Could it be possible that my house is acting like a bandpass box?

[Beatmatcher247]

I've got a JL F113 in each of the front corners of the room as that is what measured the best in both output and frequency response. My neighbors are really beginning to *****, so I put on an action scene and went outside to listen. Somehow the bass seems to be louder anywhere in or around my house than the room that the speakers are in. My listening room has slab poured on-grade, and carpet over the top of that.

Would some grandmas help with the sound not carrying outside so much? What can I do to keep more of the sound in my house and less bothering the neighbors behind me and to the sides. We have .75 acre lots and when people ***** to me about my stereo, my first response is, "Seriously?" Way over there?

Its a multi-level home, with 4- smaller levels as opposed to two big ones. This one is on the 2nd from the bottom level (the on-grade slab part), the bottom is the basement, the main floor where you walk in is about 4, above grade, and the top floor is about 8'-9'above that floor.

There is an opening leading up and down, and the room Juts out toward the basement in the very back and widens another 5' in one direction. I've got something funny going on here...

 

[j_garcia]

No, Grandmas and Grammas will not help with that issue. Have you tried pulling them out of the corners? Are you listening with doors/windows open? I know I could hear my sub across the street with the door open too.

 

[Beatmatcher247]

No, all doors are closed, windows are closed and latched.

I think I might just have really shitty insulation.

 

[Jeff R.]

Grandma's are generally not tolerant to heavy bass.....however gra....mmas may be beneficial.....the money that you already have invested I would definitely give it a shot. Mine do a great job.

 

[shadyJ]

I think the problem is going to be about sound rather than vibrations, so an isolation pad doesn't seem like it would help.

It might seem like the bass is louder outside of that room, but that is only because it is quieter outside that room, and the bass is all that you are hearing. One way you can be sure is to play some test tones and do some measurements in and around the house.

I find that my basement isolates sound very well, but the ground floor and above leaks sound very easily. I can listen to stuff at reference levels in my basement, but I would never be able to listen to anything close to that on any other floor.

 

[Beatmatcher247]

The sliding door at the back of the room is not of the greatest quality. I wonder how far opening that frame up, insulating well and putting a better quality door there would go. The garage isnt finished. Finishing that and insulating it really well may do me some good too. If those grammas stop my can lights from rattling they would be worth their weight in gold to me.

 

[Jeff R.]

I would think they would help the can lights from rattling. I had a gas fireplace in my last house that would rattle and the gramma corrected the issue.

 

[Gordonj]

Are you only having this problem only with the subs?
And at what freq does the problem seem to "go away"?
What freq. are your subs crossed over?
Can you make out musical notes and direction outside the house or is it just LF noise that is just a muddy mess?
Are you having the same problem if you turn off the subs and just use your mains - can they be heard outside as well?

Since earth is an infinite baffle and on top of that is concrete that is not the problem, it is the rest of the construction of the house.....

 

[Beatmatcher247]

Subs are crossed at 80 hz.

I can hear everything with pretty good detail outside of my house at the back of my property. The bass sounds louder in the garage and backyard than it does in the room. The highs and mid frequencies don't carry outside as much.

I could spend a fortune on redoing this room right, I think it would be cheaper to just build a new dedicated room in a new home the right way instead of trying to retro this one only to find I am going to still have the same problems.

In the meanwhile you think redoing that sliding door area (insulating it well around the frame, and installing a much better quality door) and same with the only other window in the room. In the unfinished part of the house its easy to see why I have issues. The way it is framed there is little to no room to put insulation around these openings.

I'm an electrician and have pretty low-level knowledge of general construction. Just trying to make some not horrendously expensive improvements that my neighbors and I can both live with for a couple years.

I have to get an AR-15, Remington 700 .308 with a good scope, and a glock .45 ACP here before Obama gets re-elected/declares martial law. So funds are limited!

 

[Gordonj]

Sounds like you have paper thin construction of walls for your home....

That being said, the ONLY way to stop LF is MASS. For walls that means multiple layers of drywall or something of that nature. I know you don't want to hear that!

If you are hearing everything outside, such as the HF, then you have leaks such as your doors and windows. Even if you have inexpensive windows and doors they are still probably capable of giving you an STC of around 25 to 30, IF they are installed properly. Most of the time when you have a sound leak around a window or door it is do to poor installation and caulking around the frame. Therefore, you should look around your windows and doors where the frame meets the wall system and you might find that you have some holes to fill.

