Neighbour apartments complaint about powerful base!!!

[Rick]

I have recently bought a nice theater system. The problem is I live in
a NYC apartment, and I'm receiving mad complaints from my neighbours
about the powerful bass. I'm sure there are people who have similar
problem. How do you effectively reduce noise/bass in an apartment? Any
success stories? Ideas? Suggestions? Theory? Please help!!! Or else
I'll have to give up my system. Please don't....

-Rick

[William Sommerwerck]

I suspect the real problem is that you're playing the system with the bass
jacked up every time, all the time. Your neighbors might not object so much if
the loud bass were only occasional.

You wanna hear a really weird story? A friend of mine used to live in an
apartment with very thin walls. When he sat near the wall, wearing his Stax
headpnones (!!!), the old lady who lived next door complained about the sound!

[Scott Dorsey]

In article >,
Rick > wrote:
>I have recently bought a nice theater system. The problem is I live in
>a NYC apartment, and I'm receiving mad complaints from my neighbours
>about the powerful bass. I'm sure there are people who have similar
>problem. How do you effectively reduce noise/bass in an apartment? Any
>success stories? Ideas? Suggestions? Theory? Please help!!! Or else
>I'll have to give up my system. Please don't....

The problem is that you don't have a big enough subwoofer. You need a more
powerful subwoofer, so that your neighbors will be paralyzed by the pressure
and unable to leave their apartments to complain.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[agent86]

Rick wrote:

> I have recently bought a nice theater system. The problem is I live in
> a NYC apartment, and I'm receiving mad complaints from my neighbours
> about the powerful bass. I'm sure there are people who have similar
> problem. How do you effectively reduce noise/bass in an apartment? Any
> success stories? Ideas? Suggestions? Theory? Please help!!! Or else
> I'll have to give up my system. Please don't....
>
> -Rick

This isn't really the correct forum for home theater questions, but the
easy answer is that you should consider the space your system is going to
be used in BEFORE you buy it. If it's too late to take it back, my only
suggestion is to turn it down.

[Rigel Russell]

How about an isolation pad (I think Auralex makes one), to isolate the
sub(s) from the floor. Some bass traps might also help. And turn it down.
To enjoy loud music OR loud home-theater in an apartment setting might be
un-realistic (with rare exceptions) - even in NYC.

-Rigel


"Rick" > wrote in message
om...
> I have recently bought a nice theater system. The problem is I live in
> a NYC apartment, and I'm receiving mad complaints from my neighbours
> about the powerful bass. I'm sure there are people who have similar
> problem. How do you effectively reduce noise/bass in an apartment? Any
> success stories? Ideas? Suggestions? Theory? Please help!!! Or else
> I'll have to give up my system. Please don't....
>
> -Rick

[[email protected]]

(Rick) wrote:

>I have recently bought a nice theater system. The problem is I live in
>a NYC apartment, and I'm receiving mad complaints from my neighbours
>about the powerful bass. I'm sure there are people who have similar
>problem. How do you effectively reduce noise/bass in an apartment? Any
>success stories? Ideas? Suggestions? Theory? Please help!!! Or else
>I'll have to give up my system. Please don't....
>

My downstairs neighbor-brat didn't believe his system could bother me (one
could hear it 5 floors away), although the siren embedded in his ceiling
annoyed him considerably.

[Eric K. Weber]

It's very easy, invite them over for a cold beer and a movie....

Other than put the sub under your chair or behind it very near by and turn
the level down on it...

Rgds:
Eric

"Rick" > wrote in message
om...
> I have recently bought a nice theater system. The problem is I live in
> a NYC apartment, and I'm receiving mad complaints from my neighbours
> about the powerful bass. I'm sure there are people who have similar
> problem. How do you effectively reduce noise/bass in an apartment? Any
> success stories? Ideas? Suggestions? Theory? Please help!!! Or else
> I'll have to give up my system. Please don't....
>
> -Rick

[Dave]

Putting the sub on some sort of floater won't help anything. The problem is
the bass is going through the walls, floor, and ceiling. My downstairs
neighbor is so darn loud, I hear there noisy movies all the time. The only
thing for you to do is turn it down, or acoustically treat your entire
apartment to absorb all the low end, but then that defeats the purpose of
having your system. I wouldn't have bought this system in the first place.




