Can You Put A Subwoofer On Carpet? - Will It Reduce Vibrations And Sound Reflections?

Deciding on your subwoofer's ideal setup and placement location can be challenging, especially if you don’t want to crowd the space of your room.

To prevent that, people usually end up placing most of their speakers on the wall, leaving their subwoofer alone on the floor.

Some have even tried to mount their subwoofers on walls, but that usually results in a low-quality sound experience, further backed up by numerous hazardous situations.

We highly recommend that you avoid that and just stick to the usual plan of placing your subwoofer on the floor.

Regarding that, people have wondered: “Can you put a subwoofer on the carpet?”.

In the following article, we’ll dissect the topic at hand and compare the main advantages of placing your subwoofer on the carpet with putting it on a hard surface. Stay tuned until the end!

Placing Your Subwoofer On Carpet

As we previously discussed, the ideal place for your subwoofer is difficult to discover - only by testing several different setups can you determine the optimal placement for your subwoofer.

The general interior design of your room and the crowdedness are the two main features that will determine the best location of your subwoofer.

But, even that can vary dramatically depending on the presence of carpets. Coincidentally, most houses and apartments nowadays have carpets in nearly all rooms. If you have them all around the place, then we strongly recommend that you read the following:

Regardless of the subwoofer - all types can be safely placed on any carpets. People usually believe in all sorts of things; one popular presumption is that putting a subwoofer on a rug will cause the sound waves to be dampened.

In all honesty, some deeper subwoofer sound waves would reach further without any inconvenience if you place the unit on a hard surface.

But, if you put your subwoofer on a carpet - the carpet will undoubtedly balance the sound in the room - further dependent on the location of other speakers.

Because of that, people that have carpeted rooms will have an easier time figuring out where to place their speakers, as their main subwoofer will pair nicely with all of them as long as it’s placed on a carpet.

What Do We Gain When We Place A Subwoofer On Carpet?

The placement of your subwoofer and other speakers is the key element for achieving excellent sound distribution. If you place your subwoofer on a hard surface, it will result in an occasional uneven sound distribution.

Higher vibrations have an easier time traveling across the floor if there are no carpets present, which is the main instigator of those uneven sounds. The second instigator lies within the uneven pressure distribution among the lower and upper portions of your room.

As soon as a sound is manifested - it will travel and bounce until it collides with a hard object.

If it reflects, we will encounter a phenomenon known as echo. 

Echo is one of your main enemies when trying to watch a movie or listen to some music through a subwoofer, as they usually tend to produce echoing effects, given that they are powerful sound-producing machines.

To prevent that from occurring - we strongly recommend that you put your subwoofer on a carpet, as those sound waves that usually echo will be drastically reduced, resulting in a far clearer hearing experience.

By reducing sound reflections in our rooms, we are directly affecting the reduction of vibrations, as well as boosting low frequencies far better.

Carpets can help with this as well, as placing your sub on one will produce enhanced acoustics and sounds. A further adjustment can be made if you install bass traps in all four corners, resulting in a further reduction of sound reflection.

Placing Your Subwoofer On A Hard Surface

Contrary to the carpets - placing your subwoofer on a hard surface might cause you some issues, most notably the overwhelming presence of sound reflection.

This is further enhanced if you possess a down-firing subwoofer - all of your walls will, unfortunately, do their best to produce sound reflection, and when you pair that with a down-firing subwoofer on a hard surface - a catastrophe in the making.

Still, the positive note of being a better medium for providing the deeper subwoofer tones to travel is present if you decide to place a subwoofer on a hard surface.

But, given that that is the only plus side, we still believe that a carpet will work wonders in the longer run.

Should You Consider Buying Isolation Pads?

Isolation pads for your subwoofer are excellent regardless of the surface - they will further reduce vibrations, negate sound reflection and improve bass performance.

They are usually found under down-firing subwoofers placed directly on a hard surface, but you can even pair them with carpets!

Conclusion

Deciding where to place your subwoofer will either positively or negatively affect the overall hearing experience.

Can you put a subwoofer on your carpet? We highly recommend that you do so, as it’s the best way to reduce sound reflection and vibrations.