Can I Live With A Hardwood Floor?

Thanks emailists, I like the midrange on those Quad 63's but I'm not familiar with the TAD's. I don't have corners to worry about because the room is so long. I do have attic slanted ceilings and the sides of my 2905's run into those slants about 5 five feet back. I'm thinking foam along the slanted ceiling in proximity to the sides of the 2905's, if that makes sense. Unfortunately, a good line conditioner is essential but I'm looking for one second hand.

Hi goofey.  I think the tri corners where the walls meet ceiling will definitively help if you clap and hear echo slap.  I sent you a PM.  

I have lived with hard wood flooring for 28 years with horns, ribbons, electrostatics, including the original Quads, big dynamic drivers in the BMC Arcadia speakers, and monitor speakers. Everything up front is on Star Sound Audio Points or their Rhythm platforms and racks. I am on a persian rug that runs from about a foot in front of the speakers to about a foot behind me and about four or five feet to my left and right. Finally, I have a set of Zilplex resonators in the room. The latter are the eight room treatments that I've tried.

One thing that I have definitely learned is that no cables should have contact with the floor and that a ceramic isolator is the necessary standoff.

Another is that I could get no bass out of the Quads nor could I find any subwoofer that worked well with them. I first heard Quads in 1962 and was shocked with what I heard. In the early 1970s, I had double Quads in a rack. They gave me much more satisfaction.

In short I don't think your hard wood floors are your biggest problem. A thick rug would probably help. I don't know about having Quads on rugs. I put my double Quads up on points on a concrete floor. I think they greatly benefitted from isolation on points.

tbbg, I appreciate your experience with Quad's. I've tried a number of different things and can narrow the problem down to two effective antidotes. A) put the ESL's, with spikes and titanium gliders on a wool rug and B) buy the Akiko Audio Corelli. This I believe, will resolve my issues to the best that my issues can be resolved. There will be tweaks along the way no doubt (because I believe in a few) and it will take some time to accomplish, given that the Corelli is roughly 1,800. euro. But that's just a part of my journey. 
I have a friend who a while back added bass panels to the Quad 63's and he said that the 2905's are in general the same however I tend to believe that the 63's have a little fuller midrange. I've never had the chance to hear a refurbished or mint original pair of the 57's. I do know that they were initially produced for monophonic listening so were sold by the single speaker rather than by the pair. A tech that I know of has a pair of Accoustats and brags about those and the inability to arc them. I'd love to hear those ESL's as well.

Check out the discussion regarding the use of posts to structurally add support to the floor from underneath, substantially stopping the wood floor from vibrating. If you are on 2nd floor, probably too much hassle. If you are on a suspended first floor with a crawl space or basement, its the way to go and inexpensive.