Isolating subwoofer ??

[jaymzzer]

Hey folks,

I am a bass lover. I play the bass en I like subwoofers.... BUT....

My downstair neigbours has a subwoofer too which penetrates through the ceiling. My floor vibrates and the ech of the bass in my house is horrible.

My neighboor is willing to adjust somethings to reduce the noise.

Somethings I know I could do are :

- reduce bass volume
- place a sound absorbing rug under the woofer

Do you know any other methods that will help us ??

Thanx in advance

 

[WmAx]

The adjoining structures/walls will be acting as selective frequency resononators. In addition to adding physical decoupling by setting the subwoofers on a decoupling structure, you can isolate the frequency band(s) that are of the dominant amplitude and notch these, significantly reducing some of the frequencies without too much audio degradation. This would require:

1. Having each of you play a test CD while the other person is in their apartment and records the SPL with a sound level meter or an acceleroemter attached to a wall or floor(the SPL meter is the only practical method for you). Record the SPL values for the range of frequencies between approx. 25-200Hz, in at leat 5Hz resolution/increments.

2. Purchase and use a parametric equalization device such as a Behringer between the LFE output from your reciever and the subwoofer to effect the notching.

http://www.zzounds.com/item--BEHDSP1124P

It is a compromise for you both -- you will have to select the most problematic frequencies and reduce their amplitudes, but not so much as to be significnalty lowering sound quality. The silver lining is that if you are not already using a parametric E.Q. system to smooth room LF response, this device will also allow you to measure in room bass respnse and then notch the room specific resonances, thus you can increase sound quality of your subwoofers!

You can not appreciably reduce the main bandwidth(s) of low frequency energy with a parmateric device -- only the 'one note' type peaks that are in effect at some frequencies related to the wall/floor natural frequencies. These should be obvious -- i.e.; the 'one noted' bass sound that is typically heard in midbass/bass ranges as compared to a flat band(normal) sounding subwoofer.

-Chris

Hey folks,

I am a bass lover. I play the bass en I like subwoofers.... BUT....

My downstair neigbours has a subwoofer too which penetrates through the ceiling. My floor vibrates and the ech of the bass in my house is horrible.

My neighboor is willing to adjust somethings to reduce the noise.

Somethings I know I could do are :

- reduce bass volume
- place a sound absorbing rug under the woofer

Do you know any other methods that will help us ??

Thanx in advance

 

[WorkerBee]

Hi Guy,
My sub is up on spikes which made a difference than just sitting on the floor then to better it I put it on a 2" thick concrete pad from local home supply store. I also read somewhere that if there is a cushion between the sub and the pad it should be better, so I am looking to cut some squash balls in 1/2 and try that between the sub and concrete pad. I'm trying to eliminate some shaking and rattling of the house and furniture.

 

[mtrycrafts]

I'm trying to eliminate some shaking and rattling of the house and furniture.

You will not succeed with what you have mentioned you are doing. To limit shaking and rattling you need to reduce volume or find what exactly is shaking and rattling and fix those part of the furniture ot house. The acoustic energy in the air at those low frequency is most of the culprit.

 

[Rob Babcock]

I have two suggestions:

1) Decouple the sub from the floor.
2) Try moving the sub closer to your listening position. This will probably be the most effective solution. Volume is halved as distance is doubled, so by moving the sub closer, you can turn it down yet still have it seem as subjectively loud.

 

[cstanley]

auralex's Gramma riser is designed to decouple a
{subwoofer, guitar amp, bass amp, etc} from the floor.

http://www.auralex.com/sound_isolation_gramma/sound_isolation_gramma.asp

it goes for about $50

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/GRAMMA/

auralex is well know for recording studio treatements, they (&
other acoustic product manufacturers) are starting to make
forays into the hifi/home theatre market as well & battling
WAF along the way .

they make good stuff, i've put their bass traps and 2" wedge foam
in my recording studio, it made a huge difference.

-carl

 

[WorkerBee]

Decoupling and searching out the little rattles IS certainly next up on the list of to do things so I must be on the right track. Those commercial grade pad/cushions may be in the future if the cheap fixes do not work. I'm always turning the gain up and down on the 2039+ to find that happy medium for music and movies. It is amazing how much thunder can be created with that sub......funny how the gain is is never really cranked past 11 or 12 o'clock....guess if we move to a bigger place there will be plenty to fill that space too.