How to Lessen Transmission of bass from my Sub-woofer to apt below

[haha]

New people moved in below and I would like to isolate my sub-woofer from their space; ideally without dampening it too much.

Right now it sits on the carpet. Would it help to set it on a couple of garden pavers?

Thanks,

Ha

 

[REWahoo]

Would it help to set it on a couple of garden pavers?

Yes, but only if you keep it moist and fertilize every other week.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Low frequency is going to penetrate...

I used to have a couple of wood stands with big thick rubber feet that also tipped the speakers 'up' a little in the front.

Bass is pretty omnidirectional though...not sure anything will do more than the carpets already doing.

 

[sgeeeee]

New people moved in below and I would like to isolate my sub-woofer from their space; ideally without dampening it too much.

Right now it sits on the carpet. Would it help to set it on a couple of garden pavers?

Thanks,

Ha

That's a tough one, Ha. Sub-woofers tend to work by turning your entire structure into a low frequency speaker. If you succede in reducing how much energy they transmit into your floors and walls, you will also reduce the listening experience.

Anything that you can put between the sub-woofer and the floors/walls that will absorb low frequency energy will reduce the impact on your neighbors, but it will also reduce the amount of sub-woofer audio.

 

[haha]

Thanks guys, I was afraid this is how it would work.

Ha

 

[dex]

There is a sound deadening material you can put under the sub woofer that may help. It is sold by home sound proofing companies.

I think I have a e mail about it in my Netscape mail - but I can not get into it!

 

[dex]

You should first raise your speakers off the floor as high as practical. The more space separation the better! A barrier material like MLV (Mass Loaded Vinyl) would be helpful, but it would depend on the width and breath of the area to be covered as the speakers will broadcast over a wide area of floor at higher sound levels.

Info on MLV is at http://www.soundproofing.org/infopages/flooring.htm
Our sales dept will be closed for Xmas week, call after the 1st Of January fro more info on this.

BJ Nash
Super Soundproofing Co
www.soundproofing.org

 

[SC]

That really is a hard problem. As far as I know, you need a lot of mass to reflect the bass back into your room instead of letting it pass through the floor. (e.g. A concrete apartment building will have a lot better isolation between the units than one made of joists and particleboard.)

I kind of like the garden pavers idea. Maybe with a thick pad between the pavers and the floor, so the sound can reflect off the pavers, but the vibrations in the pavers don't couple through to the floor?

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

He'd have to line the whole apartment with pavers...LF and ULF are quite penetrating.

Ha...your best bet might be to put the subwoofer as close to you as possible, and as far away from any walls. If its closer to you, you can turn down the output to it and still get some boomys.

Subwoofer coffee table? Subwoofer hassock?

Or go with this during early/late hour listening situations...
http://www.amazon.com/Skullcandy-SCS-SC-Skullcrusher-Subwoofer-Headphones/dp/B00093DA2I

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

would throwing a garden paver at that sub woofing rattled car next to me at the red light reduce the vibrations any?

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Might produce some 9mm vibrations, but other than that, should work.

 

[justin]

Ha,

There should be two wires on the rear of the speaker. Here's what you do. Carefully remove both wires from the speaker and place them on the floor. Now test the bass transmissivity of your speaker - should be much lower now. Hope that helps!

 

[Sue J]

My son is an audio engineer so I asked him about this.

Move the subwoofer away from the walls if possible. Get a thick metal plate or 3/4 inch MDF (medium density fiber) board that's a little larger than the footprint of the subwoofer. On top of that use a piece of audio soundproofing foam material like the absorbtion wedges here - http://www.auralex.com/ Place the foam with the wedges facing down on top of the metal or MDF board. Put the subwoofer on top of the foam, but point it toward you instead of toward the floor.

Hope that helps.

 

[sgeeeee]

My son is an audio engineer so I asked him about this.

Move the subwoofer away from the walls if possible. Get a thick metal plate or 3/4 inch MDF (medium density fiber) board that's a little larger than the footprint of the subwoofer. On top of that use a piece of audio soundproofing foam material like the absorbtion wedges here - http://www.auralex.com/ Place the foam with the wedges facing down on top of the metal or MDF board. Put the subwoofer on top of the foam, but point it toward you instead of toward the floor.

Hope that helps.

That will help keep from transmitting the sound to the neighbors. It will also reduce the sound transmitted to Ha.

 

[Lancelot]

This is a wild guess, but did you consider placing the woofer on a styrafoam pad?

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Another out of the box inside the box suggestion...make a really large, fully soundproofed subwoofer and put your living room furniture inside of it.

Actually, I think thats already been done. Its called a "conversion van".

 

[donheff]

Another out of the box inside the box suggestion...make a really large, fully soundproofed subwoofer and put your living room furniture inside of it.

Actually, I think thats already been done. Its called a "conversion van".

But those "rooms" really are not sound proof. I can hear them coming down the street from a block away,

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Yeah but who cares. If someone complains to you, you can just drive away from them. Or over them.


Another suggestion...get TWO subwoofers and turn them way up. When the neighbors complain, turn them down. When they complain, shut one off.

Hey, it'll sound a LOT better than two of them turned way up...

 

[wabmester]

I'm surprised nobody has suggested this yet. You simply need to buy your neighbor an active noise cancelation system.

paper

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

That was my next unproductive but interesting suggestion...

 

[dumpster56]

Make you neighbor your friend and or band member.

seriously attached housing and loud sounds do not mix. EVER!

Lived in a townhome with a great Guitar player next door and loved the music was a good friend with him and the band, but there were nights when the kids were sleeping the wife had worked 24 hours straight in the ICU and well we wanted quiet. but THE BAND had showed up and was playing next door in the basement and at 3am well it was an issue that only got worse. I even was tired.

We ended up moving, not because of the band but I hate townhouse attached living!

Good luck.

 

[Average Joe]

seriously attached housing and loud sounds do not mix. EVER!

Agreed.
Try headphones.

 

[ERD50]

As others have said, get the sub off the floor and onto some soft pads. The pro stuff is probably best, but just regular old pillows might be good enough.

With the sub on the floor, sound is conducting directly to and through the floor. Something soft between the sub and the floor will lessen this conduction. Still, the sound waves will radiate and move the floor, and bounce off walls, but at least you can reduce the *conducted* energy in this way.

It should help, but maybe not enough. -ERD50