Hardwood floors vs Carpet

I agree with Subaruguru ... when we shifted from carpet to hardwoods, I was not happy with the increased brightness, and I thought the imaging suffered also. But, I don't have it set up exactly as before, so I thought maybe some of it was my imagination. Also, I found it more fatiguing after a while and my listening durations decreased. There is no way to fit permanent area rugs into the decor at the right locations. I keep foam panels under the sofas and pull out for "critical listening" sessions and place at floor reflection points - that seems to help. I'm sure I could do better with some more effort, or different speakers or electronics. Think we're moving soon and, although I love the look and easy maintenance of the hardwoods, my listening room WILL be carpeted again.

Hardwood is great for live music. SUCKS for audio reproductions though! Replace that carpet with some new carpet in your listening room. I can say from experience that hardwood is floors are going to cost your system, if you care about sound quality. You'll spend a fortune on room treatments and oriental rugs trying to patch the problems the hardwood creates.

If hardwood is good for live music why should it NOT be good for electronically reproduced music if the transduction is accurate? On the other hand I think carpeting Carnegie Hall could be the solution to the current discrepancy between live and reproduced music as long as afficionados of the latter never actually listen to the former.

Khrys: How do you figure out the first reflection points from a 101 piece orchestra?

Khrys -

Reverberant floors and walls help carry the sound from a tiny instrument all the way to the back of the hall. This is good so you can hear the music from far away.

Some reflection in your listening room is good, but too much is bad because you loose the accuracy of the recording. You are sitting right up close next to the speakers and you want to hear the music accurately from the speakers, not the walls.