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Type of flooring in a listening room?

Hi, I am considering new flooring in my listening room. I currently have wall to wall carpet in a 14x22 ft. room. The carpet is on a concrete slab floor. The speakers sit on the long wall about 4 ft. from the back wall and about 8 ft. apart. My listening seat is about 8 ft. from the speakers. 

I am considering a Vinyl Plank flooring called COREtec Plus. It has a thin layer of cork backing for sound deadening, but I think this is mainly for footfalls when walking across the floor. Does anyone have opinions on the effect of sound with a vinyl plank flooring vs. wall to wall carpet. I do not want to put up sound absorbing material all over the room. I know that would not go over well with my wife. 
slowhand
grinnell
1,087 posts
 
Yes get a nice Persian rug put it right in front of the speakers

like the flooring you are considering

wall2wall is so 70's  :)

marqmike
839 posts
 
Folkfreak has a good point about natural wool. It has much more natural sounding qualities. It also is tons more comfortable, and lasts about 3-5 times longer. However if you have a lot of humidity in your area and your basement, if that is where you are talking about, I would not suggest wool carpet or even carpet in general. But if it is not highly humid and you do get wool, your wife will probably be really happy with it.
czarivey
5,912 posts
 
Laminate floors are super cheap, very easy to clean, nice looking and long lasting. They're neutral to sound. Area rug on top is good idea. Wool carpet is the worst for health. It releases the most of dust in the air that you breathe and they're hard to clean. The more I deal with any other type of floor, the more I'm fan of laminate.
ghosthouse's avatar
ghosthouse
4,303 posts
 
Slowhand - Things will absolutely sound brighter and livelier (maybe too lively) going from carpet to vinyl plank flooring.  We did a refresh on our finished basement.  Removed berber w/padding over concrete slab.  Installed modular subfloor moisture barrier, Bella sound absorbing underlayment and finally, engineered hardwood flooring.  This caused a major change in sonics (though expected) as noted above.  For me, large area rugs & GIK acoustic panels were essential for happy listening.   Good luck with your changes.   

don_c55
1,025 posts
 
Wall to wall carpet, or very large throw rugs!
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