concrete slab vs/ wood floor - pros and cons


Audiogoners, given the choice, with sound quality being a top priority, which choice is usually better?

I have been given the green light from my wife, bless her heart, to convert our stand-alone 1935-era garage into a dedicated music/theater room - woo hoo!! The fact that it's a separate structure will be ideal for playing loud movies whenever without bothering anyone in the house. The space is roughly 11.5 x 17' and I think it will make a terrific intimate theater. It's completely unfinished inside and has a sturdy stucco exterior. It's a very solid structure. However, the concrete floor has some large cracks lengthwise due to settling so it is pretty crowned in the middle. If I keep the concrete, I will need to build a floor over the slab and shim it quite a bit to level it out enough to install the underlayment. Headroom is limited as the walls are just over 7 feet, although the roofline peaks at just over 10' in the center, enough height to hang my projector.

If I removed the concrete, then I could dig down and build a normal floor over wood joists with a nice hollow space underneath. My house is built over a crawlspace with hardwood floors and I like the quality of bass and overall sound I get in our living room. The downside is that it would be more difficult to convert the garage back later to use for parking a car if we move. I was thinking it might be cool to design this type of floor and then have space below for insulation, wiring, etc. without sacrificing any height. Maybe the floor could even be designed as a sort of bass trap to help with the sound. Any thoughts? -thanks, -jz


john_z
John, tell Z you'd like to pay him to "tear out" the old slab for you. The laughs alone will justify the cost!! Just remember to invite us ;-) The driveway and garage floor of my little 1928 house in Hollywood, was poured at the time of construction, and jackhammering it out would have brought down the garage as well as the house, ha, ha!!
John, Tell NS to input only if he has some clue about the topic. Yes, the driveway and garage floor (in HW) were done at the same time, AS I describe. NOT the foundation. I will be bringing a wet saw, so there won't be too many laughs, just a VERY RED face! How about if the structure remains standing, NSGump pays? Two hours with the saw, two more with the Bobcat. Can MR. 837 answers afford that? John, please consider the source here, ever see anyone else with speakers four feet apart, who knew what they were talking about? ha,ha!! Z.
OH Yeah, and John, tell the city NSGump has a wet stamp for the redesign to the "peak". Most engineers would call it a ridge. Better to have NS there to smooth everything out with them... NOT! ha ha!! Z.
Zzzzzzzz -- I have far more than a 'clue' about both subjects, and more than enough experience to refute your bombastic assertions; many of the nice folks on Audiogon are already quite aware of my credentials and background, so troll away, you won't be here long ;-)
Gump, So I guess this means you are turning down my offer to help the member with the floor? Keeping you behind the monitor will likely be the safest for us after all. The nice members here USED to know your "credentials". They are beginning to wonder now, how much of the other stuff you have been spewing comes from your rather fertile imagination, rather than education or experience. How is that soundstage anyway! Gump is reinventing the mono revolution? ha,ha!! Z.