Neighbor-friendly soundproofing needed?

[tentaguasu]

I'm building a new home. I'll have a home theater on the lower level. This means the outer walls will be 10" concrete. However, it has great lower exposure, meaning that about 7ft. of the concrete wall will actually be exposed. The neighbor's home is about 12' from our house.

I'm wondering how worried I need to be about the neighbor hearing the home theater.

There will be (at the start) zero additional soundproofing in the theater. We'll probably have studs and just one layer of drywall. Nothing on the ceiling.

I know this will make it zero soundproof internally, but that's OK for now.

The neighbors are my main worry...

Thoughts?

 

[oppman99]

I'm no expert, but I think you will be fine if the theater is in the basement and you have your windows closed. My neighbors have commented many times that they are surprised they cannot hear my sound system outside unless the door is open (they have been over many times to enjoy it). I have fiberglass insulation and drywall, nothing special. I crank up the volume fairly often and have not had any issues yet. The houses on either side of me are 15-20 ft away.

 

[mudrummer99]

About the only sound that is usually an issue traveling like that is your low end bass, ie subwoofer. Auralux GRAMMAs or Subdudes should help isolate that issue and make you a good neighbor. I use one of these in an attached condo and have had 0 complaints.

Mike

 

[mike c]

what is the theater's ceiling? i noticed that with my concrete-walled theater, most of the sound escapes from the wooden/cement board ceiling.

if you can make the ceiling material denser, you'll be set.