Rick > wrote in message
om...
> I have recently bought a nice theater system. The problem is I live in
> a NYC apartment, and I'm receiving mad complaints from my neighbours
> about the powerful bass. I'm sure there are people who have similar
> problem. How do you effectively reduce noise/bass in an apartment? Any
> success stories? Ideas? Suggestions? Theory? Please help!!! Or else
> I'll have to give up my system. Please don't....
>
> -Rick

[Scott Dorsey]

Rigel Russell > wrote:
>How about an isolation pad (I think Auralex makes one), to isolate the
>sub(s) from the floor. Some bass traps might also help. And turn it down.
>To enjoy loud music OR loud home-theater in an apartment setting might be
>un-realistic (with rare exceptions) - even in NYC.

Nope, this kind of thing is usually structure-borne. All the isolation
pads and traps in the world won't do any good when the vibration is being
conducted through the building frame.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[Mike Rivers]

In article > writes:

> I have recently bought a nice theater system. The problem is I live in
> a NYC apartment, and I'm receiving mad complaints from my neighbours
> about the powerful bass. I'm sure there are people who have similar
> problem. How do you effectively reduce noise/bass in an apartment?

Turn it down.

Short of building an isolated listening room in your apartment, you're
out of luck. You could move to a house in New Jersey.


--
I'm really Mike Rivers )
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me here: double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

[xy]

no way

"William Sommerwerck" > wrote in message >...
> I suspect the real problem is that you're playing the system with the bass
> jacked up every time, all the time. Your neighbors might not object so much if
> the loud bass were only occasional.
>
> You wanna hear a really weird story? A friend of mine used to live in an
> apartment with very thin walls. When he sat near the wall, wearing his Stax
> headpnones (!!!), the old lady who lived next door complained about the sound!

[DJ]

That sounds pretty expensive to me. First off I think I might see if I could
perhaps stun them deaf by looping the intrumental break from 8 Miles High
with the volume cranked to 11. If it happens quickly enough, they'll never
know what hit 'em.
If that doesn't work, then yeah, a new sub oughta' do it.

;O)

"Scott Dorsey" > wrote in message
...
> In article >,
> Rick > wrote:
> >I have recently bought a nice theater system. The problem is I live in
> >a NYC apartment, and I'm receiving mad complaints from my neighbours
> >about the powerful bass. I'm sure there are people who have similar
> >problem. How do you effectively reduce noise/bass in an apartment? Any
> >success stories? Ideas? Suggestions? Theory? Please help!!! Or else
> >I'll have to give up my system. Please don't....
>
> The problem is that you don't have a big enough subwoofer. You need a
more
> powerful subwoofer, so that your neighbors will be paralyzed by the
pressure
> and unable to leave their apartments to complain.
> --scott
> --
> "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[Richard Crowley]

"Rick" > wrote ...
> I have recently bought a nice theater system. The problem is I live in
> a NYC apartment, and I'm receiving mad complaints from my neighbours
> about the powerful bass. I'm sure there are people who have similar
> problem. How do you effectively reduce noise/bass in an apartment? Any
> success stories? Ideas? Suggestions? Theory? Please help!!! Or else
> I'll have to give up my system. Please don't....

Install one of those bass transducers (the kind made for shaking
walls, floors, etc.) on your chair. Or listen with headphones?

Isolating that kind of LF sound is just impractical in your situation.
The Physics of Sound. Its not just a good idea, it's The Law! :-)

[hank alrich]

DJ wrote:

> First off I think I might see if I could
> perhaps stun them deaf by looping the intrumental break from 8 Miles High
> with the volume cranked to 11. If it happens quickly enough, they'll never
> know what hit 'em.

