Down-firing subs and downstairs neighbors

Thanks everyone for your suggestions! I'm glad I asked.

Does anyone know at about what frequency the bass becomes really bad (penetrating)? I'm thinking maybe I could find a shallow but musical sub to fill in between 40 and 80Hz, or one with two crossovers. Thanks

Abarnett,

The frequency that the bass becomes really bad (penetrating) is dependent on a variety of factors, some of which are:

1. The room itself and how it effect bass frequencies.

2. How much insulation is between your floor and neighbor ceiling, and how well constructed the floor joist are.

3. The type of music you play, and how loud, and at what hours.

4. The types of dampening you plan to do (thick carpet/padding, ect) that you're going to use to prevent "sound bleed" into your neighbor's unit.

5. And probably the most important, the tolerance level of your "downstairs neighbors" towards any bass frequencies coming into their unit.

The fact that you're moving into an "older wooden house" pretty much tells me, you're going to having some issues with sound transmitting into your neighbors unit, as most older wooden homes are not well insulated and have many area in the walls and floors where sound will penetrate.

Once again, my suggestion would be stand mounted monitors that probably roll-off around 50 Hz, and to be mindful not to play your music at very high volume, as it doesn't take much for sound to start penetrating. As for the subwoofer, in your situation, I would forget about it, at least until you've moved into your apartment, and have had a chance to get to know your neighbors, and discuss what you want to do in regards to adding a subwoofer, and to get their reaction.

Hello Cleaneduphippy
I don't know anything about the innards of the new house (or the neighbors). Actually I have a sub already, a basic HT Velodyne I'm thinking of replacing. I'll see how it works in the new place before investing in a better one.

I use the sub now in a bi-amping arrangement with a NAD integrated (NAD only gets signal above 80hz). I like this arrangement--that's why I'm keen on having a sub. Don't care too much about very low bass.

Abarnett, I live in an upstairs duplex with two downfiring MJ subs. So far it has been good with no complaints. I did do the Auralex with bass traps, sound absobtion panels and diffusion (check out Guitar Center for the roominator kit). The livingroom is w/w carpets which helps insulate the floor. I am in the process of attatching a plinth with about an 1.5inch gap with the subs and some high quality spikes underneath (check Eden Sound for custom fits).

This is a must is get the Granite Audio Super Bass cd from Quuest for Sound. There are test tones from 10 to 99hz for 10 seconds which helps finding the noisy vibrations and rattles in the room and throughout the apartment. Use blu tak or rope caulk to calm everything down. Sometimes the bass might not be excessive but noisy vibrations can be harmful to the music but more disturbing to the neighbor downstairs.

Ofcourse being polite about the bass is just being a good neighbor. If company is downstairs, tone it down a bit. When the place is all yours, I am sure you can figure that out. As for me, I pretty much know the schedule downstairs and take it from there.

Good luck.

Great true "Audiogon" story about this very subject. A couple of years ago I was selling a Parasound C2 and I got an email from someone asking if I would ship to France. I had never done that before, but said I would look into it. After researching the process I found that shipping to any EU nation was a pain in the ___ but as luck would have it my wife and I were taking our first trip to Paris and could he pick it up there? Well turned out he lived in Paris but we didn't do the deal (customs at CDG would have been a nightmare with a piece of complicated electronics) but.... He was very appeciative of the effort and invited my wife and I to dinner while we were in Paris. I thanked him, but thought his offer was a simple courtesy.

To jump foward, when we arrived in Paris there was a bottle of Champagne and an offer of dinner. We of course accepted, had a great dinner and got to see Eric's system. They lived in an apartment, of course (which was amazing btw, on the Seine, not near it but on it, with a wall of windows looking out on the river framing the Eiffel Tower). He had commercial sub from a movie house, and I asked how his neighbors liked that. He had the only response that would work in that situation: The guy below him was completely deaf and could did not care. So if you look for a place with an old deaf guy below you, you can get any sub you like!!!