Neighbor Complaining...

Is this a rental or condo? I would think no matter where and how you place the system their going to complain. If you just purchased then I would think a little renovation should help like sheet rocking over the wall with another.There was a tread on Audiogon just recently discussing this same issue. When your that close there is really no best solution when you have neighbors top to bottom. And the only best solution would be to buy a private home away from the crowd.

Try talking to your neighbor and find out what hours would be appropriate and at what volumes. Invite him in for some refreshments and to show him your system. Offer to place your system away from the shared wall (which is closer to the rear wave generated by your electrostat). Maybe you can find out what hours you would not be disturbing. Good luck to you.

I had the same problem with my condo, neighbors above, beside, and below! I finally bought a home and had a baby 11 months later!!! I guess I'll never turn up the volume. HA

Toufu writes:
>I moved recently to a new apartment, and my neighbor is already complaining of the noise... :) Right now I have my speakers (Quad 12L2) placed closed to the shared wall, now, would it make a difference if I place the speakers against the other wall (which is not shared), and facing the shared wall?

Talk to your neighbor and see what's a problem. Being somewhat reasonable goes a long way.

Moving the speakers is only going to help a little (unless you have the speakers too close to the wall). The problem is that you're in a reverberant space, and once you get 2-4' from the speakers in a typical room the sound can't drop more than 3dB.

Structure borne vibrations are a big problem. Once sound gets into the structure, it's going to come out.

You want to isolate speakers from the floor instead of coupling them with spikes. You can put the speakers on small platforms hanging from the ceiling with ropes (makes for a great mechanical low-pass filter), use commercial products like the Auraflex SpeakerDude, apply industrial vibration isolators, use a forstner bit or your circle jig to make matching holes in two pieces of your favorite sheet good that will locate racquet balls, etc.

Bass is a big problem because you get more transmission at lower frequencies. With room modes being up to 10dB hotter than the rest of the spectrum, I wonder what applying notch filters does to what your neighbors pickup.

Jamesw20 writes:
>I had the same problem with my condo, neighbors above, beside, and below! I finally bought a home and had a baby 11 months later!!! I guess I'll never turn up the volume. HA

Once you own the property you can have a room (or basement) with double staggered studs, constrained layer damping, , one (or two) exterior doors, separate ventilation (mini split A/C), etc.

You won't be able to hear them and they won't be able to hear you.

I lived in a condo for 10 months and never met the neighbor next to me until 20 minutes after I hooked up my subwoofer.....

Buy a house or take up another hobby.

If you don't have a sound level meter, buy one. (The Radio Shack models can be had for about $50.)

That can form the basis for really finding out how loud you listen and also what level bothers the neighbor. If you're a 100 dB kind of guy, you've got your work cut out for you.

However, the above suggestion about inviting the neighbor over and offering to work with him on both the volume and hours issue is a great idea. There is a fair (though certainly not absolute) chance he might try to meet you halfway.

Get a house, headphones or a louisville slugger.

Moving the speakers to the other wall will help however you can greatly reduce the sound transmission through the common wall by screwing 2"x1" timber battens @ 18" centres to the common wall with 1/4" rubber pads between the battens and the wall at the fixing points. Fix 2" fibreglass insulation floor to ceiling between the timber battens and screw/glue 2 sheets of 5/8" (16mm) dense plasterboard one on top of each other, to the timber battens leaving 1/4"-1/2" gaps at both floor and ceiling which you then seal with silicone sealant.

If all of the above good suggestions fail --buy 2 jl audio f113 subs --you will get rid of the neighbors as well as any insects that may inhabit the building :) good luck with your situation

Interesting comments about subs...I used to use my sub in order to get the neighbors to be quiet. My upstairs neighbors had a young son who would sometimes make a whole lot of noise...if he got loud, I was always able to get louder. I would say push for the eviction!

Have fun,

Place the speakers on the opposite wall. Then hang a nice area rug on the wall with a pleasing design to it . If that doesn,t work....call Tony and Pauly and the use the rug to get rid of your problem ! Cheers

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Kennyt........your post was hilarious!!
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Toufu, your Quad 12L2s are rear ported right? These speakers are not really high output so maybe the rear port is vibrating the wall. It would not hurt to try the opposite wall but it will depend on the size of the room vs the standing wave. Do you have a subwoofer also?

