Sound deadening underlay (2 Viewers)

Hi Guys!

Long time, no posty. Sorry about that, life has gotten in the way and nothing in the home theatre has changed - except for adding a "TCON: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe" one sheet. However, I am helping my brother build his media room and wanted to get some feedback from some of you guys. As you all know (at least some of the older members) I used the Dri-Core subfloor system in my theatre and love every little bit of it. You can search the old posts for my thoughts and opinions on that product, so when it came time to help my brother build his room it was no questions as to what I was going to use on his concrete basement floor.

Here's the crux of my question: has anyone used or is using an accoustic padding on top of a subfloor instead of using carpet pad? If you are using it, what is the product called and do you really notice any difference in the overall sound quality of your room. I used carpet pad in my theatre and I'm just wondering if it would be worth the extra money for him to use it. I know I would have probably looked at something like that if it were available when I was installing my subfloor.

Anyway, thanks for listening to my ramblings. Let me know your thoughts and opinions on your time.

Cheers,
Andrew

Nope – for acoustical purposes, absolutely no reason not use a carpet pad. The carpet is the only thing the room will “see” anyway, not what’s under it.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

Hi Wayne,

Thanks for the reply. I agree with you on the 'seeing' it part, but I was wondering if you think or know of products that are in the market that have not only padding properties but also some accoustic benefits (not to mention things like R value and so forth).

I would be curious to see some STC stats or frequency calibration results. Besides, my brother loves cool things and would be into stuff like this.

Cheers,
Andrew

You won't see any accoustical advantages, but you might see some soundproofing advantages. Soundproofing is a system, so without knowing how the rest of the room is designed, it's difficult to say what the effect would be (If on a first floor though, there's no point at all.)

Hi Chris,

Thanks. Yeah, I figured as such. The media room will be in the basement so I'm not so worried (or I should say my brother's not so worried) about noise leakage.

I was just trying to get some feedback about what people thought about using an underpad that was better (non-toxic, waterproof, and had some sound "enhancement properties") than traditional carpet underpadding. I guess I'll have to do some more research.

Thanks Chris.

Cheers,
Andrew