Audio room floor question

Sometimes I wonder if aging audiophiles all have high frequency hearing loss. Exposed concrete and wood floors all sound bright to me and these hard surfaces cause added reflections. The solution is to spend a fortune on room treatment or you can carpet the floor.

I often visit my friend who always has a great sounding system. While remodeling his home the carpet was removed and replaced with bamboo flooring. The sound became hard and edgy. My friend thought it sounded better because imaging improved, but everything else in the sound was degraded and this is with room treatment.

Catfishbob, A good solution I think. I've used concrete and carpet as well as suspended wood floors (3/4 in over 2" sub on 16 in spaced 2x12's) covered by a 9x12 thick rug w/pad. While the bass was not as tight with the suspended wood floor it sure looks a lot better! Acoustics aren't always everything. :-)

Rrog, re old folks loss of hearing of high frequencies and its effects is an interesting subject. I suspect that often younger folks may mistake the upper mids from the highs when they are fantasizing what the effect of loss of highs might mean for an old man (or woman).

IMHO, while this loss of high frequency information may reduce some of the highs needed for optimum hearing it also shifts the focus on sound to the upper mids and low highs. The net result is that old folks don't need to worry so much about high frequency reflections but take on dealing with the now more apparent mids/low highs. This could explain why so many old folks still have a pretty good sense of mid-range resolution and still appreciate the value found in good components not withstanding the loss of some highs. They may, I think, be confused by this apparent oxymoron, 'now that they have lost some HF hearing they still hear harsh 'high's and find it objectionable'. Just an idle thought..........

In terms of room acoustics, I've found my current thin+ dense carpet + padding over concrete foundation in my two basement rooms I use for serious listening to be ideal. Bass is mostly what you want it to be, not what the room makes it. That provides a lot of flexibility in terms of overall sound quality + tweaks. I would not want to go back to anything else. Maybe the best + most effective tweak I've ever had.

Don't mean to steal thread however I have a similar situation. Concrete floor currently covered by carpet and pad. Considering covering concrete with plywood floor. Have considered 2 options for this. 1) Lay plywood directly on concrete; 2) Lay plywood over 1 1/2 inch closed cell insulation. Thoughts?

Leave the carpet and pad. Read Mapman's post above. I also have carpet over concrete and it is the best sounding room I could ever ask for.