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Concrete floor and stereo listening room

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Greetings all,
I have been surfing the net on this and am still scratchin' my head. I am building a 11.5 X 17 X 7.5 listening room (2 channels) that will also work as a HT (same audio system, no multi-channel). Two corner walls are concrete blocks over concrete foundation walls (the concrete blocks was in fact the old foundation, the previous owners just made a new foundation around it). These two walls are framed with 2 X 4's finished in drywall. The two other walls are newly made, according to the recommendations for a listening room: staggered 2 X 3's filled by Roxul, two sheets of drywall on resilient bars on sonopan.
The thing is that I don't know what to do about the concrete floor, and I can't find a definitive answer on the net. For a stereo listening room/ 2-channels Home Theater, wich is better: 1. carpet+subcarpet directly on the concrete floor or 2. bulding a sub-floor with 2"X 2" + Roxul in between, covered by a 1/2" plywood, covered by a sub-carpet and a carpet ????
I read some places that option 1 is better and other places that 2 is best. I am about to finish this room and need advice.
Thanks
Hugo Tremblay
Jonqui�re, Qu�bec

Follow Ups:

Re: Concrete floor and stereo listening room-- Answers please ... - Arist�e 14:14:09 01/12/06 (7)
I would apreciate an answer please before finishing my audio room.
THANKS
Hugo Tremblay
Jonquiere, Qu�bec
- Re: Concrete floor and stereo listening room-- Answers please ... - Inmate51 17:49:51 01/22/06 (2)
  I tend to be more blunt that some other folks. So: If you really wanted to have a listening room with nice acoustics, you should have thought it through before starting construction. Trying to fix or salvage a room's acoustical properties when half of the surfaces are already done, and you're in a hurry to finish the rest, is not the way to achieve good results. And it doesn't do you any good to want quick answers on a forum for free.
  (Do I hear any disagreement, Ethan?)
  - Re: Concrete floor and stereo listening room-- Answers please ... - Arist�e 17:57:26 01/27/06 (1)
    Inmate51
    indeed you are more blunt than other folks, but that's ok. I understand your point. Don't worry, I figured out everything I could think of berfore beginning the construction of the listening room,. The only thing I wasn't able to find an answer was that floor thing. So I began the room anyway, since the choice of flooring would not change anything for the rest of the building process. In fact, there is no salvage or fixing of the acoustical properties of the room in this case, since I build it "buy the book".
    As for asking for advice for free on an internet discussion forum, I don't understand what's wrong with that. Isn't it the purpose of a discussion forum, a place to discuss things ? Of course I know that internet is great source of informations, but not all the informations you find on it are reliable. You easily can find a thing and it's opposite.
    
    Hugo
    - I said... - Inmate51 14:20:28 02/04/06 (0)
      ..."want quick answers"..., not just "answers".
- Re: Concrete floor and stereo listening room-- Answers please ... - Ethan Winer 09:25:47 01/13/06 (3)
  Hugo,
  > I would apreciate an answer please before finishing my audio room. <
  This is outside my area of expertise. You can probably get an answer in the Studio Construction section over at the John Sayers web forum:
  www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/index.php
  --Ethan
  - Re: Concrete floor and stereo listening room-- Answers please ... - Arist�e 16:52:16 01/13/06 (2)
    Ethan, I checked the link you provided, and I am wondering if what is suggested for a recording studio is relevant to an audio room in a basement, as described in my first message...
    And you guys out there with basement listening rooms, can you help me by sharing your experiences with carpet on concrete and with floating floors ?
    It would be greatly apreciated. I am almost finished with the ceiling, and all that will be left will be the flooring, so I need to make up my mind quickly...
    Hugo
    - Re: Concrete floor and stereo listening room-- Answers please ... - Ethan Winer 07:40:25 01/14/06 (0)
      > I am wondering if what is suggested for a recording studio is relevant to an audio room in a basement <
      Of course - there's no difference. Either way you want to be able to play music and have it sound good, and not allow sound in or out of the room.
      --Ethan
    - Re: Concrete floor and stereo listening room-- Answers please ... - ss9001 05:00:44 01/14/06 (0)
      I'm not an acoustics expert, just someone who happens to have a music/HT setup on a concrete floor.
      The bass from my subwoofer is tight, and seamless with the output of my main front speakers. I just have the usual padding and carpeting; carpeting is one of the polyester-types also used for commercial purposes.
      This may help u decide: when I first setup the subs, I used the DVE test sweeps and discovered there were rattles and buzzing sounds in the room at specific frequencies. I tracked down and fixed each one by careful listening and use of weatherstripping and felt pads to isolate the vibrating surfaces. Several rattles were related to the windows, but there was a persistent buzzing from one of the walls next to a utility room. The cause was vibration between several wall studs and the drywall, which I managed to fix by stuffing vinyl weatherstripping in the gaps and sealing with a lot of sprayed foam.
      From this experience, in my Very Humble opinion, you'd be better off with the solid, concrete floor than a sub-floor or platform with nailed boards that could vibrate, work loose, etc. I would not want to have to troubleshoot a floor vibration problem. And a good sub will produce enough SPL to energize all these room resonances.
      Hope that helps.
      Now if an expert could help with my diffusion ceiling, that would be great!
      ss9001

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