Does carpet deaden the sound too much?

Yes I have a few sets of springs. Feet of silence as well as discs of silence and a spring manufacturers setup with ebony and crystal s.  I have a set of harbeth slh5 speakers. It was quite amazing how a speaker stand change made them better. The speaker stands are open and as we know with those speakers the box vibrates with the music. The also high end stands I had before the top of the stand was a full plate and the boxes didn't sound the way they were made too. In my opinion speakers are not made to sit directly on carpet for many reasons first off they are not solid in there footing set that way. The speakers have to be solid and not moving to get the correct image. Secondly the box was not designed to be set on an absorping pad. Just my thoughts. 

Regards Tom

Recording studios have more reflective construction because they are aiming to create a natural reverb that adds dimensionality to the sounds of instruments and helps them gel together in a mix.

Recording studio control rooms are designed completely differently precisely because you don't want lots of reflective surfaces superimposing their sonic signature on the output from the monitors.

The latter is true of listening rooms as well.

A lot of dependencies here.  If you want to experiment, get yourself a couple of sheets of 4x8 ABX plywood, and place underneath and in front of your speakers.  Do you like the difference in the sound?  A lot quicker and cheaper than tearing out your carpeting for wood or other hard surface flooring!

I have found that in general, the bigger the room, the less sound treatment it likely needs it. No idea what speakers etc you're running but as said previously, make sure the speakers them sit firmly on the bare floor or w/ spikes going through the carpeting. Then maybe try spacing the speakers further apart & then toeing in them  even up to a 45 degree angle. Also, try slightly angling up the speakers and inch or so in the front so the midrange & tweeters are more directly facing your your head.

Also, completely differently, try disconnecting all cabling & cleaning the cable ends & whatever socket or connecter they go into & replacing them. 

I have bottom ported OHM Walsh 4's sitting on carpet in a well damped room.  End result is accurate but not very dynamic sound.  

When speakers are placed on 16"X16" acrylic bases the sound changes dramatically; dynamic sound and considerable more bass, mid-bass not as accurate with minor coloration in male and female voices.

However, the overall satisfaction level is greater with the speakers on a solid base but I do need to tweak that mid-bass