Apartment Drama

Agree with Elizabeth. I used headphones almost exclusively when I was in an apartment complex. Had speakers, but used them very rarely. Other than headphones, her method of Maggies/panels (no sub, obviously) on the terrace level/slab part of the building in the corner, combined with very moderate listening levels, is THE way to go for an audiophile stuck in a complex.

The 1st downside to this is higher risk of theft (ground-floor windows, and especially if facing the woods) -- I experienced this myself. The 2nd downside is high exposure to noise from your upstairs neighbor. At the time my upstairs neighbors were ALL very reasonable/quiet (this is a very lucky occurrence, and not to be expected), so the terrace-level apt I had was pretty decent living until I got broken into.

After the break-in I moved to the top-floor (4th), which was just awful. Modern complexes are built so cheap, that by the time you get to the top floor you feel like you're in a treehouse; no rigidity anywhere. Even if you try to run speakers, they will sound like crap. You may have to deal with unreasonable people below you (e.g. calling police over the sound of WALKING). And you're still not immune to gobs of awful sound coming from below (e.g. high idiots with a subwoofer).

These are the compromises of apt complex living. They are not designed for most audiophiles' needs.

David99, what's the latest? Have you been tunes-free for four days or has your neighbor calmed down a bit?

Consider getting a pair of Auralex Gramma isolation platforms to put your speakers on. They will isolate the speaker from the floor and keep the bass from bleeding into the next apartment while allowing the speaker to project into your room. You would still need to be sensible about volume levels as well. They are about $50 each and work well. It is a minimal investment to keep the peace. The headphone idea also makes a lot of sense.

Headphones or move to a more soundproof building, I went through the same shit, never again.

Living in close quarters breeds contempt, especially when others work different shifts.

Yes, there are time rules, but that doesn't mean banging drums, loud mufflers, barking dogs and screaming kids till 10:59pm, that don't fly either.

I found an "end unit" condo with a slightly deaf lady next door and backyard woods!

Good luck! Glad I do not live in an apt anymore.