CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

[ecrabb]

I posted this in the builder section on the other site, but I want to see what my CRT pals think, too. I just got drywall finished today and I need to order carpet in the morning. We narrowed it down to two choices: A fun commercial carpet that probably should be glued down, and a more typical residential carpet that uses a traditional pad. I need help deciding which one to get. Price is practically identical.

#1 Mohawk Metro II Asphalt (fun, commercial carpet with color)
+ Fun design w/color - our favorite aesthetically
+ Won't show every piece of popcorn
- 12' width will have a long seam in my 15' room
- No pad will be hard
- No pad not quite as good acoustically
+/- Thin, but not "hard" like some commercial carpet - it is fairly soft

#2 Philadelphia Serot Midnight (plain black residential carpet w/pad)
+ Pad, soft comfy
+ Acoustically better
+ 15' roll width - no seam
- Nice black, but not as fun (it's a theater!)
- Will show every steenking speck, fleck, thread

So, which would you choose?

Thanks,
SC

PS - Here's my materials and color palette:

- Arm from my chairs - red microfiber
- ATS Acoustics Sandshapes Circles Acoustic Panels
- Sherwin Williams paints - black on screen wall, tan on side walls, blue and gray on ceiling (outside and inside soffit, respectively - I'm doing a "floating" soffit)
- Carpets
- Maple trim


Mohawk Metro II Asphalt


Philadelphia Serot Midnight

[draganm]

it's no contest IMO, the Philadelphia Serot Midnight is fabulous. I couldn't handle not having a pad either. If you have all those colors and such going on the walls then a solid colored floor will really ground things nicely and not make the room too busy.

[Mark_A_W]

The second carpet - the dark one. Nice and dark and subtle.

The other one.....umm....no comment.

And what's with the coloured circles? Are they on the sound panels?

[ecrabb]

Yeah, they're relatively inexpensive fabric panels from ATS Acoustics.

With the "designer" fabric, they're $45.60 for a 2'x4'x2" OwensCorning 703 fiberglass panel. It will cost me almost half that to build it myself and will burn another long weekend day. For a little over $400, I can treat all my first reflections for both rows and a little more of the side-walls with 8 panels. They even come with hanging hardware. The 4" panels aren't a lot more, but I don't have the real-estate.

I can't afford a full treatment with Guilford of Maine and Linacoustic, etc. so the ATS panels are the next best thing. They're a small company in the state of Illinois (neighboring state to my own), they were very helpful, and manufacture the panels themselves... so it's a winner, I think.

Now, to decide on the carpet... I was leaning toward the Metro II, but now you guys have me back on the fence!

SC

[greg_mitch]

are you installing this yourself or having it professionally done? I was leaning toward doing it myself but then leaning toward having it professionally done and back and forth. I am stuck between using a commercial for only the riser and a nice plush with pad for the floor or just using commercial without pad for the whole thing.

I am also contemplating using two different colors...black for risers and dark grey for the floor.

[ecrabb]

I'm paying a Nebraska Furniture Mart installer to have it done. It's about $350 for installation, which doesn't seem out of line. I don't want to screw up a $1200 piece of carpet to save $350. Then, there's the riser... all the wrapping, stapling, folding... forget it.

I've glued down carpet before... but it was a $100 remnant that I wouldn't have been heartbroken to have ruined (or happy to have paid another $150 to have installed.

I thought about two different colors, but I'd want to get two different colors in the same family of carpet, and then only if it worked in my color scheme. Might be cool if you had the right carpet and colors.

I'm leaning towards the black because of some info posted by one of the acoustics guys on the other site. It'll be a pain to keep clean, but it does feel really nice on my bare feet... the commercial stuff... not so much. I should have placed the order this morning, but I couldn't get off the fence. I'll decide tomorrow morning at the last minute, I guess.

SC

[Person99]

[dbaisey]

I like the Philadelphia Serot Midnight also. Doug

[paw]

I think the Mohawk Metro II Asphalt could make for a fun room. The Philadelphia Serot Midnight is going to show every little piece of trash on it. I'd look at
1 - Furniture style more contempory = Mohawk, traditional = Philadelphia
2 - Do you lay on the floor Yes = Mohawk, no = Philadelphia
3 - Bunch of kids Yes = Mohawk. No = Philadelphia

[ecrabb]

Well, I pulled the trigger today. Thanks everybody for your input and opinions - I knew I could count on getting some opinions around here! . I went back and forth and back and forth... and back. I got votes both ways here, the other site, and family and friends. There was really no clear winner - everybody really saw the pluses and minuses in their own way. With all that, the winner is...

Metro II. I went for FUN! It's my theater and I've been dreaming about it for YEARS! I don't go in there to walk around in my bare feet and feel the carpet, I won't lay around on the floor, but we will certainly be eating a lot of popcorn and candy and such in there!!!

I added a 3/8" felt pad so it wouldn't be too cold or too hard. I do have kids, and I don't like to clean every day, so that was an issue. I have a little girl almost 2 and I'll have a little boy this summer. I plan on watching lots of fun stuff with them down there, and I don't want to vacuum every single time somebody wears a pair of white socks or drops a popcorn kernel.

Drywall is finished, paint next week, carpet week after next, and watching movies by the end of April!!! Photos soon!!!

Thanks, everybody!!!

SC