[El Tio]

Happy Holidays!  During Thanksgiving we had guests staying over. I dragged out a 3" thick memory foam king size mattress topper that we stopped using and put it on the living room floor for the kids to sleep on. After they left, with the topper still on the floor I had a listening session and was amazed at the improvement in soundstage. The floor in this room is tile with a thin throw rug in the center. I knew that it was an acoustic problem but really had no options given it is the family room. I did some research on the type of foam that is used and determined it is closed cell which is not ideal but can improve low frequency. There was no arguing with the improvement it made. I cut the topper in half so I can roll it up and put it away easily but can toss them back in there when I have the house to myself and want to do a long listening session. I stack one on top of the other for 6" thick. At some point I will probably get out the microphone and take a measurement of the room to see if the change is measurable.

System:
Aurender N150 streamer/server
Lampizator Baltic 3 DAC with Cryotone tubes
McIntosh C2600 preamp also with Cryotones
McIntosh MC462 SS amp
McIntosh MPC1500 pwr controller
Spatial M3 Sapphire speakers with custom crossovers. GAIA II isolation
Interconnects: Audioquest and Moon Audio
Speaker Cables: Anticable 3.1 (I love the Bass these bring over more expensive cables)
Pangea Audio Power Cables
Dedicated 20A overspec AC circuit
Various room treatments

 

[mresseguie]

Great discovery!

My wife would have a fit if I did this, but I would like to try something similar in my living room.

[toocool4]

El Tio try using a large area rug and thick underlay underneath it. Not intrusive and I am sure your wife will not mind especially if you choose a rug she approves of. 

If you click on my system on the left under my avatar, you will see my room. That is how I deal with the floor.

[Cloud.sessions]

@El Tio

lol I love the craziness. I’ve done similar things in the past two. 

The floor reflection is actually the most critical in your room as it’s usually close enough in time to the speaker that our brains can’t decorate it as a reflection. We hear that as a smearing of transients and sound stage focus. A similar thing happens if you put your speakers too close to the side walls.

My recommendation is get a good thick rug that does a good job at absorbing sound. I found really good luck with Thomasville Marketplace Luxury Shag Rugs that you can get at Costco and other retailers. They do a great job at absorbing from about 400 Hz and up, and yes, I’ve measured it.