Another great thing you can do is move your speakers and/or sub(s) off the floor and either "fly" them using hooks and vinyl coated steel cable or Omni-mounts with rubber/vinyl pads between the speaker and mount and the mount and the wall. This is how they mount speakers in Pro A/V applications. Your neighbors are complaining abour mechanical vibration in the low Hz, so if you keep your speakers up the airborne sound transfer into mechanical vibrations will be at a reduced amount. |
6month:
How loud do you listen?
If bass is your problem maybe for the time being you should do some reverse engineering using some accoustics, try to evaluate if your listening position is in a node or a null if you're seating in a place where room produces less audible bass you will naturally try to compensate increasing volume or your sub setting. You might need to compromise between bass amount/quality and lessening problems with neighbors. Find where bass response is hihger than current position and try to position your chair or move speakers sub in order to get the best possible response at your listening position with less volume so you might decrease neighbors annoyance. What do you think?
Luis |
The closer you move to the speakers, the less volume that you will need to enjoy the sound. This will also satisfy your neighbors. Sitting five feet from your speakers is a bit unconventional, but it's a good compromise. |
I agree with Barry Kohan's response that decoupling the speakers from the floor is the best way to deal with this problem (mechanical sound transmission). Like Barry I am a professional in this field (I work in Pro A/V system design & installation for the Hollywood studios, networks, etc.). Barry's company Bright Star Audio makes some great products for decoupling speakers and other equipment. A source for sound deadening room treatment materials is Super Soundproofing (www.soundproofing.org). If you can do it, a 1/4" mass-loaded vinyl floor will really reduce the neighbor complaints as it is really good at absorbing the low frequencies (one company calls their mass-load vinyl Dynamat). Other good flooring materials are cork and rubber (again see Super Soundproofing for a excelent cork & rubber sub-floor product). Another great benefit of room treatments is they greatly improve the quality of the sound you hear. Concentrate on the low frequencies - the foam panels that are sold by a number of companies are great for tuning a room for the mid-upper frequencies, but they really do nothing for absorbing the low frequencies and this is what the complaints are about. (FYI -- I am in no way asssociated with Bright Star Audio or Super Soundproofing). |
you may still get complaints no matter the time...I think your pretty much SOL...this should be a warning to all Agon members who are looking to move into a condo from a house...You'd better make sure you're either in a steel & concrete Hi-Rise or a building built in the early 20th century...definitely not one of the new wood framed POS low rise apartments & condos that are being slung up nationwide.
I'd be bummed if I didn't live in the house, I have the tunes going until 3 or 4 in the morning quite frequently...sounds best then anyways!
Good luck with the neighbors...do I have any advice...probably none that is worth a damn...but I think Slapppy is on to something...hmmmm.
Ellery |
Thanks for the responses.
I'll try to reduce the bass for now. I'm using Paradigm's studio 100's & a 12' sub. I'll also introduce myself to the neighbors and let them know the system will be used until 11pm Mon-Fri.
Slappy, you are hilarious!!!!!!
june |
Somewhere at this very moment.....all across America! There are probably at LEAST 25... or maybe even twenty-SEVEN audio enthusiasts out there....slashing tires!!! keying Cars!!!
Pissin' in GASTANKS!!!!!! |
Along slappy's lines: go to a neighber after playing loud and ask if they heard the annoying bass. As bass in non-directional it's hard to disginguish exactly where it's coming from. This way as word starts to spread, you were one of the early complainers and will be off the hook unitl some nosey rosey figures it out. Might buy you sometime. |
Here is what i did when i lived in an apartment.
Go to each one of yer neighbors, tell them you recieved a complaint from somone and tell them you feel you should apologize to your neightbors. Ask them if there is anything specific that is causing the problem, Bass, Sheer Volume, Highs, etc, etc.
Then give them your number, tell them you really enjoy listening to music and that if you ever get too loud to have them call you directly and assure them you will turn it down.
Next time, whoever was complaining will call you directly and you will know who the whiney bastard is who reported you. Go out, slash thier tires, Key thier car, and piss in the gass tank! Then kick down thier door, smack them around thier apartment with a club, and tell them that is a warning for interrupting your music, and next time they complain to anybody you will come back and finish the job, after all, you know where they live.
Presto! No more troubles with neighbors complaining about sound! It is a heck of a lot cheaper than soundproffing yer apartment! :) You can use the money saved to buy a new subwoofer!
-Disclaimer, Slappy is the worst person you could ever take advice from- |
If you are going to live in apts for a while what your neighbors are hearing is mostly bass. Get a nice pair of monitor speakers and stands to use and you will be able to listen louder without bothering neighbors......learn to live without bass while in apts.
Also seriously consider getting good headphones and amp for late night/early morning listening.....you will get amazing sound for $1,000 or less total. |
when i first bought my system i lived in a small studio with other units all around me,i could not listen to music any louder than normal tv volume,as soon as my lease ran out i found an old wooden house on the river,now i can listen 24/7 without people threatening my life!!life is good!!if i can stop buying audio stuff for a yr or so i could buy a house,,,,,good luck 6 month |
Kennyt....that was hilarious!
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Likely not.
I used to live in a condo and never met my neighbor until I added a sub......... met him 20 minutes later! |
Hi 6month,
If you properly decouple the speakers from the floor a great deal of the directly-coupled mechanical vibration now being sent to your neighbors will be reduced. Another benefit is that vibration will not be able to travel through the floor from the speakers towards your audio equipment.
Best Regards,
Barry Kohan
Disclaimer: I am a manufacturer of vibration control products. |
Buy/rent a house. Bass is unstoppable.
Case in point is that you can hear a "boom car" from a block away. |
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Sure. In theory you could build a free-standing room arround your system with double dry-wall, staggered studs, an exterior door, and mini-split system to keep it cool. Tear it down when you move.
In practice there's little you can do. Sound will take the path of least resistance so covering less than 100% of the surface where you're having problems doesn't help much. Stopping bass transmission is also much more difficult. |
