red pill sanctuary
Senior Member
Today's misguidance is tomorrow's future!
Posts: 87
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The floor is carefully examined for any remaining staples after the carpet and padding was removed. All nails must be flush before the underlayment is laid down. The seams are sealed, and covered with heavy duty tape.
 
The laminate flooring is very thick at 12 mm. Along with the Quiet Walk under-layment, this flooring provides a nice sound barrier while providing a hard reflective surface which is ideal for this room. The goal is to not over-saturate the room with carpet which is more detrimental to the sound of the room than having a reflective surface. Carpet only destroys higher frequencies which we absolutely want to preserve. If you want to maintain a live vibrant space, this is the way to do it. The focus needs to be on the ceiling and all four walls to combat against reflections, and standing waves.
We know that standing waves are created by the buildup of nodes and anti nodes dispersed around the room. Destructive interference creates nodes, while Constructive interference is responsible for the buildup of anti-nodes. When two waves traveling in opposite directions collide, the result is anti-phase cancellation. This is why low frequency absorption is so critical to bring this problem under control. The lower the frequency, the more difficult to control. As the frequency gets lower, so does the length of the sound wave. These problematic waves require bass absorbers that are either extremely deep and large in size, or by means of mechanical function such as diaphragmatic units which reduce these waves with heat and dissipation.
So you see, that thin carpet is going to have absolutely zero effect upon the lower frequencies that need to be controlled. Let the massive bass absorbers do that job. Even the most massive units are limited in how much they reduce standing waves. It should be clear by now as to why it is not a good idea to have carpet and padding on the floor. The large reflective surface maintained by the flooring provides you with the ability to fine tune the rooms balance between the low end, and the high end of the frequency spectrum. If you lose that control, the room will simply be dead, and far from what you desire in an audio room.
This practice of balance is extremely delicate to deal with. This is why binary diffusion/absorption principles work so very well within a room this size. It is really a 50/50 balancing act that keeps things in perspective. Unless you have at least ten feet between you and a quadratic diffuser, this type of diffusion is not a good choice compared to the binary and ternary alternatives. They work with distances as short as three feet from the listening position. Now you see why they are the ultimate choice for a small room. Once you listen in a room treated this way, you will quickly understand once it is experienced.
There needs to be huge amounts of absorption within the room to counter and balance this effect. The trick is to provide this degree of absorption without creating a dead environment. There already exists the possibility of using so much absorption that the end result creates a dead room which is as bad as an overly reverberate room. There has to be a certain degree of reflective surface to keep things in check. Unless the absorptive material has the ability to slow down low frequencies, it is best left out of the room.
Perhaps it's use for random spot treatment might be desirable, but then again, maybe not at all necessary. Use the floor to walk on, and take care of everything else with corrective measures. What you do to the ceiling and walls are what matters the most.
I'm telling you from firsthand experience. I can assure you that this is a good rule to go by, one that won't disappoint you. The end results I am getting with this room are far better than what anyone would imagine for a room this size. Your ears are very good detectors of this fact. I am extremely satisfied with the acoustic signature of this room, leaving nothing in question. This of course is the same room that before any modifications were done, was a space that was unbearable to use as a music room. This room was horrible before I transformed it. Everything sounded bad and I could not listen to music in here. Now, that is completely the opposite situation.             This is a floating floor which has no mechanical fasteners what so ever. This is why this type of flooring requires a minimal space around the perimeter to compensate for movement.     This is the modified air return intake for the room. This leads through a hush box hidden between the dual leaf walls and sealed to the floor where the original intake was located.       It is time to start building the acoustic control devices for this room. I shall start with the ceiling.
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My Audio Journey Evolution, The Final Stage. (Read 3403 times)
