Help with sound deadening an apartment (1 Viewer)

[StevenDE]

I've been reading a lot of posts on here for a few months now and I haven't really found a direct answer to the question that I have. I live in an apartment and my upstairs neighbor seems to have a problem with my sub. My question is what can I do to help keep the base inside my apartment as much as possible at a reasonable price. I know you can't really prevent low freqs from traveling thru walls and what not. I've been looking into building some acustic treatments for my walls and started to look at bass traps but I couldn't find anything in any of the links that I found to give me the answer I'm looking for. Sorry if this has been posted and asked befor, I've tried doing searches on sound proofing, deadening, apartments with no luck. Thanks in advance for any help you guys can give me.

Steven

 

[Andrew Steel]

Hi Steven,
First of all, can you isolate the sub from the floor somehow? Spikes etc.

Bass traps will work in the sense that once you remove the nasty reflections you will probably turn the sub down a little as the rooms frequency response and decay time are better.
As for actually soundproofing that would be very difficult - probably why you haven't had much luck.

Tell us a bit more about your apartment/room. Size, construction etc.

Andrew

 

[StevenDE]

I'll have to go ask the management at my complex about what the walls are constructed out of. I'm at work right now so when I get home tomorrow I'll be sure to measure out the room, its a fairly good size room the one problem I have with it is that there is a lot of open space. There is no wall that separates the living room from the dinning room which is also open to the kitchen on one side of the room. The other is open to our little entrance way which goes into the hallway back to the bed rooms. It's kinda hard to explain. Anyhow like I said I'll take some measurements and try to draw up a picture or something tomorrow. As for isolating the sub from the floor, how would I do this? All I have is some real basic Yamaha sub, it looks to be about an 8" sub. I'd really like to upgrade or something but that I'll cover in another post when I start thinking about it more seriously. Thanks again for any help you guys can give me.

Steven

 

[BillySmith]

I think it would be tough to have a sub in an apartment. I know that if you put your hand on the exterior bricks of my house you can feel vibrations when it's turned up to the level that I watch movies with. I would look into isolating the sub from the ground with some spikes like mentioned above. IMO the problem will be vibrations through the walls more than anything else.

 

[StevenDE]

I don't know what spikes are or what they are made of. Where can I get them or can I make them? Thanks again.

Steven

 

[StevenDE]

Ok so I went and asked the apratment people what the walls and floors are made out of, we just got a whole new management team so they weren't all that much help. I measured out my living room and tried to draw a very crude picture but I can't figure out how to post pics to the forum so I will try to explain it the best that I can.

-----------------------------------
| 4'

 

[StevenDE]

Ok so that didn't show up as well as I had hoped. The window, fireplace and sliding glass door are on the wall that dosen't appear to be there, in about the locations relative to each other as written.

 

[BillySmith]

Spikes are like little cone shaped legs to get your sub off the floor. Here's a link - partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&User_ID=17548680&St=8778&St2=-71573558&St3=47419662&DS_ID=3&Product_ID=121980&DID=7 I can't add links yet so put the http//www
You could also try cutting two tennis balls in half and putting them under the sub. See if that helps before you spend the money on spikes.

 

[StevenDE]

I'll try that. Thanks for the suggestions.

Steven

 

[BillySmith]

Good luck, Let us know what you find out.

 

[StevenDE]

Well I put some tennis balls under that sub and watched the Matrix Reloaded last nite and the neighbor didn't come down so I'm guessing it worked. I did notice that the sub dosen't seem to vibrate all the things that I have kinda near it as much. The wife really liked that. She wasn't really hot about putting tennis balls under the sub in the living room but that kinda changed her mind. So now I have another question that is somewhat related. Right off of the living room there is the little closet that has our washer and dryer in it. All it has to block it off from the rest of the house is to thin folding doors. Needless to say that they don't really do anything for quieting the noise from the washer and dryer. It has been suggest to me by some people to just put some like dynamat or something similar on the inside of the doors. Anyone have any idea if that would work or is there something else I could do to help with this problem. Thanks again for any help you guys can give me.

Steven

 

[BradZ]

if you want something that looks better than the tennis balls and will work better too- do a google search for vibrapods. they aren't too expensive (more than tennis balls though) and really tame vibrations. I've never used them under a sub, but they work everywhere else.

good luck.

 

[BillySmith]

Well, Now that the tennis balls worked you can pick up some spikes or, the vibrapods that Bradz is talking about. I have't used anything for my sub it just sits in the corner of the living room next to a chair. Sorry, I can't help you with the doors though. Good luck!

 

[StevenDE]

Well I was searching for the vibrapods I found a lot of sites that were talking about how the material the pods are made out of would damage the finish on your speakers or equipment over time. Anyone have any expierance(sp) these? they would look a lot better then have some tennis balls under my sub. I also looked at some spikes and the only ones I could find had to be scewed into the sub. Is that pretty standard for them or are there some out there that don't need to screwed in? thanks yet again for any help you can give me.

Steven

 

[BradZ]

Steven,

Check out www.audioadvisor.com

they have lots of different spikes and vibration absorbing devices. there's probably something there you might like. I've only used vibra pods under my source components so damage to a finish was never a concern. I can't imagine anything more than a smudge that could be cleaned off, but maybe I'm wrong.

good luck.

 

[StevenDE]

Ok so now that it has been a few weeks with out complaints from upstairs it appears that isolating the sub has helped, but it seems as though my sub has gotten a lot quieter. Is that normal? If so maybe I should really start looking into getting a bigger sub or something... but then I think that would bring me back to my original problem. Anyhow thats another issue I'll be taking up in another forum. But I do have another question/problem. Right off of my living room is our washer/dryer which is simply covered up by a cheap folding door. Is there anything that I can put on the door or some where else that will help qo quiet the noise? I've heard or someone using roofing material but I'm hopeing there is something that is fairly reasonably priced that is going to look better then roofing mateial. Again I really apreciate any help that you folks can give me.

Steven

 

[Ryan Tsang]

Steven:

Have you considered moving? My suite is in the basement at the corner of my building and next to me is the laundry facility. The only person I can disturb is upstairs but I have not received any complaints. (knock on wood) Suites across the hall are too far.
It's not a coincidence or luck; I chose my place for specific reasons.

If you're not happy with your HT, and you can't buy a house yet, take your time to shop around for a new place. Radical, but a self-respecting movie lover should not compromise

 

[StevenDE]

It's starting to look like that may be the only option I have, unfortuneatly(sp) I don't have the money to do that right now and my lease isn't up for a while.

 

[BradZ]

you might try some foam eggcrate matresses on the inside of the laundry doors. they make pretty decent sound absorbers. shouldn't be more than about $20.