<j>

And you _will_ know what hit you?

</j>

--
ha

[Arny Krueger]

"xy" > wrote in message
om
> no way
>
> "William Sommerwerck" > wrote in message
> >...
>> I suspect the real problem is that you're playing the system with
>> the bass jacked up every time, all the time. Your neighbors might
>> not object so much if the loud bass were only occasional.
>>
>> You wanna hear a really weird story? A friend of mine used to live
>> in an apartment with very thin walls. When he sat near the wall,
>> wearing his Stax headpnones (!!!), the old lady who lived next door
>> complained about the sound!

Way. I was once listening to cassette tapes on a plane flight with 7506s,
and someone three rows ahead complained. Personally, I think the guy was
seeing a lot more than he was hearing, and was just playing prick.

[AustinMN]

Scott Dorsey wrote:
> Rigel Russell > wrote:
> >How about an isolation pad (I think Auralex makes one), to isolate the
> >sub(s) from the floor. Some bass traps might also help. And turn it
down.
> >To enjoy loud music OR loud home-theater in an apartment setting might be
> >un-realistic (with rare exceptions) - even in NYC.
>
> Nope, this kind of thing is usually structure-borne. All the isolation
> pads and traps in the world won't do any good when the vibration is being
> conducted through the building frame.

The floor isn't attached to the frame? I don't remember the OP saying it
was a basement apartment, just an apartment.

Austin

[blacktick]

Scott Dorsey is a <i>funny</i> guy.
-George Costanza

"Scott Dorsey" > wrote in message
...
> In article >,
> Rick > wrote:
> >I have recently bought a nice theater system. The problem is I live in
> >a NYC apartment, and I'm receiving mad complaints from my neighbours
> >about the powerful bass. I'm sure there are people who have similar
> >problem. How do you effectively reduce noise/bass in an apartment? Any
> >success stories? Ideas? Suggestions? Theory? Please help!!! Or else
> >I'll have to give up my system. Please don't....
>
> The problem is that you don't have a big enough subwoofer. You need a
more
> powerful subwoofer, so that your neighbors will be paralyzed by the
pressure
> and unable to leave their apartments to complain.
> --scott
> --
> "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[Scott Dorsey]

AustinMN > wrote:
>Scott Dorsey wrote:
>> Rigel Russell > wrote:
>> >How about an isolation pad (I think Auralex makes one), to isolate the
>> >sub(s) from the floor. Some bass traps might also help. And turn it
>down.
>> >To enjoy loud music OR loud home-theater in an apartment setting might be
>> >un-realistic (with rare exceptions) - even in NYC.
>>
>> Nope, this kind of thing is usually structure-borne. All the isolation
>> pads and traps in the world won't do any good when the vibration is being
>> conducted through the building frame.
>
>The floor isn't attached to the frame? I don't remember the OP saying it
>was a basement apartment, just an apartment.

The floor is attached to the frame. You shake the floor, and you're shaking
the frame, and so everyone else's floor shakes too.

The only real solution is an isolated room in which the floor is detached
from the frame, and floated on springs and rubber doughnuts. This is very
effective, but also very expensive. It's pretty much the only way to get
good isolation in a commercial skyscraper, though.
--scott


--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[Mike Rivers]

In article > writes:

> I was once listening to cassette tapes on a plane flight with 7506s,
> and someone three rows ahead complained. Personally, I think the guy was
> seeing a lot more than he was hearing, and was just playing prick.

One of the most annoying things to me on airplanes is sitting next to
someone listening to pop music on headphones, particularly the highly
compressed in-flight entertainment on the crappy headphones that they
give you on the plane. The problem isn't the bass, but the constant
chiss-chiss-chiss-chiss from the cymbals.

I wear Sennheiser noise cancelling headphones, and the mics that pick
up the ambient sound are mounted on the earpieces. With one of those
mics pointed right at my seatneighbor's leaky earphone, they don't
both pick up the same average ambient sound and the leakage gets
amplified in my phones. I often ask the person in the adjacent seat to
turn down his volume or put the phones back on his ears (which, when
he does, usually results in him turning down the volume).

