Neighbor is complaining about bass (need advice)

j_garcia

j_garcia

Audioholic Jedi
An isolation pad likely will benefit your sound, but probably won't do anything for your neighbor.

I don't think it really matters apartment or not, I can feel my sub outside in the garage when I crank it, so I know my neighbor can feel it too and their house is 6ft from mine :)

My solution: move to the country. I can just barely see my nearest neighbor's house at my new place :D
 
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ObsceneJesster

Audioholic Intern
Well, I decided what I'm going to do. I am going to put about 2 feet of insulation between my basement ceiling and first floor. I am also going to get a isolation pad. I will take some steps to dampen the bass down a bit but I will not break my bank account trying to completely fix the issue as the only way I think I can fix it is spending about $7,000 to build a room within a room.

I do not have a HOA and I took a trip to my local police precinct today. I explained the situation and they told me there is nothing they can do as long as the sound inside the other persons house is under a certain amount of decibels. The Major over there told me it doesn't matter if it's 2AM, if there "Noise Pollution Meter" isn't reading high in the neighbors home then I am not breaking any laws.

I am pretty sure it wouldn't even come close to reading high. When I went over his house, I had my volume at -8db and the bass was barely even heard. You almost had to try to listen for it.

I'm not going to be a **** and blast it at 1AM but I will enjoy my Home Theater as I see fit. I bought the house and if they are the ones who can't deal with it, they can leave.:D
 
bread29

bread29

Junior Audioholic
Last December, I had a smile on my face as I moved into my new and trendy downtown apartment on the water (mostly forced by significant other). After 10 months of dealing with stuck-up neighbors for the first time in my life, I'm marking the days off the calender like an imprisoned hostage on a isolated Phillipine island. I can't wait to sell and turn my 3 Hsu subs back up to the level they're supposed to be played at!
 
Alex2507

Alex2507

Audioholic Slumlord
Well, I decided what I'm going to do. I am going to put about 2 feet of insulation between my basement ceiling and first floor.
2' thick? That's thicker than me. I think if it were me I would do as nice a job as I could considering what I envision to be reaching into a crawl space and lay down 2'x4'x6" unfaced R-19 fiberglass batts. The most effective single step measure to reducing low frequencies is another layer of 5/8" drywall. Actually you could toss that up on top of your current ceiling before the insulation and the close up the access you had to that space for a few different reasons other than but including sound. To help you save some money I'm coming over now to do this for you for half the money of a room within a room. What's your address again?

I am not breaking any laws.
I take it your good with a little bad blood? What are the #'s for unacceptable gain in noise pollution?

I went over his house, I had my volume at -8db and the bass was barely even heard.
At least you've made some contact ... now is the time to start hand holding.
Don't break out the Twister mat quite yet. :)
 
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ObsceneJesster

Audioholic Intern
2' thick? That's thicker than me. I think if it were me I would do as nice a job as I could considering what I envision to be reaching into a crawl space and lay down 2'x4'x6" unfaced R-19 fiberglass batts. The most effective single step measure to reducing low frequencies is another layer of 5/8" drywall. Actually you could toss that up on top of your current ceiling before the insulation and the close up the access you had to that space for a few different reasons other than but including sound. To help you save some money I'm coming over now to do this for you for half the money of a room within a room. What's your address again?



I take it your good with a little bad blood? What are the #'s for unacceptable gain in noise pollution?



At least you've made some contact ... now is the time to start hand holding.
Don't break out the Twister mat quite yet. :)

There meter doesn't have numbers on it. It has 3 lights (Green, Yellow and Red). They told me it is usually used for these young punks who think it's cool to ride around in their Honda Civic with two 15 inch SUBS pounding inside of their trunk. They also told me they have been to a couple complaints of neighbors hearing other peoples home theaters. They take a reading outside of the home and inside the complainer's home. If the meter doesn't light up red then it's not high enough.
 
F

FirstReflection

AV Rant Co-Host
Heh - that's interesting about the police meter. I had no idea such a thing existed! I wonder if it's similar up here in Vancouver, Canada :confused:

Anywho, Rockwool or "soundproof" insulation doesn't do a heck of a lot when it comes to bass. It's mostly just to fill the air void, which deadens higher frequencies a bit, but it's mostly just about reducing free air movement between the two interior surfaces of the drywall (or the drywall and plywood of a subfloor). What makes bass so much more easily heard is that it physically shakes the actual materials that make up your house! It's a bit like how you can put your ear on a train track and hear the train coming from miles away, even when you can't hear the train at all when you're just standing and listening for the sound being carried through the air. That structure-borne sound transmission is the reason why you can hear bass thumping away in a neighboring apartment or house, even when the higher frequencies are completely inaudible.

So stopping bass from "bleeding" is more about decoupling than attempting to "block" it. More material does mean more mass for that sound energy to move, so there is some benefit from simply installing more insulation or drywall or concrete. But the majority of bass "soundproofing" comes from decoupling - which means the aforementioned "room within a room" construction or, at the very least, using visco-elastic constrained layer damping between multiple surface layers on your walls, ceiling and floor (ie. Green Glue or QuietGlue in between at least two sheets of drywall or a pre-made "sandwich" such as QuietRock or QuietWood).

If all your neighbor can hear is the bass - and not the higher frequencies - then that indicates that it is indeed structure-borne sound transmission that is the problem and not just "thin walls" or a lack of insulation that is allowing the sound to travel essentially through the air and reach your neighbor's house. As such, decoupling is going to be your most effective approach. A simple isolation pad is a great, inexpensive place to start. But there's every chance that the air movement within your theater is enough to get the walls, ceiling and floor to shake in sympathy, which in turn becomes that nasty structure-borne sound transmission to your neighbor.

If it is only a handful of specific frequencies that "bleed" through, then those are very likely the resonant frequencies of your particular room. If that's the case, some fairly heavy bass trapping might be enough to curtail those standing waves and reduce the resonant frequencies enough to eliminate the problem.
 
j_garcia

j_garcia

Audioholic Jedi
I had a 15" downfiring cylinder in my APARTMENT. Only ever got 1 or 2 complaints over a few years, because I know I wouldn't want them doing the same thing to me. When I was watching a movie though, before 10pm, I watched at whatever level I liked and there's nothing they could say.
 
G

Gustavo

Audioholic Intern
Or you can do what I did. I play my music so loud that all my neighbors moved out, at least for now till someone else moves in. For now I am in sonic heaven.
Or, like me, I show them my M4 assault rifle and tell them that it is louder and would drown out any complaints.

Hey, I live in a third world country. It pays to have high-powered implements that could produce a lot of decibels when needed. :D
 
G

Gustavo

Audioholic Intern
Last December, I had a smile on my face as I moved into my new and trendy downtown apartment on the water (mostly forced by significant other). After 10 months of dealing with stuck-up neighbors for the first time in my life, I'm marking the days off the calender like an imprisoned hostage on a isolated Phillipine island. I can't wait to sell and turn my 3 Hsu subs back up to the level they're supposed to be played at!
Oh no, the Philippines is not that bad. If you have 3 Hsus, I won't deprive both of us the pleasure. :cool:
 
bread29

bread29

Junior Audioholic
It's nothing personal Gustavo, I just watched 'Locked Up Abroad' on the National Geographic Channel and it just happened to be the Phillippines....but, I'm still counting the days to move into a home!
 

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