Hardwood floors vs Carpet

All you guys and your "first reflection" nonsense. Care to guess what happens to the second reflection if you eliminate the first?

Khrys - If you think treating "first reflection" points is nonsense perhaps you should explain. There are alot of recording studios that could save money if they didn't have to use room treatments. I am seriously interested in hearing more details about your position - especially given the cogent explanations of acoustic theory in the Master Handbook of Acoustics. Just a guess, but I bet builders of orchestra halls take into account the acoustic characteristics of their designs. And while the orchestra does play on hardwood floors, the floor on which the audience sits is in fact carpeted - at least the one in which I have listened to the symphony orchestra once a month for the past two years is.

Khrys and I hashed this out in a thread you can search for called "Best Carpet Padding". I *thought* he had conceded. Guess not!

Imagine a Stradivarius playing in the center of your speakers. Would it sound more like a Strad with or without carpet? Obviously it would sound like a Strad with or without carpet in your room. Whether or not you liked it one way or the other is a matter of taste. Imagine your speakers are perfect transducers of Stradivarius violins. The room treatment similarly becomes optional and preferential. ERGO, the more imperfect your system's transduction the LESS preference and option you have in your room treatment. The obvious corollary is that the more room treatment you see, the less perfect the system's transduction is to the ear of the beholder. Maybe you wouldn't like the sound of a Stradivarius in your room in the first place.

Khrys: Give it up.