A flight only lasts for a few hours, but a neighbor in an apartment
can complain for years. I feel your pain.


--
I'm really Mike Rivers )
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me here: double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

[P Stamler]

I once lived in a college dorm where I heard an annoying clicking sound coming
through the wall from the adjoining room. I eventually went to investigate; the
neighbor was moving chess pieces around on a board.

Peace,
Paul

[Arny Krueger]

"Mike Rivers" > wrote in message
news:znr1077286410k@trad
> In article >
> writes:
>
>> I was once listening to cassette tapes on a plane flight with 7506s,
>> and someone three rows ahead complained. Personally, I think the guy
>> was seeing a lot more than he was hearing, and was just playing
>> prick.
>
> One of the most annoying things to me on airplanes is sitting next to
> someone listening to pop music on headphones, particularly the highly
> compressed in-flight entertainment on the crappy headphones that they
> give you on the plane. The problem isn't the bass, but the constant
> chiss-chiss-chiss-chiss from the cymbals.

Right, but three rows foreward while the plane is in flight?

> I wear Sennheiser noise cancelling headphones, and the mics that pick
> up the ambient sound are mounted on the earpieces. With one of those
> mics pointed right at my seatneighbor's leaky earphone, they don't
> both pick up the same average ambient sound and the leakage gets
> amplified in my phones. I often ask the person in the adjacent seat to
> turn down his volume or put the phones back on his ears (which, when
> he does, usually results in him turning down the volume).

> A flight only lasts for a few hours, but a neighbor in an apartment
> can complain for years. I feel your pain.

IME if you live in an apartment and want to listen to deep bass at useful
levels it's time to start shopping for a house.

[Bob Olhsson]

"Scott Dorsey" > wrote in message
...
> ...The only real solution is an isolated room in which the floor is
detached
> from the frame, and floated on springs and rubber doughnuts. This is very
> effective, but also very expensive. It's pretty much the only way to get
> good isolation in a commercial skyscraper, though.

And then you've created the additional problem of having a small room that
totally contains most of the low frequencies which means you are going to
lose a huge amount of floor space to trapping and other low frequency
absorption in order to make it sound as good as a normal, non-isolated room.

A location where you don't need to sweat low frequency isolation will ALWAYS
save you a fortune!


--
Bob Olhsson Audio Mastery, Nashville TN
Mastering, Audio for Picture, Mix Evaluation and Quality Control
Over 40 years making people sound better than they ever imagined!
615.385.8051 http://www.hyperback.com

[robin]

(Scott Dorsey) wrote:

>The problem is that you don't have a big enough subwoofer. You need a more
>powerful subwoofer, so that your neighbors will be paralyzed by the pressure
>and unable to leave their apartments to complain.

Score one more for Scott.

P.S. If the original poster was playing The Darkness we could merge
two threads and achieve increased usenet efficiency.

-- robin

[Buster Mudd]

"Bob Olhsson" > wrote in message >...
> "Scott Dorsey" > wrote in message
> ...
> > ...The only real solution is an isolated room in which the floor is
> detached
> > from the frame, and floated on springs and rubber doughnuts. This is very
> > effective, but also very expensive. It's pretty much the only way to get
> > good isolation in a commercial skyscraper, though.
>
> And then you've created the additional problem of having a small room that
> totally contains most of the low frequencies which means you are going to
> lose a huge amount of floor space to trapping and other low frequency
> absorption in order to make it sound as good as a normal, non-isolated room.
>

Not sure I understand what you're saying here, Bob. Are you suggesting
that the room *would have* been large enough for evenly distributed
room modes (and hence, resonable low frequency response), but now that
all floating floors, double walls, & bass traps are installed it's too
small? That doesn't jibe with the architectural designs I've seen.
Even with a completely floating floor (poured concrete on springs, w/
1-2" airspace underneath) & staggered-stud double walls afixed to that
floor, you've given up at worst 12" in each dimension (maybe more in
height, depending on trap design). And a 14' x 20' x 8' room is not
going to exhibit appreciably worse low frequency response than a 15' x
21' x 9' room. (Sure, I'd rather have the extra space for gear,
people, & furniture...but not if it would cost me my lease!)

