Best Carpet Padding

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.

Metaphysics, you now astonish me. You state that vertical and front-to-back info (ie,soundstage) comes ONLY from the left and right speakers. I must disagree. By your logic headphones should have the best 3-D imaging (pure left-right signal to the ears, correct?). Suffice it to say they do not. It is the complex interaction of the primary signal of a speaker in 3-dimensional space with its multiple reflections that creates the illusion of a soundstage. And it is easy to grossly imbalance these reflections by overdamping only one of the six parallel reflective surfaces found in the usual listening room(ie the floor). I never said the floor shouldn't be damped. My point is that it can be OVERDAMPED which will skew but not necessarily improve the soundstage. That's what this thread was all about: thick vs thin padding. Thin might sound better.

A "psychoacoustic" example: Unless your room is anechoic there will ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS be a first reflection from SOMEWHERE! Moving it off the floor by overdamping it simply changes the source of the first reflection, which may NOT improve the soundstage.

Meta, with all due respect, if you can't smooch Diana perhaps your carpet padding is too thick.

Glad I can astound and astonish. To my knowledge, you can still get very nice imaging in a anechoic chamber (the ultimate overdamped condition). It may sound "dry", but the imaging will still be there. By your reasoning, one would not be able to get depth and height with headphones or in anechoic chamber. But this is not the case.

As to my left and right argument, I was countering your assertion that damping the floor is no different than damping one side (e.g. left). I still maintain that this is faulty logic.

Metaphysics, your meta-logic is meta-evident. If I'd interpreted your meta-English sooner, I'd have called myself collect and reversed the charges. And saved us both the trouble. Well, maybe one of us.