Concrete or Wood floor in listening room?

Mike

Think of your floor as another wall. Concrete walls absorb nothing. A well constructed sub-floor will be just as good as cement in isolation from vibration.

Q_man

While I don't agree with your choice of sound room construction...ie> all block room, sounds interesting with horns in a " you are there..LIVE sort of way.

Dave

Dave,
You lost me with your statement "A well constructed sub-floor will be just as good as cement in isolation from vibration."
The floor I am planning will be cement, if it is just as good as a well constructed sub-floor why add wood over cement???

Mike

I would assume that wood over concrete wouldn't change all that much as opposed to carpeting that would absorb more of the sound. I just finished installing my own bamboo floors throughout my house and although I was working over a wood subfloor, in my search for flooring I saw that there were options for "glue down" wood floors. These are all the engineered type wood floors and actually go down quite easily. Dave is right regarding it being a bit like a puzzle installing it, but I found that it certainly wasn't rocket science and the only tools I needed were a tape measure, a $50 jigsaw, a rented pneumatic floor nailer, and a hammer and nails for the last boards that had to be "face nailed" I was able to lay about 250 sf a day including cuts for floor vents etc. Since you are going over concrete and would be gluing it down I think it would be even easier and faster for you.

Check out Ifloors.com very reasonably priced (I took a break from audiogon to research floors for a month or so with the same obsessiveness that we all do with our audio gear) They have a wealth of info on the site.

Personally...I like the look of wood floors with throw rugs...after pulling up my old carpeting, I have to say that it was so gross underneath that I will NEVER have wall to wall carpeting in any house I own.

I think I probably rambled on more than answering your question...sorry about that.

Merry Xmas

Dave,

I'm not saying that I disagree with your sub floor. If you built it the way you discribed, you did it right. It must be solid. I'm just not sure if it really has an advantage or not.

There is nothing special about my block walls, except they are built like your sub floor. Cinder blocks, 2x4's on sides, and foam panels in between, but covered with drywall. I can go outside the room with the all 10 speakers plus the subwoofer cranked up and place my hand on the outside of the walls and feel almost nothing. I have another room in my house that has stud built walls where I have a two channel horn system without a subwoofer. When I go outside the house and put my hands on the walls I can feel them flexing. I can also hear the music almost as well as I can when I'm in the room. I can't turn the volume up as much as I can in the theater room, because of room distoration. The walls and doors are moving the windows rattle, it's not good.

The theater room is 17' by 30' and has grown too small for all the speakers. I'm now drawing up a new room that will be 24' by 32'. I'm not saying the size is perfit for my system, but it should be better, and is all I have room for. Now you have me wondering if I should try your sub floor.

Sorry Mike

I should have been more clear. You have nothing to lose from the benefits that cement floors offer over most wood floors which are raised and set over a foundation or basement. Most have spring to them (not a good thing) along with other problems that result in poor vibration control.

A solid well constructed sub floor can offer many benefits over carpet/concrete only.

You can string wires.
It offers warmth to the room (I live in Michigan}.
It absorbs bass, concrete may be a good isolater but it is not a good absorber...pad and carpet absorb almost no bass.

Of course these are my opinions as A/B testing would be hard to do. Maybe Rives will see this thread and pipe-in on which method he would go with as he may have had a chance to do an A/B with before and after measurments.

Dave