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

Oh man, thanks for the tip!
I have been trying to find a reason for a divorce for a long time, tomorrow I will move my speakers closer to the wall behind which my wife sleeps:)

In the 70's I hung a pair of Infinity Monitors from my ceiling with rope. The adjoining apartment, although sharing floor and roof joists, told me they did not hear anything. 

The Townshend stuff should work or, you could try the platinum silicone hemispherical isolation pads from Hudson HiFi available in many sizes on Amazon.  Don't be fooled by the low cost.

I would not introduce myself to neighbors and tell them about my system, I think that’s asking for trouble. I would let things fall as they may, deal with issues as they come. Enjoy your new home and your system and be as courteous as you can while still trying enjoying your music.