structured my front speakers are now 11 feet away instead of 9' but I basically set up everything the same as before. My CD sound is slightly different- it seems to be missing a bit of presence from my previous apartment that I'm sure no one notices except me. The bottom line is, I started tinkering with everything and the sound was worse not better so I set everything back to what I had it originally set up on & am leaving things this way. If you tinker with anything, at least write down the previous settings if you find yourself getting even worse sound. Also, because I was on the second floor, I got 2 heavy isolation pads (matts) for my 2 subwoofers & so far they seem to be working because no one has compained yet. They're about $135 each postpaid & you can get them online at acousticalsolutions.com/products/isolation/pads.asp

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Originally Posted by popolz

well It did change the room a little... I had to lower one of my front 3db, raise the center 2db, lower a surround 2db and raise the subs ~4db... I didn't expect that kind of change :eek:

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Pretty much any change that you make to your room will affect the sound. Something as simple as rearranging your furniture can shift the sound absorption/diffraction patterns, and this will be reflected in your SPL readings.

But, the thing to keep in mind is that any change in the material used on any of your boundary surfaces will affect the sound because different materials absorb and reflect at differing levels for different frequencies.

Another issue that you won't be able to measure without a mic and some specialized software is the time domain. If you have strong room echoes that reflect back to the listening position close to full strength, it will smear the imaging and make the overall sound harsher. This is because in general, direct and reflected sounds that coincide within about 5 ms of one another will be interpreted by the brain as a single sound event. A reflected sound at full strength in close proximity to the direct sound will create enough of a time shift to decrease the coherency of the direct sound. It might not show up at all on a SPL or frequency response measurement, but you will notice it when you hear it. Generally, you want to either absorb or diffuse the sounds at the reflection points as much as possible to preserve the imaging articulation.

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Originally Posted by Woochifer

A reflected sound at full strength in close proximity to the direct sound will create enough of a time shift to decrease the coherency of the direct sound. It might not show up at all on a SPL or frequency response measurement, but you will notice it when you hear it. Generally, you want to either absorb or diffuse the sounds at the reflection points as much as possible to preserve the imaging articulation.

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It will show up in a frequency response measurement. It will show up as a boost or cancellation depending on how close the source is to a reflective surface.

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Originally Posted by popolz

It's a nice Japanese Cherry color... I can't put a rug on it :eek: :D


I'll finish the walls and ceiling in foam and black cloth in a near future... I guess with only the floor as a "reflective surface" it shouldn`t be that bad.

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Your speakers are actually closer to the floor than to any other surface around it. So treating the other surfaces without dealing with the floor just makes the floor bounce mode or node more noticeable. It is far wiser to treat the surfaces closest to the speakers where it will do the most good. Just treating the side walls and ceiling with foam is throwing good money after mediocre results. Most acousticians will tell you to carpet the floor, add room treatments where needed, and use diffusors on the ceiling. Good acoustics are a combination of diffusion and absorption, not just absorption. Too much absorption actually makes a room sound unpleasant, and just spotlights weakness in speaker design. Ever listen to music or watch a movie in a anechoic chamber? Not good.

actually my fronts are inches from the walls... :o

I was thinking of leaving the floor alone but covering the walls and ceiling with foam and fabric to absorb the sound.

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Originally Posted by popolz

actually my fronts are inches from the walls... :o

I was thinking of leaving the floor alone but covering the walls and ceiling with foam and fabric to absorb the sound.

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You are still going to have a very audible floor bounce that will now be louder because you dealt with the wall and ceiling reflections. It will now be the dominate reflection. And if your speakers are inches from the wall, I suggest you use VERY thick foam or you'll still have problems in the bass frequencies. In your situation its either good acoustics, or visual satisfaction and the expense of the acoustics.

thanks for the tip :)


I`ve read your post again and what are those diffusors you`re taking about? (audio thingy looking like an eggs crate ?)