problem with bass isolation

[midnight79]

Before I start, I am a newbie in the home theater systems so I apologies for any thing that seems stupid in the post.

I have a 5 point surround sound Mirage speaker System hooked to Denon AV receiver. In all my stupidity I decided to move into an apartment building.. My dilemma starts when I crank up a bit of volume, the subwoofer shakes up the wall its sitting next to and that kind of doesn’t go well with neighbors’ specially when I am watching a late night movie.

My issue is that I want to keep the same level of bass coming from woofer while not making the wall shake or in other words “Localize” the bass so that the vibration doesn’t travel to the neighbor’s apartment.

I was told to switch the phase from 0 to 180 and Spike the woofer for lesser contact with floor which may help with vibration. I am a bit confused; wouldn’t Spike enhance the frequency of the bass which make the wall shake a bit more?

Can some one guide/help me who to isolate the bass to be at its best in the room but not travel far via wall

I am attaching a rough drawing of where the SW is and where the neighbors position is
[Edit: there is no place to attach a JPG :S.. sorry )

 

[j_garcia]

Spikes will not enhance bass transmission, but they will not entirely minimize them either - something soft such as a rubber mat will. No amount of isolation between the sub and the floor/wall is going to prevent bass frequencies going through the walls though. Your only real solution, aside from room treatments, is to turn the sub's level down.

 

[no. 5]

I was told to switch the phase from 0 to 180 and Spike the woofer for lesser contact with floor which may help with vibration. I am a bit confused; wouldn’t Spike enhance the frequency of the bass which make the wall shake a bit more?

Yes, spikes will not decrease energy transmission, and changing the phase will not do what you want to do.

You could try changing where the subwoofer is; perhaps getting it closer to your seat so the volume does not need to be as high to be as loud. If the problem is mostly form physical coupling, isolation pads could work, if the problem is form a room mode, an EQ or acoustical absorbers could help, but if the problem is just that the wall doesn't have a high enough Sound Transmission Classification (i.e. not enough sound is being blocked), there isn't an easy fix.

 

[Alex2507]

Being a condo dweller I can tell you it's hopeless, completely and utterly hopeless.
Hope that helps.

Seriously about the best you can do is get your movie watching in before 8:00 PM.
After that, turn your subwoofer off.

 

[j_garcia]

I have a pretty big sub, so my rule when I was in an apartment (yes, I had it in there) was movie is done by 10:00, no later than 11:00 on Sat only. Discuss it with your neighbor and/or let them know when you will be watching movies and maybe they won't get so mad.

 

[mtrycrafts]

Sorry, the only solution is lower volume, or rent a house with no neighbors right on the property line
You just cannot tame the bass especially in an apartment. It just goes through the walls.

 

[MidnightSensi]

Try one of those tacticle transducers from Parts Express (Bass Shakers). They give you the effect for movies without the subwoofer boom. You attach them to your couch and run them to a low power amplifier, and then use the low frequency out from your receiver. You then can turn your subwoofer down a lot at night without feeling like you are missing too much.

 

[TLS Guy]

Being a condo dweller I can tell you it's hopeless, completely and utterly hopeless.
Hope that helps.

Seriously about the best you can do is get your movie watching in before 8:00 PM.
After that, turn your subwoofer off.

There is no physical solution, without rebuilding the apartment complex.

 

[Jey Jockey]

Try using an Aural sub mat and also try using night mode or dynamic range control, whatever its called on your receiver, that will help with the huge bass scenes.

Anyway you slice it, subwoofers and apartments do not play well together.

 

[WINGNUT4772]

You could also try an Auralex Gramma but I agree with the others..condos and bass do not mix.