Where should I put my rug?

[Jeff]

My living room has a ceramic tile floor. I am going to get a rug to absorb some of the high frequncy sound. If I have floor standing speakers, where should the rug go? I am going to put it under the furniture, but how close to the speakers should it go? Should I run it right up to the speakers, or stop it a few feet short of the speakers? I will set the speakers directly on the ceramic tile floor, 20" from the front wall.

 

[Jeff]

so it would be good to have about three feet of exposed hard floor directly in front of the speakers?

 

[Rethep]

I would say yes!

 

[Rethep]

When you want to influence the sound, a rug will make the sound dryer (less unwanted reflections) by damping the mid to high freq.. They bounce farther away from your speakers because higher freq. beam straight ahead compared to lower freg.

So i.m.o. best place for your rug is center between your listening position and your speakers or a little more to your listening position.

 

[Jeff]

Thanks. That helps a lot. I think my room would look better that way. I wanted to confirm before I bought the rug.

 

[jjbomber]

where should the rug go?

On the floor. Put it on the ceiling and it will fall off.

 

[steve_1979]

Google "mirror points sound on sound" and read the first few links that come up.

Sound on Sound is a pro-audio magazine. They have some very informative non BS articles on the subject acoustic room treatment.

 

[steve_1979]

My living room has a ceramic tile floor. I am going to get a rug to absorb some of the high frequncy sound. If I have floor standing speakers, where should the rug go?

Put a mirror on the floor and sit in your normal listening position. Then move the mirror until you can see the speakers tweeter in the reflection. This is where the rug needs to go. You may need to use two rugs.

The the sound reflections that you want to remove are reaching your listening position by reflecting off the floor at the same position as the light reflections between you the floor and the tweeter. Also remember that there are three more 'mirror points' on the side walls and ceiling aswell so if you can put any absorbant material at these points it will help the sound even more.

 

[Covenanter]

Interesting stuff Steve. Thanks.

Chris

 

[MajorFubar]

My living room has a ceramic tile floor. I am going to get a rug to absorb some of the high frequncy sound.  If I have floor standing speakers, where should the rug go?

Put a mirror on the floor and sit in your normal listening position. Then move the mirror until you can see the speakers tweeter in the reflection. This is where the rug needs to go. You may need to use two rugs.

The the sound reflections that you want to remove are reaching your listening position by reflecting off the floor at the same position as the light reflections between you the floor and the tweeter. Also remember that there are three more 'mirror points' on the side walls and ceiling aswell so if you can put any absorbant material at these points it will help the sound even more.

+1 this is the answer I would have given as well

 

[Jeff]

If the tweeters are at the same height as my ears then that should occur at the midpoint between me and the speakers.

 

[MrTeroo]

Which rug?

 

[steve_1979]

If the tweeters are at the same height as my ears then that should occur at the midpoint between me and the speakers.

Theoretically it should.

 

[Rethep]

If the tweeters are at the same height as my ears then that should occur at the midpoint between me and the speakers.

Yes they should be about ear-height for optimal listening! So keeping the rug in the center will be alright then.

This advise about the use of mirrors is more useful for the sidewalls, but don't overdampen your room!

 

[Jeff]

On a different but related note, I found out that you can buy homasote board to make sound absorbers for high frequncy sound. These can be placed on walls or on the ceiling. You can cover them with fabric or paint them. They are very affordable.

 

[steve_1979]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQLDIrS8deU

 

[hybridauth_Facebook_664715932]

On the floor, would be my guess or if the rug has good patterns you could try it on the wall. Stay away from the ceiling, might look a tad strange. Sorry only joking, couldn't resist.