Older apartments have paper thin walls, not sure if you are in modern condo with concrete-likely not.

I agree with talking with your neighbor to establish an agreement on level and hours. like in the city, eh? sometimes moving to a nicer apt means fussier neighbors where the other buildings tolerate all sorts of noise. Depends on the neighborhood. Are you in SOMA or downtown?

Let me know about the DAC demo too when this gets settled.

cheers, ed

Headphones.

So when there Toufu is having friends over for dinner they pass the headphones around?

use in a 'nearfield' manner

Thanks guys... I am in San Francisco and just got a loft downtown in one of those old office building converted to condos... The floor seems solid, probably concrete, but not sure if the walls are concrete... Not even the new high rise buildings would have concrete walls, no?

Anyways, I am going to work with them and move the speakers to the other wall and see if it still bothers them, and maybe work out a schedule when I can enjoy my music.

And Ed, yeah, I would definatly want to get together still... Will let you know... probably in a couple of weeks or so..

I have resided in apts. for 30+ years. I am also the mgr. at this building,going on 20 years. What I do is; when the apt. next to me is empty, I go into that apt at say 3am. I listen carefully so I know at what point the sound comes through the walls. During the daytime,on weekends I may pass the certain level by just a taste. BTW, there isn't an apt below me. I only have one wall to worry about. This is a 2 story complex.
Most of the time the loud stuff comes from movies 'cause I also do HT. It ain't just the action scenes. The other day in a relative quiet scene comes this low rumbling which I knew had to be heard next door. Regular 2ch sound is more fixed,i.e.w/o the dynamic swings of Blue Ray sound tracks.
I have Sophia 2's and they might be down a few db's at 25 but it's still there.
My neighbors have a 5 year old and it can be heard but I never would say a thing. Can we say coexistence?? I guess one just needs to find the sweet spot where the least amount of sound goes through the walls. Get floor-standers that go down to 30/35 and forget about a sub, period.

Toufu we never asked you the square footage not knowing it was a converted loft. I would say it's not concrete but sheet rock over old construction "wood and plaster". I gather the building is sprinkled and up to code, because lofts usually are not fireproof or have fireproof staircases. I only say it for you to make sure you have apt insurance and try your best to have all receipts.

Schipo, that is quite a message you left for Toufu. I guess you are trying to be helpful but geez louise.

So I came home and moved my speakers to the other wall and played one of my techno record and ask the neighbor if they could hear it, and guess what? Nada! Life is good again, I am back, baby!

Excellent. Rock on!!!

Bostonbean I happen to know something about old loft construction and fires.I worked in this area in NYC for over 21 years, and lofts can be fire traps. That's why I gave this advice.And Bostonbean you sound like your full of gas GEEEEEZZZZZ.

Well, not so fast... I was blasting away Ride of the Valkyries (CBS, Szell, exellent, by the way) and she came knocking on the door... I am think of putting a big rug on the back shared wall and that should probably do it... Anyone know where I can get a cheap big rug and how to hang it?

Anyone know where I can get a cheap big rug and how to hang it?

Well ikea of course! Go to any carpet place and see if they seel those clips they use to hang the rugs they sell. but the rug will only cut out some the reflective sound and the high frequency stuff at that.

Absorbing low frequency sounds require many inches of thickness. Acoustic treaments can get pricey but could give you piece of mind of happy neighbors. Though I doubt if your small speakers are completely pressurizing your loft with bass so maybe it's just the echo/reverb that is affecting them?

ed

I found switching to monitors helped. Less bass energy and decoupled from the floor.

Keep those Quads at least 2 feet from back wall and 1.5 feet from side walls. More the better in your case. The Quads have solid bass for their size.

In the past, I've had great luck convincing NEW neighbors that I am partially DEAF, which is why it might be a little loud.
Nobody thinks to ask what a deaf person is doing with a good stereo!