Being an idiot I spilled a large teapot on to our living room rug. After weeks of unsuccessful cleaning of it we ordered a replacement, 3m x 2m with a pile of 2.5cm. Moved the old rug out. Listened to Mozart with Gary Cooper and Rachel Podger. The violin was screechy and painful to listen to and the fortepiano was somehow not right. The new rug was moved in. Played the same CD. Now the violin was still high pitched but lovely and the fortepiano was sweet and engaging. If my ears are not deceiving me the effect of a rug was very beneficial to the sound of this CD. I listened to other cd’s with no violins etc and the effect seemed a lot less. I can’t use room treatments in our living room but a rug seems to have been very worthwhile. (The room already has a fitted carpet with a short pile). I don’t know if others have had similar experiences?
Not at all.
Found exactly the same. Rug covers tiled floor. The slip protector/stopper, thick felt, probably helps as well.
Definitely makes a positive difference in my room.
Do forum rules allow details of which rug I need to buy?
And which boutique linear mode power supply works best with it… 
Sorry, stupid comment really. The rug will be room dependent and I don’t expect I’ll find a carpet store that will go along with a home demo.
Just don’t have a rug so big as to cover your ears. 
Details, sure. Just no posts in the HiFi corner of links or references to specific items for sale.
Furnishings make a big difference - we have stone floors, but a big rug, a couple of sofas, heavy ish curtains, an armchair and an irregularly shaped room all help.
Wellington Rug. Not sure if I am allowed to mention the shop’s name but they are famous for their Christmas adverts and sell lots of Naim equipment. Black Friday deal. I would think other suppliers would supply similar or the same rug.
I find the term ‘rug’ disrespectful. ‘Toupee’ is so much more… sophisticated
I bought a long pile rug from a Swedish retailer some years back, covering a wooden floor and thought it made my then system sound better, whether it has the same effect with the current system I don’t know, as I haven’t tried listening to the system without it in place.
I suspect the new rug needs a burn in period. Allow it a couple of weeks and it will come on song.
Generally, spilling tea onto the rug doesn’t help.
Red wine, on the other hand, is good, as the scrubbing needed to get it out tends to raise up the fibres and you get less reflection and so better sounds.
If I’m settling in for a long listening session, I try to get the dogs to lie down halfway between me and the speakers so their fur further absorbs any floor reflections. Annoying if they move, however…
I replaced fitted carpet a few months ago, and for 2 or 3 days the bare floorboards were exposed. The effect was a much more ‘etched’ sound and quite interesting for a day or 2, but fatiguing over the longer term I think. With the fitting of the new carpet the sound returned to the warmer characted I’m used to.
If it’s a high quality piece it’ll be directional too. I hope the manufacturer clearly indicated the correct direction to use.
Roger
I have a wide parting myself …
That is entirely what I would expect - and that is just taming the first reflections from the floor. (Just imagine if you dod the ceiling as well… and then, if they are near and not already diffusing, the side walls!)
My wife’s brother in law succumbed to his wife’s insistence on hardwood flooring to replace carpet after flood damage - within 3 months there was a large thick rug on the floor, saving them from divorce.
I learnt that you should never scrub a carpet because that can cause physical damage then visible, instead flood with copious amounts of water and soak out by pressing/dabbing with towels, repeating as much as necessary. I learnt that trick years ago, and the quicker the water is on the better - run and get a jugful of water and chuck on the spill immediately, and carry on from there. It certainly has worked for me, but no doubt depends on the carpet, both fibre type and treatment.
The solution to pollution is dilution.