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Rugs from an audio perspective

Sloop John B

Sloop John B

And any old music will do…
I have searched and whilst there are a few rug threads, they seem to be dealing with high-end rugs.

After having rearranged my speaker / room somewhat the room is sounding brighter (amtico flooring) and I’m thinking a rug might ameliorate this issue.

Our house is designed to be low allergy hence the flooring so a second hand rug is out of the question. (I realise they can be cleaned etc. but my wife will want only shiny/new as she is the one with the asthma).

So is there any general rules or advice as to what I should be looking for/at?

I presume the optimal position is between speakers and listening chair but I’m open to being corrected.

.sjb
 
Cover as much of the floor as possible.
Be at least a medium pile, or at least not one of the typical thin weave things which are really mats rather than rugs. Material is irrelevant.

This video will give you an idea of how much difference a rug makes, he says the after is "furnished" but the furnishing is nothing more than a couple of cabinets and a rug. Note the rug in use.

Compare the very start with 22minutes.

 
The material is not irrelevant if your wife has asthma. Either it will need to be natural fibres e.g. wool, jute etc. or it will need to be synthetic. I’d suggest being clear on this first for your wife’s sake.

IME John Lewis has a good range of rugs and you can buy and return them if they don't ‘work with the decor’. Ditto IKEA I imagine.

Then it’s down to size, quality and thickness.

Just remember that, in true PFM tradition, if you post a picture of your hi-fi which includes the rug you’ll get lots of helpful advice on the aesthetic and (favourite phrase) where the rug ‘ties the room together’! Enjoy!
 
You might get better performance and/or better value by using acoustic underlay under a rug. Get a rug that looks good and isn’t allergy provoking, and stick really absorbent underlay underneath it. Here’s some:

soundstop.co.uk

Absorbalay 15 High-performance Acoustic Underlay

This easy to install high performance rubber soundproofing mat is designed to tackle both airborne & impact noise in even the most high traffic areas - Find out more
soundstop.co.uk soundstop.co.uk
 
Mark Packer said:
Just remember that, in true PFM tradition, if you post a picture of your hi-fi which includes the rug you’ll get lots of helpful advice on the aesthetic and (favourite phrase) where the rug ‘ties the room together’! Enjoy!
Click to expand...

Dude!

rug.jpg
 
Get a rug that suits and as above put some decent absorbing underlay beneath it, I have found that rugs on the wall are fabulous at stopping first reflections, but I have an opportunity to try I guess!

Ikea is good for inexpensive machine made carpets..

My friend Chris is closing his shop
in London and is having a very decent sale, so head to www.bazaarvelvet.com for some really good modern ones there, some are also machine made and I think 60 - 80 % off so somewhat of a bargain!

I would love to help anyone who needs to find a carpet, I’m mainly antique carpets and rugs, but have a wonderful collection - www.farnhamantiquecarpets.com

Good luck - they do make an amazing difference.
 
As a slight aside, having visited a couple of recording studios, I never noticed how the floor was made up, apart from the regulation Asian rug under the drum kit
 
..Oh just to be sensible about this - from an acoustic control point of view; considered alone a rug, doesn't offer much, with a pile of maybe 10mm depth, its only going to start adding absorption above ~4-6Khz - except that , is the very top of the mid-range to low-mid treble, an area where the ear is really sensitive* - and having such large area - it is going to help control tangential reflections in the room, too; esp including floor bounce from the speakers over there, if you have hard floor surfaces.

Excess high mid-treble energy is annoying, I find so more than anything else.

A Rug is not going to fix things if you have 6 hard surfaces, not enough upholstery, and no diffusion (open selves of books, LPs,, CDs, your collection of Gonks etc.)
But if you've a modicum of normal comfy living going on, but a floor finish you can't on-test otherwise breathe -through** - well yes... a Rug might well help tie ...things together.

;)


* all the information in speech, is up here, 2-4Khz - the sounds & harmonics of consonents: if you find sibilants unpleasant - look long and hard at how much hard surface your room presents as potential first reflection path from your speakers. Sidewalls, mainly - which is why I've long preferred listening on a rooms short axis - simply make the path difference longer, and the issue goes away. Or - it might just be spitchy speakers after all...

** serious point - acoustic absorption really amounts to that - frictional losses of air molecules in motion. If you couldn't breathe with resistance through it, its not providing any; and, the more, the better - to a point.
 
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Can't beat a good deep shag,
only prob is hanging it over next doors washing line, and hitting it with an old cricket bat,
the only way to clean it,
 
martin clark said:
..Oh just to be sensible about this - from an acoustic control point of view; considered alone a rug, doesn't offer much, with a pile of maybe 10mm depth, its only going to start adding absorption above ~4-6Khz - except that , is the very top of the mid-range to low-mid treble, an area where the ear is really sensitive* - and having such large area - it is going to help control tangential reflections in the room, too; esp including floor bounce from the speakers over there, if you have hard floor surfaces.

Excess high mid-treble energy is annoying, I find so more than anything else.

A Rug is not going to fix things if you have 6 hard surfaces, not enough upholstery, and no diffusion (open selves of books, LPs,, CDs, your collection of Gonks etc.)
But if you've a modicum of normal comfy living going on, but a floor finish you can't on-test otherwise breathe -through** - well yes... a Rug might well help tie ...things together.

;)


* all the information in speech, is up here, 2-4Khz - the sounds & harmonics of consonents: if you find sibilants unpleasant - look long and hard at how much hard surface your room presents as potential first reflection path from your speakers. Sidewalls, mainly - which is why I've long preferred listening on a rooms short axis - simply make the path difference longer, and the issue goes away. Or - it might just be spitchy speakers after all...

** serious point - acoustic absorption really amounts to that - frictional losses of air molecules in motion. If you couldn't breathe with resistance through it, its not providing any; and, the more, the better - to a point.
Click to expand...

This made me have a look at the room around me.



And it’s quite amazing (or perhaps it’s not) the difference even this makes



.sjb
 
martin clark said:
..Oh just to be sensible about this - from an acoustic control point of view; considered alone a rug, doesn't offer much, with a pile of maybe 10mm depth, its only going to start adding absorption above ~4-6Khz - except that , is the very top of the mid-range to low-mid treble, an area where the ear is really sensitive* - and having such large area - it is going to help control tangential reflections in the room, too; esp including floor bounce from the speakers over there, if you have hard floor surfaces.

Excess high mid-treble energy is annoying, I find so more than anything else.

A Rug is not going to fix things if you have 6 hard surfaces, not enough upholstery, and no diffusion (open selves of books, LPs,, CDs, your collection of Gonks etc.)
But if you've a modicum of normal comfy living going on, but a floor finish you can't on-test otherwise breathe -through** - well yes... a Rug might well help tie ...things together.

;)


* all the information in speech, is up here, 2-4Khz - the sounds & harmonics of consonents: if you find sibilants unpleasant - look long and hard at how much hard surface your room presents as potential first reflection path from your speakers. Sidewalls, mainly - which is why I've long preferred listening on a rooms short axis - simply make the path difference longer, and the issue goes away. Or - it might just be spitchy speakers after all...

** serious point - acoustic absorption really amounts to that - frictional losses of air molecules in motion. If you couldn't breathe with resistance through it, its not providing any; and, the more, the better - to a point.
Click to expand...
Spoken by someone who clearly didn't watch the posted video. The difference from just a rug are very clear and evident. The thing about science and engineering is that a theory is worthless if it doesn't match observed reality. So I'd be very interested how you'd explain the very clear change in the acoustics of the room in the video. Hint: the empirical answers are in the video.
 
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