> A location where you don't need to sweat low frequency isolation will ALWAYS
> save you a fortune!

Now that I understand! Nothing like your own building (he says
wistfully...)

[Ethan Winer]

Buster,

> Are you suggesting that the room *would have* been large enough for evenly
distributed room modes <

No, I believe the point being made is that massive walls worsens the low
frequency response inside the room. So you need even more bass trapping than
you would have if the walls were less massive.

One of the ironies of small room acoustics is construction that improves
isolation harms the low frequency response within the room. All room
acoustic problems are caused by reflections of the walls, floor, and
ceiling. Normal sheetrock walls absorb some amount of low frequency energy,
especially if there's fiberglass between them. And some of the energy passes
through to the other side. When you make the walls double thick they are
more reflective and to a lower frequency. So now you need even more bass
traps than usual to absorb and reduce the damaging LF reflections.

--Ethan

[Peter Larsen]

Ethan Winer wrote:

> One of the ironies of small room acoustics is construction
> that improves isolation harms the low frequency response
> within the room.

No. A flexing floor or ceiling does great harm to the bass by causing a
dip as well as a resonant smear AND conducts with hardly any
attenuation. A rigid room boundary is generally preferable unless we are
speaking about a wooded structure with a "non resonant" or
"multiresonant" looseness.

> All room acoustic problems are caused by reflections
> of the walls, floor, and ceiling.

All is not usable, many and even "most applies. The other great issue in
the bass range after flexing floor/ceiling is flexing window panes.

> Normal sheetrock walls absorb some amount of low frequency
> energy, especially if there's fiberglass between them. And
> some of the energy passes through to the other side.
> When you make the walls double thick they are
> more reflective and to a lower frequency. So now you need
> even more bass traps than usual to absorb and reduce
> the damaging LF reflections.

The manual for the DM2a's (that I should have kept) recommended a
solidly built ground floor room. A flexing room-structure does not in my
opinion and experience allow a proper punch in the bass. Proper bass
build up in a room allows easy tonal balance correction - for instance
via cross-over adjustment or tone control(s), narrow leaky ranges makes
things a lot less simple, also in my understanding of your resistive
traps for them to do a good job.

> --Ethan


Kind regards

Peter Larsen


--
*******************************************
* My site is at: http://www.muyiovatki.dk *
*******************************************

[William Sommerwerck]

> No. A flexing floor or ceiling does great harm to the bass
> by causing a dip as well as a resonant smear AND conducts
> with hardly any attenuation. A rigid room boundary is generally
> preferable unless we are speaking about a wooded structure
> with a "non resonant" or "multiresonant" looseness.

I once lived in an all-concrete apartment house. I've never gotten such low bass
from my system.

[Ethan Winer]

Peter,

> A rigid room boundary is generally preferable <

I couldn't disagree more. The best wall material for a listening room is
probably something like 1/8th inch plywood. This way the bass would pass
through to the outside, while the mids and highs would still be reflected so
the sound isn't completely dead. Here's a graph showing the low frequency
response I measured recently in a typical 16x10x7.5 foot room:

www.ethanwiner.com/misc-content/response.gif

The severely skewed low frequency response is caused by reflections off the
walls, floor, and ceiling. If the sheetrock walls were progressively
replaced with thinner and thinner materials, the size of the peaks and nulls
would be correspondingly reduced. If the walls are eventually made as thin
and light as paper, the LF response would be completely flat.

> The other great issue in the bass range after flexing floor/ceiling is
flexing window panes. <

Why do you think flexing is a problem? If anything that equates to bass
trapping, which flattens the low frequency response.

--Ethan