[Greg Erskine]

HNY all,

I am building a house with the a concrete slab floor.

Do AKSA 55s refer wooden floors, carpet or tiles?  

thanks
Greg

[AKSA]

Hi Greg,

A HNY to you and your family!

In case you're not joking, I'd have to choose carpet!!

The big problem with all rooms is resonances.  They multiply dramatically with hard surfaces, particularly wood and tiles.

Cheers,

Hugh

[rosconey]

theres a new composite floor that looks like hard wood or tile , its has noise reduction built in -dont ask how but it works.
you tap it with a hammer and it makes very little noise, and tap the solid hardwood next to it and it rings.
i tried to get a few hundred feet for in home trials(mine) but the salesman at the seminar wouldnt bite
it was designed for big  areas like ballrooms and halls to help reduce sound when occupied.
sorry but i cant remember the name

[Tinker]

theres a new composite floor that looks like hard wood or tile , its has noise reduction built in -dont ask how but it works.
you tap it with a hammer and it makes very little noise, and tap the solid hardwood next to it and it rings.
it was designed for big  areas like ballrooms and halls to help reduce sound when occupied.
sorry but i cant remember the name

This stuff is cool, but carpet is good on top of this in a listening room to get rid of the "specular" audio reflections.

T.

[andyr]

HNY all,

I am building a house with the a concrete slab floor.

Do AKSA 55s refer wooden floors, carpet or tiles?  

thanks
Greg

Hi, Greg,

The "rules" of room acoustics are not specific to AKSAs or any other particular amp.

Concrete floor is better than a suspended wooden floor, which gives you "boom" ... particularly if you're into subs.

Yes the floor substance you mention might be good for dance-hall type spaces (and better than wood) but I reckon carpet on top of concrete slab will give you the optimum domestic environment.

BTW, room dimension ratios are also important for good sound.  You can use the "golden ratio" which is H:W:L  = 1:1.618:2.618  but there is a s/sheet on the Web which was put out by THX, which gives you the ability to play around with a wider span of dimensions to see what affect they have.

I can send it to you if you email me.

Regards,

Andy

[Malcolm Fear]

Ahh, rooms.
My last place was a thick rug on top of a wooden floor. I liked it.
I am now in a fully carpeted, curtained room, with soft absorbant lounge chairs. It is okay, but I don't think my system sounds as good as it did in the "live" room.
How is your house coming along? I have my nice thick rug in storage. You are welcome to borrow it, to see if it is AKSA friendly in your situation.

[Greg Erskine]

Thanks everyone for your opinions.

In the last six months I have been moving around house sitting and have be amazed at how different my system sounds in different houses.  In one house, small rooms full of cluttter, it sounded terrible. All have had carpet.

AKSA said:

In case you're not joking, I'd have to choose carpet!!

Would I joke to you.   Seems like carpet or thick rugs are the go.

rosconey, the composite floor sounds interesting but is it for commercial situations (ie expensive)

andyr said:

The "rules" of room acoustics are not specific to AKSAs or any other particular amp

I know that but I thought I better mention AKSA at least once as this is the Aspen amps forum.

room dimension ratios are also important for good sound. You can use the "golden ratio" which is H:W:L = 1:1.618:2.618 but there is a s/sheet on the Web which was put out by THX, which gives you the ability to play around with a wider span of dimensions to see what affect they have.

Its a little late for me to redesign the rooms. I think "project" homes have a different golden rule though, "how do we get the most money for the least amount of materials and design."

I'll keep the "golden rule" in mind when deciding which room my hifi should go in.

Malcolm said:

My last place was a thick rug on top of a wooden floor. I liked it.

I agree, I think your system sounded more special (is that good english) in your old home. I wonder if your new hifi room is too narrow? I think your system also sounded really good setup in that office at AKSA fest.

I once setup my system across the narrow sides of a room and it was unlistenable. When I turned everything longways it sounded fine.

How is your house coming along? I have my nice thick rug in storage. You are welcome to borrow it, to see if it is AKSA friendly in your situation.

I've got a slab of concrete and wooden frames so far. Its a bit breazy at night.    Looks like it won't be completed until May or June. thanks for the offer of the rug, I'll wait to see what I decide on the flooring.

Thanks
Greg

[Tinker]

Ahh, rooms.
My last place was a thick rug on top of a wooden floor. I liked it.
I am now in a fully carpeted, curtained room, with soft absorbant lounge chairs. It is okay, but I don't think my system sounds as good as it did in the "live" room.

Hi Mal,
    an interesting observation you have made - good ears!
A reasonably common recording studio monitor room design is the LEDE - which stands for live-end, dead-end. In this scheme a very dead space is built behind the speakers (as well as floor and ceiling), but a realtive reflective "live" surface is built behind the listener. This confers imaging and articulation benefits, but doesn't suck the life out of the sound as a completely padded-out room.

Very Zen. Take the middle way in all things...

T.

[andyr]

Hi Mal,
    an interesting observation you have made - good ears!
A reasonably common recording studio monitor room design is the LEDE - which stands for live-end, dead-end. In this scheme a very dead space is built behind the speakers (as well as floor and ceiling), but a relative reflective "live" surface is built behind the listener. This confers imaging and articulation benefits, but doesn't suck the life out of the sound as a completely padded-out room.

Very Zen. Take the middle way in all things...

T.

Tinker, hi there.

In another Web forum ... I think it is "Rives" on "Audio Asylum" ... there's bin some discussion about LEDE.  If I remember correctly, the "poster" said this was a concept invented by the recording industry (you should be able to confirm this!!) which doesn't necessarily apply to domestic hi-fi installations.

Particularly with planar speakers like my Maggies, the "live" end should be behind the speakers!  If you have conventional (box) speakers then the reason for having a dead end behind the speakers is to stop some of the reflections.  However, I have to suggest these are "second reflections":
*  "first reflections" which hit your ears are those coming from the side walls - there should also be some "accoustic padding" here, where the reflected ray (of sound) bounces off the side walls and hits your ears.
*  "third reflections" are behind you, to stop that sound "ray" from hitting the wall behind you and being reflected into your ears.

If you stop these reflections then you get an improved sound stage.

BTW, I'd have to query your invocation of Zen as "the middle way in all things".

"The sound of one hand clapping" is hardly the "middle way"!!

Regards,

Andy

[Tinker]

Hi Andy.
3 quick comments.

Yes, it's a recording thing.

You are right about LEDE being bad for magneplanars. As you know I am a phoenix devotee, and LEDE is no good for dipoles eiter... LEDE is really for conventional drivers.

Zen, wasn't quite right either... According to my dictionary of comparative religeon the middle way is a traditional Bhuddist concept.

T.