Does carpet deaden the sound too much?

@OP, there is a lot of nonsense being sprouted here through misunderstanding. Absorption in a room is necessary to reduce the time it takes sound to decay but the absorption needs to work over as wide a bandwidth as possible.

If sound is left to decay in an untreated room the result is smeared sound, congestion and loss of detail and nuance.

A carpet is, because of its limited thickness, a narrow-band absorber, and if you have wall to wall carpet as I see you do, then you will be absorbing only a limited frequency range and because there is so much carpet there will be information lost, resulting in an imbalanced sound.

Successful treatment is achieved by broad-band absorption.

@artemus_5 mentions finding hard floor and a rug helped.

@fatdaddy2 described a simple experiment which is a good idea. The sheets of plywood will negate some of the damage of wall to wall carpet. I favour a broad-band absorber on the ceiling preferable to carpet as a means of dealing with floor to ceiling absorption. This makes more sense if you consider that the human ear has evolved to allow for floor reflections.

I favour a broad-band absorber on the ceiling preferable to carpet as a means of dealing with floor to ceiling absorption.

Great, this is the area in which I need more information in order to make an informed decision. I know that my next move is on the ceiling, and your position of broadband absorption aligns well with what I have been reading.

How to implement that, for my particular needs, that I am very unsure of.
@lemonhaze - I’d like to know more about what you’ve done, how you went about it, researched it, implementation and resulting impressions please?
I can take it to DM (PM) if you’d prefer, as I am really interested, hopefully you're willing to share it?

 I've heard that an egg shaped room has perfect acoustics. Mind you won't be able to walk around, but you will have great sound.

@rixthetrick, Broad-band absorbers can be bought from the likes of GIK etc. who charge crazy amounts for a simple thing so I prefer to make my own. There is much info on how to DIY them and a search on the net will turn up lots.

With an overhead panel (or cloud) and if you have sufficient height an excellent absorber can be fabricated. The thickness of and the distance from the wall or ceiling is what determines the frequency range of absorption. That's why carpets and thin drapes only effect a narrow range of frequencies which is not  what we are trying to achieve.

Usually a frame 4" deep is built to accommodate 2 x 2" thick Owens Corning 703 fibre panels. These come in 2'x4'x2"   With a ceiling absorber a frame 4'x6'x4" is worthwhile so don't waste effort on less. In the 4x6 frame you place 3 doubled up panels sided by side. Cover the frame in some nice fabric by stapling it to the back edge of the frame and attach it to the ceiling. Broad-band absorption in place!  A pack of 6 panels is available for about $80  I have bought panels from demolishers for about $10 each.

Now for the best part: if you don't mind the looks and have the height you can vary the distance below the ceiling. Placed flat against the ceiling is fine but it's effect can be enhanced by lowering it from the ceiling. I suspend it by a few links of light chain from cup hooks. Greater distance from the ceiling will extend the lower frequencies that are absorbed. 2" helps, more if you have the height.  I have hung some with the front of the frame 2" (edge closest to you) and the rear about 5 or 6" below. I like the look and it further broadens the range.

A friend's wife asked for the panels to be separated so we made 3 frames 2'x4' and spaced them about 3" apart and the end result was rather smart.

These can/should be used as first reflection point absorbers.

 I've heard that an egg shaped room has perfect acoustics

I'm not sure I agree. Will have to ask a chicken 🐔