Moving into an apartment with wood joist floors - worried about neighbors hearing


Hey all,

So during the pandemic I bought a pair of very Manhattan-unfriendly Egglestonworks Kivas. They sound amazing! 

However I recently decided to move and found an amazing old loft. While signing the lease I saw a bunch of language about noise and playing music loud - and now I’m starting to wonder if I’ve made a huge mistake.

I’ve lived in places with concrete floors the last 15 years, so i didn’t even think about it when taking the place, but this old building has wood joist floors. 

While I don’t listen loud - I’ve always been a low- to medium-volume listener - I’m worried that even then the Kiva’s will have too much bass energy.

The opposite pressure is that the room is huge with high ceilings. So in a vacuum, the Kiva’s would be the perfect speaker for the space.

The way I see it I have two options:

1) Try to move in with the Kiva’s and do everything I can to contain their energy (bass traps / panels / thick rugs / Isoacoustics Gaia pucks - some of which I already have). If there are complaints, then get different speakers or use equalization to lower the bass on my digital sources (not an option for vinyl though)

Or:

2) Get different speakers proactively. If I do this, I could consider a pair of bookshelf speakers with limited LF (SF Amati’s or those WIlson bookshelves?)

Anyone have any experience with this? If I go route #2, what about planar ribbon speakers like Maggie 3.7? Seems like the dispersion on them might solve a lot of the problem here, but not sure if they’ll still resonate the floor.

hudsonhawk

That looks like a very sensible, well thought out plan.  Bravo.  Now I can ask you:  how did you come up with your moniker?  I hope it is not because you really liked the Bruce Willis movie by that name.

You could build a floating floor like recording studios do. Various YouTube articles show how.

Now I can ask you:  how did you come up with your moniker?  I hope it is not because you really liked the Bruce Willis movie by that name.

@larryi It absolutely is. That movie is a misunderstood classic that's aged like fine wine.

For those suggesting the OP put down carpet. Would you be willing to afford such an expense for a dwelling you don't own?

 

 

@hudsonhawk 

I faced your situation before.  There are extremely dense rubber mats (about an inch thick) called "stall mats", each about 3' x 4' that are used in horse trailers -- cost a total of $34 at Tractor Supply (yes, I get that's not going to be in Manhattan, which is yet another reason I don't live in a big city.  Awesome store.) that work extremely well for soundproofing.  They cut easily.  Very dense, same rubber as a car tire.

I've seen them in use in CrossFit places in Manhattan, so I presume someone ships them, even to Manhattan.  Extremely heavy, so be warned.

You lay one layer on the floor, then a layer of plywood, and then another layer of the mats on top.  This is extremely effective at stopping sound transfer.

Put an area rug on top so you don't look like a CrossFit gym

You could do a big room for $200.

As a bonus, you also now have a place to do dead lifts and drop your weights.

Your house will also smell like a tire store for a week.