I would recommend acoustic caulking (it does not dry out and crack over time) and seal up around all your windows and doors. Again this will not stop the LF problem but may help reduce the MF and HF leaking that you have going on.

This will be a process of trying things and seeing what and how it improves the leaks and then what to do next. The LF leak is going to be your hardest problem and only because of the laws of physics apply...

Gordon

 

[lsiberian]

There are numerous ways to improve the problem. The first and simplest is the use of Subdudes for Great Gammas. They do reduce noise in other rooms by eliminating the coupled transmissions. It is more significant than I thought it would be. The second is insulating walls. You could blow in fiber glass or rockwool. Also seal like crazy. If you want to go crazy you could do a room within a room isolation of your home theater area.

 

[j_garcia]

A Gramma will help with vibrations, but that will mainly affect the house itself, it won't change anything outside.

 

[Gordonj]

Just insulating the walls will NOT mitigate the LF issue. It is simply not massive enough to stop those LF waves. You have to add mass. Insulating a wall will help reduce the transmission of HF and MF and reduce SOME of the upper LF range (120Hz ish) but not much.

Gordon

 

[Beatmatcher247]

Ok, so grammas, and those doors and windows sounds like a good starting point to me.

Lets turn this into an ideal listening to music/theatre room thread.

Maintain Seppemeyer's ratios as indicated here

Home Theater Room Dimension Formulas & Calculator

Slush in all my ducting, floor boxes, can lights, conduit, etc.. in concrete, carpet walls, ceiling, and floors with thick carpet. Triple sliding doors, with accoustic grade caulking. No windows, doors.

 

[annunaki]

The sliding door at the back of the room is not of the greatest quality. I wonder how far opening that frame up, insulating well and putting a better quality door there would go. The garage isnt finished. Finishing that and insulating it really well may do me some good too. If those grammas stop my can lights from rattling they would be worth their weight in gold to me.

A more simple solution may be to apply some closed cell foam weather stripping to the back of your can light fascia to avoid the rattle against the ceiling surface.

 

[lsiberian]

A Gramma will help with vibrations, but that will mainly affect the house itself, it won't change anything outside.

I'd love to do a study on it. Perhaps I'll do some tests in different rooms with an SPL meter to see what it actually does. It certainly couldn't hurt. I've got an empty house this Saturday and an SPL Meter app on my old phone. This should be fun.

 

[Beatmatcher247]

(2) Auralex Grandma pads on the way from the Audioholics store. 10% off if you like their store page on facebook. Thanks audioholics.

I'm really excited to see how much it helps with both things rattling in the listening room and if the bass carries not as badly to my neighbors

Thanks for all of the suggestions guys.

 

[Gordonj]

Let us know how that turns out!

Gordon

 

[j_garcia]

I'd love to do a study on it. Perhaps I'll do some tests in different rooms with an SPL meter to see what it actually does. It certainly couldn't hurt. I've got an empty house this Saturday and an SPL Meter app on my old phone. This should be fun.

I can say for sure that a Gramma helped with my Adire Tempest when I had it and that was also on a concrete slab with carpet. So I know it can greatly influence the sound, but IMO, what you hear outside is just from flat out SPL. The Gramma may reduce levels higher up that would be more likely to be transmitting directly through the walls, so there's a good chance there will be a benefit. At the very least, it may clean up the sound

 

[Beatmatcher247]

Those SPL meter phone apps while fun are really inaccurate. Well first impressions are that it helps a lot with annoying resonance sounds within the room. The ones you can hear now are a lot farther away from the listening position now. I also hear a lot better distinction between notes and i would say about 15% better tactile punch in the listening position with the same material. Seems to be a vast improvement at first glance, more than what i thought it would be. I am no expert so we will also see what the measurements say.

My friend is going to come by with his REW software, meter, and laptop to see what it did to my FR curves. We will also do ref level SPL peak test inside and out (backyard, driveway, and sides) and see how it affects things for the neighbors. Seems that their is less transmission outside. My siding no longer sounds like its going to blow off the side of my house. It did not eliminate transmission but at first glance it seems like a big improvement. Hopefully they prefer the sound if clean bass to my siding rapping against the Tyvek crap lol.