Walls, ceilings, floors -- neighbors and sound

I asked my neighbors to phone me if I bother them with my stereo.
I tell them, I like to listen as loud as possible, without disturbing them.
Let me know, I won't be offended I say.
I don't want them to hear me and I cretainly don't want to hear them.

i went through this a few years back when i bought a condo...if you like it loud, first you must acoustically treat your room. This may sound strange, but by adding the $250 Room Tunes kit from MGA, i can listen at quite loud volumes however very little vibration goes into the floor or through the walls. No idea why this is, but a 'tuned room' plays louder at lower volume levels...and the bass is perfect. the kit does nothing to stop the vibes from going into other units, it simply tunes the room so tunes at low volume sound loud and proper.

The L/R of my condo shares a party wall with my neighbors bedroom. I installed a multi-layer drywall sound barrier that weighs about 3000lbs (5/8" drywall) and they never hear me. i'm always respectful of their 10pm bedtime, but by 10:30pm i'm a rockin again!

solid concrete floors & carpet with thick padding go a long way. One interesting note, depending on the type of sublfoor (concrete vs wood) your neighbors on either side might be bothered by floor vibes rather than thru the wall...this is what i found out.

the real key is a good realtionship with the neighbors, and playing music they won't mind.

my speakers are 70lb floorstanders that are spiked, but rarely do the nieghbors below give a call SINCE adding the RoomTunes.

matt

I live in NYC apartment/condo. Fortunately on the top floor. First thing I did was just as Jeffjarvis did,,,let them know you care and that they should contact you if it gets too loud. At minimum you should have a large area rug (with a carpet pad) where your rig is located and make sure you decoupled the speakers from the floor/carpet. If your setting a HT system, I advise you not to wall mount your surround speakers. I set up my living room so that the speakers face into my living area not towards the adjoining walls. Last, if you use a subwoofer, you may want to put it on something like an Auralex Gramma pad. If that doesn't work for you try a Buttkicker. Right now I'm looking into sound decorative acoustical panels from www.acousticalsolutions.com. You may want to pursue that option as well.

Good Luck.