How many of you have actually had neighbors complain about your HT? (1 Viewer)

[Jeff_M]

I've heard a lot of members talk about pissing off neighbors with big bass from their home theaters, but I'm curious as to whether this is all said in jest. How many of you out there have really had angry neighbors knocking at your door, calling the police etc.? And if you have any amusing stories, by all means, share...

 

[Ken Custodio]

Funny you should mention that, I was watching blackhawk down Tuesday, and I started watching it around 9:30pm so it didn't get done till around 11:30 or so. About 11:15 I heard some one ringing my doorbell/knocking on the door. By the time I got to the front door the person was gone. I can only assume it was one of my neighbors trying to give me a hint about the noise
I have an SVS subwoofer too

 

[Joe Wong]

I was playing SW:The Phantom Menace last year and my next door neighbour came over and knocked. I didn't hear the knocking, but my wife did. The neighbour said I had it on too loud. Apparently my SVS was shaking stuff on her walls.

Since then I have had paranoia about turning it on too loud. Luckily I'm moving to a new house in a month or so, so I can crank it back up again. Can't wait!

Joe

 

[itai]

home construction in the future should be sound proof!.
i also live in fear of the dreaded door knock, and although i push it hard sometimes, they are sitting tight so far...
i just keep it on friendly hours, never late or weekend slliping times. if it was done to me, i'd be very upset!...

 

[Phil Mays]

I'm glad I live in the country

 

[Evan S]

The title of this thread should be "Who HASN'T had a neighbor complain about their HT?"

For any person on this forum with a decent system/subwoofer, I would think they have had a neighbor complain at least once or twice.

I had a neighbor receive the onset of a heart attack once due to one of my bass attacks (seriously). I was pretty shaken up about it and haven't played my system at loud volumes since. However, my paranoia will end once I move into my first home in March.

 

[Robert_Gaither]

My neighbor's wife complains all the time as her husband wants to build a pair of Tempests as well . The only other complaint I had was from a previous neighbor when I was running tone sweeps outdoors trying to get an idea of what my tempest sonosub rolled off without room reinforcement.

 

[ReggieW]

Hey Jeff,
Nice system you have there. The only thing that seems out of place are the JBL NSP-1's. Nice speakers for the money, but hardly a match for your pre/pro and amp. I take it you are probably working on upgrading your speakers? - just another thing to give your neighbors more grief over. I too have neighbors, and am looking to move from this apartment to a place with more privacy. I should state that no matter what kind of system you have, you can easily rattle neighbors. I have a puny Sony Swmn20 (nice distorted bass down to 50 khz -gotta love) sub for now, and they definitely feel the bass. I am upgrading to an Adire Rava, but not until I move outta here.
Reg

 

[VinceB]

Well, I have had the downstairs neighbor come up once telling me that i was shaking stuff off his walls, a cop showed up one night while i was watching Training Day and luckily he came when there was a quiet scene, so he didn't hassle me and then the landlady called me about complaints. And what do i go? I get a bigger sub. My SW15 freakin rocks!

 

[AntonS]

There's a another side of the coin. Can it be that those who knock pictures off neighbour's walls act just like plain and simple jerks? HT (especially with a sub) and apartments don't go very well together. Want big sound, buy a house.

 

[matthew_rm]

My RF3's (no sub yet) makes the neighbour's mad. Fine with me! I dont do it late, or early. NEW neighbour's now, and they don't really mind.:frowning:

 

[VinceB]

AntonS,
So because i don't have a house, i shouldn't enjoy my hometheater? Sounds like your the jerk to me.

 

[Andrew Santos]

had the cops come to our apartment after we had been playing music at somewhat high volumes. when they came though we had it on quietly. after they left, we were pissed, so we wrote a letter and stuck it on the door of the three apartments that could have possibly called the cops on us. told them that if they wanted to complain, they could have come to our door instead of being pussies and call the cops on us. if they had come knocking, we would have gladly turned it down. some people just need to learn how to confront others in a polite manner instead of taking the easy way out. sorry, but cops coming to our door is really not necessary.

