Neighbor is feeling vibrations when trying to sleep at night. Suggestions? (1 Viewer)

[Skiliq]

Hi,

Just bought my first condo, and ran into the problem that if I am playing a video, or watching a movie or tv, that the neighbor says he is feeling vibrations in his bedroom. The condo is 3 stories, the very bottom is a two car garage cut into the hill, so most of the side wall and all of the rear wall are cement blocks. The story above the garage has the living room, dining room, and kitchen. Laminate floor in the living room and tile in the kitchen. the story above that is the bathroom and loft style bedroom, which the upper half of the wall that faces out over the living room is open. It has tile in the bathroom and wood in the bedroom. The living space is 865 sq ft, and the only spot where the units are joined is at the kitchen and bathroom wall.


I have the Onkyo HT-S9300 THX system, and currently the sub is in the front of the room, the opposite corner of the condo from where the shared wall is, and is facing in the direction of the shared wall. On the receiver I currently have the sub set to +0.0 db, same for the bass. When you are in the living room, kitchen, or dining room you do not feel any type of vibration. But if you go upstairs to the bathroom, then you are feeling the bass from the system, and it is vibrating thru the bathroom wall, into the neighbors bathroom and out into their bedroom.


Add to that, that they go to bed pretty early and I am more of a night-owl, this is kind of a problem, and they are nice neighbors so I want to be considerate to them.


I doubt that there is any insulation in the shared wall, but I was not sure if I saved up and spent money on having insulation pumped into that wall if it would fix the problem.


Or would it help to move the sub behind the couch on the other side of the room so that it is facing away from the shared wall?


Any thoughts? Suggestions?

 

[Adam Gregorich]

Welcome to Home Theater Forum Chad. I have to commend you on being a considerate neighbor. Insulation isn't going to help. Try moving the sub. If you still have the problem after moving the sub, try getting a test tone disc and see if its just a certain frequency. You might be able to EQ that frequency out.



I worked in a two story concrete office building once and had a 2 inch hard rubber ball on my desk that people would sometimes bounce on the floor when they were talking to me. It just made a little thunk from where I sat. 50 feet away in another office it sounded like someone was hammering--drove them nuts. The offices in-between heard nothing.

 

[David Willow]

A SubDude or Great Gramma "may" help. These will decouple the sub from the floor which may stop the vibration in the other rooms.

 

[Robert_J]

Originally Posted by David Willow "may" help. These will decouple the sub from the floor which may stop the vibration in the other rooms.

That only helps if the cabinet is vibrating the floor. If it is acoustic energy causing the vibrations then he has to turn the sub down of add mass to the shared wall.


As stated earlier, insulation does nothing for bass frequencies. Mass is the only thing that can stop them. An extra layer of drywall with green glue between the layers is a great start.

 

[winniw]

Personally, I think that moving the sub is the most likely answer. Stopping bass waves is not an easy task. You could throw a lot of money at "sound-proofing" and still not get anywhere. Moving the sub is much easier, and free. Moving the sub will change the nodes and nulls, hopefully, to a point where a null is at the shared wall. And as Adam so aptly pointed out, the next step would be to attenuate the resonant frequency with an equalizer. The next step is, turn-down your sub... the next one is... use headphones


Nick

 

[Skiliq]

Thanks for the suggestions. Guess the easiest then would be to get a longer cable, and move the sub. Anyone in my living room doesnt even think the sub is on with how low it is set already.

 

[Jason Charlton]

You could look into some Buttkicker-type tactile transducers for your sofa. I've not experienced them firsthand, but it might be a way to get the "rumble" of some deep bass without having to fill the room with sound that can't be easily contained.


I would think that a little bit of that will go a long way towards augmenting weak subwoofer performance due to lowered gain.