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Sound room flooring advice needed

I'm planning a remodel of my family room, which is on a concrete slab, currently covered with 50-year-old linoleum. I'll be installing engineered hardwood flooring.

What installation method is better for sonics, glue-down or floating? My main audio system resides in this space, doing double-duty as a 2.0 home theater. I listen to vinyl 90% of the time, so I'm also a bit concerned that floating could introduce footfall issues.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Bill
wrm57
pbnaudio's avatar
pbnaudio
1,613 posts
 
I would think floating, the flooring needs room to expand/contract with temperature and humidity level.

My old listening in my old house had a Birch floor it was installed on a thin rubber mat especially designed for the purpose, your installer should be able to advise you.

Best of Luck

Peter
zd542
5,339 posts
 
This may sound a bit extreme but its something that may work for you. It may be a good idea to not put wood flooring where your equipment rack will be. That will allow you to put the rack directly on the concrete, or put something else down in that spot that will be better for your TT. You can probably put some moulding around the rack so the hole is not visible. If you know where your speakers are going to be, the same thing might work for them, as well.
stringreen's avatar
stringreen
6,463 posts
 
Floating a floor will give you unwanted resonances. Carpet over carpet pad on cement would be my choice. Spike the speakers and the equipment cabinet.
zenblaster
504 posts
 
You are going to need a vapor barrier before you do anything(concrete wicks moisture). Home centers sell an excellent product that comes in 2'x2' interlocking panels that leave you with a great subfloor on which you can use any traditional flooring. Conventional hardwood over this would make an exceptional base and floor for acoustics.
puiu
31 posts
 
Hello Bill,

Definitely glue down. Floating would create an "isolation platform" between your speakers' cabinets and the slab which will possibily induce unwanted resonances back into the cabinets. Additionally, the floor will not allow your speakers' feet or spikes to couple into the floor/slab mechanism for positive dynamics coupling into the room. A floating or a sprung floor is also never good for a turntable.

I hope this helps.

Regards,

Dan
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