Moving into an apartment with wood joist floors - worried about neighbors hearing


Hey all,

So during the pandemic I bought a pair of very Manhattan-unfriendly Egglestonworks Kivas. They sound amazing! 

However I recently decided to move and found an amazing old loft. While signing the lease I saw a bunch of language about noise and playing music loud - and now I’m starting to wonder if I’ve made a huge mistake.

I’ve lived in places with concrete floors the last 15 years, so i didn’t even think about it when taking the place, but this old building has wood joist floors. 

While I don’t listen loud - I’ve always been a low- to medium-volume listener - I’m worried that even then the Kiva’s will have too much bass energy.

The opposite pressure is that the room is huge with high ceilings. So in a vacuum, the Kiva’s would be the perfect speaker for the space.

The way I see it I have two options:

1) Try to move in with the Kiva’s and do everything I can to contain their energy (bass traps / panels / thick rugs / Isoacoustics Gaia pucks - some of which I already have). If there are complaints, then get different speakers or use equalization to lower the bass on my digital sources (not an option for vinyl though)

Or:

2) Get different speakers proactively. If I do this, I could consider a pair of bookshelf speakers with limited LF (SF Amati’s or those WIlson bookshelves?)

Anyone have any experience with this? If I go route #2, what about planar ribbon speakers like Maggie 3.7? Seems like the dispersion on them might solve a lot of the problem here, but not sure if they’ll still resonate the floor.

hudsonhawk

OP, plenty of good advice previously given and, given the $'s one has to expend to live on the island, apply as much as you think you can apply....

(Just finished reading a note on some poor mortal paying 1,400$/mon. for 55 sq./ft.;
Now, Yes, NYC is an exciting city to be in, But....That's starting to rival those Tokyo 'hotels' that consist of a 'bunk-bed' module you crawl into....Por moi', NoF'nWay)

Throw a 'loft-warming party', and invite anyone above, below, and around you.

Don't know your new 'hood, but invest in some security features, as 15.5K$ speakers will make you an entrancing target, if not for the immediate neighbors, but one never can be totally clueless in Madhatterland....;)

Good luck, and enjoy the new digs....👍🤞🎉

As others have said, carpet the floor definitely.  Also 100% agree the Townshend platforms or Gaia feet, the latter on a granite slab. I definitely recommend near-field listening. A friend has a pair of huge high-end floor standers, on the end of a very high-end system, which by choice he sites literally 4 feet from his listening position.  It sounds absolutely incredible at low volumes.  

Slightly different take: cool your jets for a few weeks after move-in. Get the lay of the land, meet the neighbors without any insinuations of audio - get to know any who are willing to know you, as people instead of as assumed hobby obstacles to be convinced / woo’ed - for most people the former will go more naturally which is to say, less awkwardly. Use headphones during this time. I would not ask a neighbor I do not know well to do loudness / listening tests with me. That injects bias for concern in people and requires assuming they’re of similar personality / affability as you. It’s a risk, surely.

If your speakers energize the room for your boundary composition(s) / thickness / etc., no amount of wool or slab or otherwise will help unless you rebuild said boundaries - some room modes may be well away from your listening area and might not be on your side of the floor/wall, again depending on boundary composition / spacing. If it’s all wood and/or drywall, it’ll potentially be a real problem if you have a pair of intolerant ears opposite said boundary(ies).

During that initial “down time”, see what other sonic perturbations come from the building, the area, what times of day, etc. Educate yourself on relevant dB ordinance / statutes for your city / district.

I agree 60’s dB listening is not loud, so it will probably depend on how your bass peaks behave in-(and beyond)-room. I certainly wouldn’t sell a pair of speakers I really like for living a while in that type of place, at least not right away before I had lived in said environment and knew it as a resident vs. a brief visitor.

I'd invest in a Sound Pressure Level meter for your own use and to use in your downstairs' neighbor's place if things get ugly. I was a co-op board president in NYC a while, that's a great tool for handling complaints.

 

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