Isolating a subwoofer in an appartment?

[Kral]

I live on the third floor of an appartment with the typical extremely shoddy construction, and even at low volumes, I can feel the subwoofer (placed on the floor) significantly vibrating the floor. Since I'm also nocturnal, I'd like to try and reduce the degree to which my second floor neighbor's ceiling is going to be acting as a speaker.

I've been poking around and read about isolating the subwoofer with some sort of insulation or feet, but I almost always run into the same threads/sites containing obvious snake oil so I'm left wondering what's really the way to go.

Does anyone have a good idea of what The True Right Way is? It's more important for me to reduce the "neighbor's ceiling as speaker" effect than anything regarding audio quality, since if I can't turn it up past volume 2 of 10 without risk of arrest, the quality's not really going to matter.

 

[mtrycrafts]

I live on the third floor of an appartment with the typical extremely shoddy construction, and even at low volumes, I can feel the subwoofer (placed on the floor) significantly vibrating the floor. Since I'm also nocturnal, I'd like to try and reduce the degree to which my second floor neighbor's ceiling is going to be acting as a speaker.

I've been poking around and read about isolating the subwoofer with some sort of insulation or feet, but I almost always run into the same threads/sites containing obvious snake oil so I'm left wondering what's really the way to go.

Does anyone have a good idea of what The True Right Way is? It's more important for me to reduce the "neighbor's ceiling as speaker" effect than anything regarding audio quality, since if I can't turn it up past volume 2 of 10 without risk of arrest, the quality's not really going to matter.

It is next to impossible to isolate a sub in an apartment. But, you can experiment by using some sponges, not expensive.
If the sound doesn't go through the floor, it will go through the walls on down, it will get through.

 

[Rob Babcock]

Maybe a SubDude would help? Aurelex also makes foam pads meant to be placed under studio monitors- those might help. Some bass will undoubtedly pass thru the floor but decoupling the sub physically will help.

 

[masak_aer]

I use Auralex GrammaPad. See my sig. I found it very helpful (never had my downstair neighbor knocking on my door anymore. Please still use common sense, I don't turn up the volume to 2/3 to the max after 10pm.

 

[bongobob]

I also suggest the Gramma or Sudude (same thing) from Auralex. Works great for me and even seems to tighten up the bottom a bit as an added bonus.

 

[agarwalro]

I am using the high density foam that my sub was shelded in for shipping by SVS. It works great not only in isolating the sound but also improving the FR since, like you said, the floor is not acting like a speaker.

If you have a Home Depot or Lowes nearby, I recommend looking there for something similar. Basically a sheet about 2 inches thick. A hot knife will do the trick to cut it to size. This approach will end up costing one third or one fourth of what a retail solution would be.