moving from house to an apartment.. goodbye 802D's


My beloved B&W 802D's with their down firing bass ports would probably drive the neighbors crazy.
I am considering moving to a pair of Revel Performa 126Be bookshelf speakers and using a Velodyne DD-15 raised off the floor.  Anybody have any experience with both the 802D's and the Revel Performa 126Be speakers?
lovepianos
Pull the band-aid off quick!  The best thing for you to do is simply tell me where you live and when you will be away, and I will quietly sweep them away for you.  It's the only way to reduce your suffering.   
No payment would be necessary... I would do this for free as a caring fellow audiophile.  



IF you need to downsize - then downsize. That’s what the 805s are for. They are not lacking in bass but a sub would duplicate your 802 experience. Maybe the platforms underneath the 802 will get the job done. Maybe not. If the latter or you don’t want to experiment to find out, just follow the path B&W has laid out for you so clearly. The dirty little secret as well is the butyl rubber surround on the 805 cancels breakup distortion even better than the other D3 models. The ball's in your court.
Any speaker has potential to create issues.  .  
Surprised no one has mentioned getting absorption panels and very thick bass traps.  
Assume 802ds are all broken in, new speakers like young dogs need taming.  802s arely lovely.  Dont risk unhappiness by letting them go. 

Don’t get rid of your 802D‘s. If you love them definitely keep them. You don’t need to crank up the volume like a mad man and you can still enjoy music the way you are used to. Once you had a full size speaker there’s no way back to bookshelf little box.
Did you consider a dipole subwoofer? It made a huge difference for my neighbors and I can now turn up the listening volume higher than before. You would get the added benefit of less boomy bass and more articulate bass than with a closed or ported sub.
I'd agree with the advice here to meet the neighbors and assess the specific situation first.
If noise is going to be a problem, switching out your B&Ws for a subwoofer won't save you! Unless the point is that a subwoofer can be turned off. 

The issue is that bass travels easily through floors and walls, whereas higher frequency sound is more easily arrested. My downstairs neighbor has an inexpensive subwoofer, and I hear the basslines through my pillow when he puts on his "morning music" at 6 am.
I wouldn't do anything until you meet the neighbors.  Because you don't have a problem yet.

I had one neighbor a retired school teacher that encouraged me to be 'loud' because she appreciated having younger folks around. 

I also have had neighbors that were pilots (never home) and lived above the model (no one there beyond the business day).
I have these on my sub woofers:
The SVS SoundPath Subwoofer Isolation System They provide decoupling and isolate speakers and subwoofers from the floor.
They really seem to work and are very well made. They come with different threaded stud sizes so they should just screw into the bottom of your speakers
Keep all your equipment and what to see how noisy your neighbors are I live in an apartment with my system  the neighbor across the hall with our connecting dinning room plays his music load very Sunday afternoon and the upstairs neighbor any time day or night if you make noise you have to except noise  
you can check out my apartment system in virtual systems
So Keep it and
Enjoy the Music

Tom
@lovepianos, I’ve not heard them, but yours look like really nice speakers.  That would be hard for me to give up if I love them as you obviously do.  I hope you can work it out so you don’t have to make that sacrifice.  Good luck. 
Loud hours are between 8 am - 9 pm residential usually.

 Your paying most likely an exuberant amount to live there, , live life, don’t succumb to the new world pc stuff.
Yeah, good advice here ... if you love them that much, I'd figure out a way to keep them.

Darko, gave overall good review of Revel but said a little light on bass so you'd probably need a sub ... then you'd be managing the same issue!

https://darko.audio/2019/07/the-exquisite-revel-m126be-standmount-loudspeaker/
Invite the new neighbors to a movie night? (Make absolutely sure the beloved speakers are playing at a 'reserved' level, attached to the vid?)

...well, at least the ones' closest to your new digs? ;)

Survey their musical tastes?

Outright bribery? *L*
I would let the speakers go and get a RAAL SR1a earphones. I wish I had these when I was in an apartment. The enjoyment factor with these will be exponentially greater than any speaker in an apartment. When I was in an apartment, I tried monitors and desktop speakers and they did not come close to the sound quality and freedom I now have with the RAAL SR1a. I use them late at night in a house.

People are comparing the sound out of these to mega expensive setups. My SR1a setup is almost as good as my floor stander setup. No joking on the quality of these phones. They are not like headphones.

https://raalrequisite.com/store/

You need some warm electronics to make them shine. You can also use their dedicated amp which is also very good and I have demoed for a few weeks. It has only 2 inputs though, so I use a 2 channel setup for the SR1a that supports multiple sources.

