Does carpet deaden the sound too much?

Carpet certainly absorbs sound (as does plush furniture, etc), but absorbs 'life' out of it? I guess that's pretty subjective. I've always had wall-to-wall carpets and ain't no shortage of life coming out of my speakers, unless there's a shortage of life to the music. 

The proximity of the speakers to the floor means it is the very closest first reflection point, unless you have speakers sitting right besides walls (even if you have to downsize the listening triangle, bring speakers off the side walls if you can), it’s the closest surface.

Obviously I don’t know what you’re using, speakers, amps, front end or even the size of the room? If you have your speakers toed in, or what other room treatment you may or may not have?
The floor coverings would not be the first place I’d go hunting for the lack of lifelike presentation. And musical instruments are often bright, sharp and startling sounding in real life, so yeah I can see you’d want that. Flavor!

Your question, for any of us trying to respond with useful information will require enquiry - This opinion is based solely on the assumption that your response coming off the floor is predominantly off axis. The midbass and tweeters should not be firing at the floor, they should by varying degrees be aimed at your head (ears).
On axis for full impact, slightly off axis to attenuate brightness, with your listening apparatus on the same plane as the tweeters - in general.

If the floor entirely absorbed every bit of energy it was presented, it shouldn’t make for more than a meager portion of the voicing of your loudspeakers, if the tweeter is at ear height with you sitting in a standard listening chair.

Please by all means elaborate on what you’re using, and in what conditions it’s playing?

^+1^

If one is using line arrays or planers, then carpet has less of an effect.

One could look at the “Spinorama” measurements and basically the more directional a speaker is, then the less that the room affects it.

If the speakers are more leaning towards onmi, then that room better have some treatment.

I would go for a rug, and if the sound is too thin, then add some tone control… or a way to add more treble to direct path.

A severely over damped room, directional speakers, and nearfield listening is way different than omnis in a bright room.

So you probably need to consider more than just the rug, as a total system includes the room and the speakers.

@holmz - he's asking if too much absorption is a possible reason for the system not sounding lively.

I say, very unlikely that this singularly would be the culprit.

I thought my carpeted (Living) Room sounded pretty good. Then I removed it and installed hardwood and an area rug, Wow! Much better.I don't know that that is a rule. But I prefer the sound more now than with the w2w carpet