Flooring advice for basement HT room

john_FE · 01-14-2006, 12:52 AM

Hi everyone,

In my new house I will be building a new HT room in the basement. I have an HSU vtf3 and I love base. It will be a smaller size, 13x17 or so. I am a new DIY so I have done some reading which of course confused me even more.

Option 1: 2x4 sleeper subfloor. carpeted

Option 2: Subfloor panels, carpeted:
http://www.diynetwork.com/diy/hi_ba...3891160,00.html

Option 3: 2x4 subfloor stage with the sub on the stage and the rest of the room carpet over concrete.

I imagine option 1 will be the best for base and feeling that vibration? Someone told me about a sand filled stage under the sub but I dont understand how that works.

I posted on another forum and got confused about why you would not want vibration from the sub since some of the responses indicated anti vibration.

Any help guys?

Brian Osborne · 01-14-2006, 01:28 AM

the idea is a subwoofer is made to move large volumes of air. by isolating the sub from the rest of the floor, it will help keep the sub from wasting energy by shaking the floor or worse yet, shaking ON the floor. subs themselves are good at bass that you hear, but not very good at tactile. weighting your sub down with help too, keep your sub box still, let the woofer do the moving.
If you are REALLY into bass, check out shakers to complement your sub. either aurora or clark. with a stage you can add a certain element to your bass. While I am in the early stages of a clark install, what I've heard and felt thusfar has impressed me... a lot

john_FE · 01-14-2006, 01:48 AM

What will bass shakers do for me that the HSU wont? How are they hooked up to the receiver? Where would I place them?

Brian Osborne · 01-14-2006, 01:58 AM

check out what clark has to say at...
http://www.clarksynthesis.com/whatis.php

they hook up to your reciever either via lfe or off your front mains.

placement is either in the floor, or in your seating. mine is in the stage that my seating is on. you can see it here
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/gall...g2_itemId=4443
where the 2 levels of my stage come together, there is a main support beam. on that beam, all other joists are attached. in the center of that beam is the shaker. the idea being that anyone or anything on the stage will FEEL the bass - low/mids in their feet/butt/hands, not just hear it, or feel it in your chest like you do with typical subs.
Lots of fun, for not a lot of money, especially if you are building from scratch.
I've got an amp that i can remotely control crossover and volume. so if it is too much for my wifes (girl) movies, I can turn it down. then back up again when I watch explosions.

john_FE · 01-14-2006, 02:35 AM

looking at your pics I see you are a fan of option 1, a full subfloor, what did you place your main sub on, or where rather.

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john_FE · 01-16-2006, 12:23 AM

On other forums, it has been suggested that carpet on top of conrete would be the best for sound quality. hmmm. I could build a stage for the TV and then a seating stage with bass shakers. If I cant swing that (trying to get swan dipoles to complete my 7.1) then I can live with the HSU on concrete in a room that small. It was fine in a 16.20 room turned half way down. Why do I see all these guys doing sub floors in their HT's?

Brian Osborne · 01-16-2006, 09:49 AM

Quote:

what did you place your main sub on, or where rather

The main subs are in the front of the room, just below, the the right and the left of the screen. They will be setting directly on the concrete, firing forward.
2 sub boxes, 2 10" subs in each box.

I went with stage everywhere because I didn't like the look of a riser just for the seating. This way I can enjoy the shaker if I'm in the chairs or not.

01-16-2006, 02:21 PM

I have carpet over concrete in my basement HT room and its a trade off for SQ vs feel. My subwoofer can move a ton of air and I have no problem shaking the couch or moving enough air to give you the bass sensation but I still miss that floor rumble that you get when you're on a wooden floor. If I were to do it over I'd strongly consider going with a wooden subfloor. Shakers would help somewhat if your sub can't induce vibration in the couch frame and when done right they integrate very well.

mylan · 01-16-2006, 02:41 PM

I second Andrew's answer. My sub used to sit on a wood floor with basement underneath and it sounded pretty good, now, on carpet over concrete, it leaves me wanting more.



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