Apartment living bass lover needs help (1 Viewer)

[GregoriusM]

Hey!

I live in an apartment, as many of you do.

I have a 10" Paradigm subwoofer that puts out some decent bass.

It is forward firing, but sits flat on the floor, which makes it very sensitive to resonating in other apartments.

Is there a way to isolate that bass from the other apartments somewhat without comprising too much of the bass in my apartment.

My mains sit on very solid speaker stands with spikes on the bass that sink through the carpet to the concrete floor.

Do you think that would minimize transferrence, or is there any other method out there that might work?

I know I can turn the bass down, but I really only have it set at AVIA's standard.... I do not have it "cranked" up.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Greg

 

[Topher]

For now, I am in the EXACT same situation as you and any answer would greatly benefit me as well... although I am sure the answer is "too bad, unless you have deaf neighbors then you are screwed" :frowning:

 

[Ray_C]

From what I can gather, spikes are supposed to transfer the subs energy into the floor even BETTER than using rubber feet, so they might not be a good choice, even with a rug. There might not be a whole lot you can do, since all rooms will have certain natural structural frequencies that will be exited by the long waveforms of lower frequencies. Add to that your thin walls and floors, which will add to the overall resonance. Perhaps some bass traps in certain corners will help the bunching up of some frequencies, as well as furniture, but the room's natural resonance, along with the standing waves created by 90-degree straight-up walls, are hard to avoid.

Here's my case:

I live in a 450 sq-ft studio apt in NYC, in a rugged pre-war building. Three of the walls are solid concrete, as well as the ceiling and the floor beneath the hardwood panels, on which you can jump on 'till the cows come home and not shake a thing. However, it seems that this space is one half of what was originally one larger space, the other half being the apartment next to mine. (This is starting to become a post more appropriate for the architectural board) The only thing dividing the two apartments are a run-of-the-mill sheetrock frame/panel wall, attached to which is a small bathroom with the same walls.....walls that sound like a giant drum when you tap your fingers on them. I can only logically keep my sub in one place, and the bathroom happens to be at a certain distance away from the sub where a major waveform peaks (you can hear and feel it when you walk in front of the bathroom and my system is playing). So the bathroom basically becomes a very live 6'x5' resonating chamber that efficiently transfers the low-end of my system into the next apartment, which is separated only by the aforementioned thin wall attached to the bathroom. So the person living next door is getting better bass than I am! Hence, I've gotten a few complaints and I have to constantly adjust the volume as I'm watching movies. I'll be looking to put some sound insulation in the bathroom walls, but that's a pretty major undertaking for now. Damn, if I just had one more concrete wall.....!

 

[AaronJB]

Same situation; I have a downward firing subwoofer that helps somewhat. Maybe you could move a shelving unit or other furniture against the wall between apartments to try and cushion some of the bass

 

[george_k]

Gregorius,

It's not just the floor but all your walls to some degree will transfer those ultra-low frequency signals into the adjacent appartments around yours. Those low-frequency signal penetrate just about anything including concrete/steel. I guess that's the reason why low-freq signals are used in underwater communications?

Personally, I can fell the bass coming out of my appartment all the way down the hall when I go throw out the garbage even with my door closed.

I guess your best bet is to ask the people living next to you if it bothers them.

 

[RichardH]

You could get a crossover and run the sub from like 50 Hz up and get bass shakers for 50 Hz down. Expensive, but a decent solution IMO.

 

[Rory Buszka]

You could get away with a smaller sub, then.

 

[Wayne Ernst]

Yeah, really. If one was going to only send frequencies of 50Hz to 80Hz to the subwoofer, the $99 KLH "special" from Costco would fit the bill. Its 120-watt amp would be more than enough for an apartment.

 

[GregoriusM]

First: I haven't been on this board for a while, but did there not used to be an easy way to quote people, without resorting to copying and pasting? Many other forums use VBulletin and have a "Quote" button beside an earlier post.

Second: I'd considered this idea and since I am the only one in the apartment, I'd probably only need one shaker, so it wouldn't necessarily be all that expensive.

Does anyone have a list of bass shakers or something that accomplishes similar objectives that I might check out online?

Thanks to all who've posted!

Greg

 

[Dave_vega]

I live in an apt. also and my sub pretty much doesn't do anything..it plays but very softly..sad, but thems are the breaks I guess..I will have a house soon and a tumult to play all of my 16 hz needs..

I have my car to cure my bass needs..

 

[GregoriusM]

Yes, thank goodness I can pump the sound in my car with my Alpine setup. Sometimes I just have to get out and go cruising and let 'er rip!

But, dang it, I just want to crank 'er up sometimes for those DVD's and Music Videos that I've got and get some serious surround sound going.

I, too, am looking at moving to a small house, but then the perks of apartment living (no snow to shovel, no grass to mow, etc. etc.) are gone by the wayside.

We shall see.........

I still can't see why Quoting is done the way it is one this site. Hmmmmmmmmmmm....

Bass shaker{s}, here I come!