Downward facing subwoofer on carpet, bad idea?

My 2 RELs are also on carpet and work better in my room than my 4 12" each bipolar subs. I use cones under the rubber feet of the subs; may or may not improve sound for you. I checked with Sumiko some time ago about whether carpet was better; the person I talked with said bare floor but the technical person who later emailed me said carpet.

Mo,

It's not a bad idea, but it's not optimum. Place a solid surface, like plywood or a large floor tile, under your sub and compare. More of the sub's output will be reflected into the room by the hard surface verses some of it being absorbed by the carpet and padding.

Greg

Good idea. Carpet and pad are pretty much transparent at bass wave lengths (a 11' long 100 Hz wave won't be phased by 1/2" of carpet and pad) but might do a little for distortion products and extra noises.

I tried my REL sub both ways, over carpet and next stting on a large tile, the carpet is my preference. It's easy enough to check yourself to see/hear which works best for you.

Shag carpet has a tendency to absorb more due to longer fibers...but the results are minimal...