Effect of wood vs. concrete floor for sub performance?

Early B.

I was wondering what effect does a wood floor (with basement beneath it) have for bass performance vs. a concrete slab in terms of sound and feel?

Does your floor structure matter whether or not it's forward firing vs. downward firing?

When should stone tiles be used to undergird a sub and why?

Thanks.

Tour2ma

a wood floor is going to absorb acoustic energy and re-radiate in an uncontrolled manner. result? increased potential for muddy bass. the solidity of the floor is obvously set by the construction with the floor plan of the floor below a huge factor. worst case is the room below the same layout as the listening area, i.e., no supporting walls to add stiffness...

solid floor obviously reflects very high percentage of the energy.

the above is exactly what i experienced when i picked up my ca's. they were in a second foor loft over a garage as big as the loft. bass was awful; i was crestfallen. once home on a slab, the bass was beautifully tight.

i don't believe that the orientation of the driver is as significant a factor as it would seem to be.

stone is more useful to firm up a sub's footing on carpet than to overcome transmission to the floor...

good quesions not quite put like this before...

jdhdiggs

To add to Tour's comments, decoupling the sub from the floor with stone works because of the mass and stiffness of the stone directs the energy into the room instead of into movement of the wooden floor and to keep the carpet and padding from absobing pwoer in your second example.

Stone is used because it is cheap, looks good, and works but anything heavy and stiff should work just fine.

In my mind, a downward firing sub would have more of an affect, but I doubt the difference would be noticible.

Just my $.02 and there are many wiser people than I on these boards.

Violator

Just throw a little carpet under your sub. Im in the basement and i have a cement floor. I put a carpet under the dowfireing sub and it made it sound much much better

gidrah

deleted until further investigation.

Dr. Spec

Concrete slabs rule for tight, clean bass.

Wooden floors over open spaces sound boomy and loose. A powerful downward firing sub can turn a cheap wooden floor into a virtual trampoline.

Just jump up and down on a wooden floor. What do you hear? BOOM, BOOM, BOOM.

Just up and down on a concrete slab. What do you hear? Nothing.

If you are unfortuante enough to have a wooden floor and a powerful subwoofer, try placing an A/C unit concrete paver (or two) under it.

A heavy dense object will resists motion and will reduce the transfer of energy from the sub to the floor.

It's kind of like installing a mercury filled recoil reducer in your .460 Weatherby.

goingganzo

for music concrete is great but if you want some ompact a wood floor is great it will make your sub feel much beter than it is.

Dr. Spec

Originally posted by goingganzo
it will make your sub feel much beter than it is.

Exactly my point. It's a false impression.

A truly powerful sub on a concrete floor will still shake the room and waffle your pants. All you are feeling is air pressure, not floor vibrations. And this is how it should be, IMO.