- CODA 07x preamp
- AudioMirror Tubadour III SE tube DAC
- Gustard X26 Pro ESS DAC
- Tuner
- SACD player
- D-Sonic amp (though I have tried many others, KRELL, CODA, Benchmark)

Listen as loud as you want with a 2 channel sound presentation. You also have the added benefit of removing the biggest obstacle to good sound, the room.

I heard Stereophile will be reviewing the SR1a and the dedicated amp in an issue soon.
I was worried when I moved into an apartment with my AR9lsi, until I discovered all the neighbors had screaming kids! Wait 'till after you move and find out what your environment will be like.
@lovepianos,

I went to the B&W 802D’s owner’s manual, see page 3 and you already have two types of telescoping types of speaker lifts to get the subs up off the floor. And they seem to be of very high quality with plenty of length, way more than normal screw in spikes/footers.

And it appears you also have the very unusual half sphere option of high quality, extra long extensioned footers, along with the spike option too! I think you’re good to go with what you already have! Plus the fact they were made (engineered) specifically for that particular sub. Seems like a win to me.

I’d say just extend the half sphered footers option down, as long as needed, to tune and or voice them to your liking and you’re done. The (basic) idea is to get the subs up off the floor. I hope this helps.
It not the source of sound, volume of the sound & room acoustic. What is your listening loudness in dBs?
Keep’em!

Check out these Hudson Hi-Fi - BIgfoot Isolation Feet - Non Adhesive - 8 Pack for $49.95

https://www.amazon.com/Bigfoot-Isolation-Feet-8-Pack/dp/B08GLBKRYZ/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UT...

Make sure you scroll down and read the entire site and open all the thumbnails to get a more accurate scale (size) and description of what the Bigfeet are made of and what they do.

And an added bonus is the site will show other isolation devices by the same manufacture for all other audio gear you may have and you will notice the prices aren’t bad either.

They are made of a proprietary - density specific silicone and not rubber or sorbothane and will not leave any sticky black residue on your gear and come with weight charts to help you pick just exactly what you need per each audio gear piece weight.
Like everyone else, I'd highly recommend keeping your speakers. No matter what speakers you have, you are going to have to find a listening level that works in your new environment.

I'm in an apartment with a 5.2.4 home theatre system. The two subs are B&W BD4S. They go down to 10Hz at -3db and 8.5Hz at -6db and they are magnificent for movie soundtracks where you often feel the effect as much as you hear it. I'm able to set a decent listening level that doesn't annoy others.

I should mention I don't use Audyssey so set a subwoofer confinement.
find a neighborhood with old people with diminishing hearing. There is always a way to keep the  B&W 802Ds

If you love your 802D's, keep them.  They won't rattle the floor.  Make sure however you have something like ISOacoustics on the floor. :)
You can de couple speakers and subwoofers for apartment living but it is not the floor vibrations that will end your listening but the fact that most tenants will not put up with any music above a back ground level at all.
Just listen at low to moderate volumes will be fine. Low volumes at night. Even if it's a bookshelf speaker, your neighbour will come knocking on your front door if you like your music loud.
Keep the 802’s, if they become too loud for neighbors I would consider high efficiency speakers as alternative. Also, I would not move into apartment on 2nd or 3rd floor. You’re more likely to cause ‘rumble’ through suspended floors :-)
Regardless of sound traveling into your neighbors' space, will the 802d work well in their new room?  I'd try them in the apartment before moving on the anything else.  Neighbors can be funny.  For some, no matter what you do, it's way too loud and for others you could end up complaining about their noise levels.  Best of luck.
Thanks guys for your input.  Cheered me right up!
Would hate to part with my 802D's!!
Put them on Townshend Podiums. They cut the bass leaving my room dramatically. They also controlled resonances that greatly making for tighter, deeper, but much smoother bass. Also make a great improvement in overall clarity, detail and tone. Instrumental timbre, nails it. Not cheap but the other stuff you can try won’t make near as much difference, not even close. With subs you can get away with Nobsound springs for cheap, or Pods if you can afford it. You could also try Nobsound for the B&W but I think the combination of downfiring port and immense improvement in detail will make Podiums the way to go.
Yes listen to everyone else. Keep the speakers. The sub will be far worse. The true 20z wave the sub puts out will go straight through the floor. 
Keep the B&Ws’
  don’t get rid of them.
place the speakers on large stone or concrete pads as sold at Home Depot, or Lowe’s, menards, etc etc.  in the garden section, old apartment neighbor did this under recommendation from his Dad.   They were about 3 inches thick I think (memory poor) plus a 2-3 inch cut semi soft rubber pads cut exactly as stone squares.

  There is always a way,........don’t give up......


Good luck with your new neighbors. Hopefully you already listen to your system at moderate to low volume. Headphones may be a useful addition for those times you really want to kick it out.
I'm not sure you have to get rid of them.  In any case you should decouple speakers from the floor with vibrapods or something similar.