Best Carpet Padding

Metaphysics, I understand your point but think you missed mine. What you say about the floor's proximity to the drivers is of course correct. But overly damping the floor will simply change the SOURCE of the first reflection that hits the ears and thus smears the sound, usually to the ceiling or one of the side walls. There is ALWAYS a first reflection that smears the sound. Grossly imbalanced damping of parallel reflective surfaces can result in worse sound than no damping at all. Would you leave a left side-wall totally clear while treating the right side-wall with multiple inches of polyurethane and wool, simply because the right side-wall was closer to your ear? Why do the same to the ceiling and the floor? Is there something inherently different about vertical and horizontal reflections that I don't get? My experience is that BALANCED damping of parallel reflective surfaces sounds better than imbalanced regardless of the surfaces' spatial orientation. FWIW.

Khrys, I believe there is something VERY VERY VERY different between vertical and horizontal reflections. Stereo imaging is based solely on differences between left and right (Horizontal). Look where ears are located on most people.

Every thing about our current playback systems is based on left to right/horizontal differences. If you damped only the left, that would throw off the stereo balance. Even if you can hear vertical soundstage cues, they are solely based on horizontal differences in the soundfield reproduction.

If you damp only the floor(at least at the points of first reflection), you will eliminate at least one source of smearing with very little to no downside. Here, I am assuming that one has not overdamped the entire room.

Khrys, are you suggesting that if I have no treatments/ damping material on my walls or ceiling then I should not have carpet on the floor? Seems like it would get pretty bright, maybe I am not understanding you correctly?

Uh, I don't have a "top" or "bottom" output on my preamp. Also, my system is two channels? Where is your vertical and front-to-back info coming from? Left and right speakers ONLY that create the ILLUSION of depth and height. Just in case you didn't realize it, there isn't really any sound eminating from the center of your sound stage. It is being recreated in such a way that fools you into thinking there is someone there. My system is well capable of creating a 3D soundstage, but I can't walk up the Diana Krall and smooch her because she always dissappears by the time I get there.

It's all psychoacoustics. As I said, the floor should be damped to prevent first reflections.