 

[Adil M]

Actually when I was back at home I felt some decent bass while watching tv and really wished I knew which neighbor it was. How many of you would not be thrilled to have a neighbor come over and demo your system for the neighbor knowing he'd probably never complain about it in the future.

 

[Carl Johnson]

Back when I was living in an apartment complaints were a fairly regular thing but now that I'm in a house it's pretty safe to play the HT @ reference level without fear of bothering anyone. I have a separate two channel system for my CD player and out of courtesy to the neighbors I don't play that any louder than 50% after dark. Even that is more power than your average club so I'm in no position to complain

 

[Jeff_M]

Sorry Anton, but I have to agree with VinceB. It's not like I had an option to buy a house and ended up choosing an apartment. A house is just not economically feasible at this point. I still feel I should be able to enjoy a good movie viewing at a decent volume before 11 pm (The guys who live downstairs are in their early 20's so they don't go to bed much earlier than this).

 

[WilliamG]

This is a great thread
Well, I am close to home theater nirvana, being that I spent a big part of yesterday running speaker wire under the house and getting everything hooked up; I got the dreaded Onkyo TX-SR600 , JBL NSP1, and the JBL PB-12 sub... was up till 1 a.m. this morning watching movies, and then tonight, I slammed Twister in! And this wasn't until 9:45 p.m.!! What a movie to break your teeth on I thought my house would come apart during the initial tornado!! I kept expecting a knock or a phone call but never got the first one ... oh, well, I smell a certain T-Rex coming; we'll see what THAT one does!!
And coming Friday morning- my Tosh 50H81!!! YEsssss; oh, I forgot- That's another thread:b

 

[StevenB]

I had one pair of neighbors arrive at my door one night while my girlfriend and I were watching Jurassic Park. They apparently thought there was a T-Rex loose in my house, hehe. Funny thing is, once we invited them in, they stayed to watch the rest of the movie. They don't complain anymore. As a matter of fact, on Friday nights, they are now regulars for watching movies. They supply the cocktails, my g/f and I supply the theater, lol. Now we're waiting to see how the other neighbors are going to handle things this summer.
Steve

 

[Jeff_M]

ReggieW, thanks for the compliments. I have put a VERY significant percentage of my time and money into this home theater and I'm quite proud of it. I agree that the JBL's were by far the weak link (good speakers, great value, but just not in the same league as my other components). I just made a couple of upgrades so I'll have to upgrade my equipment list. I just purchased an Odyssey Stratos 2-channel amp with the 120,000 mf capacitance upgrade. Talk about a refined beast! In addition, I sold off the JBL's (thank you ebay!) and picked up a pair of Norh Synthetic Marble 6.9's. I took my trusty Pinnacle Classic Gold Towers (Awewome performers, on closeout at www.pinnaclespeakers.com for $599 by the way)out of my bedroom setup and put them on surround duty. The improvements are far from marginal. Now all I have to do is order up a PC+ subwoofer from SVS and I'll be off and running. My only hesitation is that their are neighbors living underneath the floor that this downward-firing beast will be pummeling. Which returns us to my original question...

 

[ReggieW]

.......Neighbors!!!!!

Jeff M,

I am looking to replace my JBL NSP-1 (though I have N26's as mains) with Axiom M22's all around, an Axiom VP150 center, and a Adire Rava sub. I'm sure I could probably sell the JBL package to someone here on the HTF. As I stated earlier, I also have neighbors, but will be moving this Fall to a house/guest house where I can have more privacy. I can afford the new speaker package now, which might not be the case a few months from now. I also plan to update my Denon 1802 to a 3803 when it becomes available. I have just ordered a Sony 222es SACD player and will be replacing my JVC 721BK DVD-A player with the Denon 1600 next month. I simply want clean detailed sound, and though the JBL's excel at HT, they are only average when it comes to music re-production, something the Axioms are said to excel at. Heck, the JBL's are really so good for HT, I might just keep them and throw them into my bedroom once I move into my new place - that's an idea.

Reg