Apartment Bass...

Sounds like a good plan, go for it.

Do some sound tests with all of your neighbors so you know how much sound is transmitting. I did that with mine, so I know exactly how high of volume I can go before I start knocking stuff off their shelves.

Agreed that your first step should be to introduce yourself to the neighbors and inform them of your setup. Ideally, you can get a chance to run your system in its ideal positions, and see how the sound translates to their space. Best case scenario, they don't care or the building is actually pretty good at deadening (I know, I know, fat chance of that ) and you can both live happily. Worst case, the building is like paper or they're extremely sensitive, but you've at least saved yourself a visit from the police after they call because of noise.

The subdude/decoupling pads help in terms of reducing vibrations which is a good thing, but aren't really going to stop low frequency waves, given that they're long and omnidirectional. Still, if the sound is right on the edge, cutting down vibration may do it. Quieter will help obviously, but with any apartment, you're at the mercy of the neighbor's tolerance to your listening and how well the building was constructed for reducing sound between units. Rarely do subs and apartments work well together. A lot of people have turned to the tactile feedback of buttkickers and the like to get low frequency effects when bass was too much for the space.

+1 Carlo

The isolation platforms for my subs helped greatly with rattles in my apartment but did little for the low frequency bass my neighbors were hearing for the reasons mentioned.

I would suggest not putting the subs in corners of shared walls, and treating any shared wall corners with traps. That seemed to make a significant difference in my case.

It is not about the walls. Low frequency is non directional. So even if you play at low volume, the neighbors can hear it unless all the walls, floor and ceiling are made of some 6" of concrete.

The subdude is nothing but a gizmo to make money. It is just a piece of MDF and packaging foam. Nothing space age about it as they claim. They are using the same deceptive marketing tactics which Bose uses to lure people into buying their junk. I have shown pictures of a DIY subdude using MDF and PC packaging foam (dark grey foam) in the subdude thread. It only costs a couple of bucks to make one.

The subdude may cut some vibration to the floor especially if you have a down firing sub but it does nothing to prevent the bass from getting transferred. If people have money to throw away, they can buy that subdude junk for some $50 and pretend that it solved all their problems if you pay someone, they will write raving reviews about anything in a magazine. Have you ever seen any critical negative reviews of any audio/video gear in any of the magazines?

Like you said before, just use common sense and keep the volume down or use a head phone. There is no point asking here if the bass would bother your neighbors. Just play it loud and go ask them if it is bothersome. The only precaution that will be effective is not to play a sub or large speaker in an apt. at all.

If the walls of a house or apt. building can prevent the bass from getting across, you will not hear all the subs people play in their cars/trucks outside. Bass is omnidirectional and in a building made of wood, there is just no way to keep it from getting to the neighbors, even 3 apt.s away, unless you sound proof every inch of the room.

There are 100's of such threads like this where people come asking for ways to avoid bothering their neighbors in the apt. with a darn sub. There is really no way except sound proofing every inch of the room. No it is not like you have no issues. It is just that if you are lucky and get neighbors who are very tolerant to noise, then you will continue to bang your speakers/sub thinking that the neighbors cant hear them. Some may be very heavy sleepers and that would also turn out to be in your favor.

You should be glad you dont have neighbors like me I am also glad I moved out of an apt. some 9 yrs ago when HT crap was not as popular as it is now, where a lot of people who live in apt. have a HT of some kind with a subwoofer.

I once had to sleep at my cousin's place as he was closer to the airport than I was and I didnt want to miss the flight due to snow. I could not sleep at all as the neighbors were banging their HT. He didnt care as he is a heavy sleeper and also he didnt stay in the apt. most of the time!

It won't even do that. The walls of well made subwoofers do not vibrate, so there's nothing there for a subdude or other isolation devices to isolate. The vibration of floors, walls, ceilings and objects are caused by the acoustic output of the sub. What an isolation device can do is prevent said floor vibration from rattling the sub, but it won't reduce low frequency sound transmission through the floor by a single decibel.

There are no tricks. The only thing that stops bass from passing through walls, floors and ceilings is mass, a lot of it. If there's sufficient mass in yours to contain the bass all well and good. If not the only cure is the volume control.

Like I have said before, there are 100's of such threads where people ask for ways to cut bass. Like it was said before there is no easy way unless you sound proof every inch of the room or you have 6" concrete walls.

If no one complained then you are just lucky. It is not because the bass didnt travel across the walls. You may have common sense but your GF does not seem to have any. It is ridiculous to use a sub of any kind or large speakers in an apt. and come here asking for tricks to avoid bothering the neighbors. It does not matter where you place it. There may be nulls at some places but people do move around in the neighboring apts. and also they may get a peak in their living room or bed room. So they WILL hear the bass and it is bothersome to many people.

People who live in a glass house should not throw stones. Similarly, people who live in apt. should not use a sub/large speaker.

The 505s are not known for much output <40hz so that will help. All things being equal the deeper the bass the more likely you'll disturb a neighbor.

Try to keep the subs as close to the seating positions as possible too. You can even try calibrating them a little low.

Tom V.

You could use some bass shakers to help augment the bass. I have a 2 seat home theater in which I use 2 aura bass shakers under each,
powered by a 240w parts express plate amp. If mounted correctly (with a time delay if you feel the need)...this will augment your subs without bothering
the neighbors etc. I know a lot of people think this is gimmicky, but it really helps. I was skepitical at first, but I would say the shakers (in
my case) were the best investment I've ever made, considering the money spent.

http://www.amazon.com/Aura-AST-2B-4-Pro-Bass-Shaker/dp/B0002ZPTBI

http://www.amazon.com/Dayton-Audio-SPA250-Subwoofer-Amplifier/dp/B0070Z81MW/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1350859228&sr=1-2&keywords=dayton+subwoofer+amp

Just an alternate suggestion......vardo

It gets more and more ridiculous. Augment the bass in an apt. with a shaker LOL. Now that is a "common sense" way to avoid bothering the neighbors. It looks like "common sense" doesn't belong to this thread.

What is RUDE and INCONSIDERATE is to use a sub/shaker/large speaker in an apt. It does bother the neighbors even at low volume.

Enjoy your sub/speaker and shakers. I feel pity for your neighbors. I am glad I didn't have a neighbor like you when I was living in an apt.

Quote from CarloBadalamentii/ " A lot of people have turned to the tactile feedback of buttkickers and the like to get low frequency effects when bass was too much for the space."/

Mupi, I agree with most all of the things you have posted on this thread. Sound isolation is close to impossible. Go to a acoustic website (like Real Traps) and they
frequently get this question asked. There is no way short of pouring new concrete walls/floors.

Also I agree subdude(s) are bogus although some suggest it reduces internal vibrations....I would not know, my foundation is concrete and a subdude wouldn't
do squat.

So please explain how a tactile transducer wouldn't help in the OP's case if his system was turned down to a low volume and tactile transducers were used.


vardo

+1. Bass shakers certainly do augment the bass response. The amount varies, as I have the full-sized Buttkicker, which is much more powerful than the Auras, but to dismiss their ability tells me you've never experienced a properly done setup.

OP. If you have a receiver that has Audyssey, you should consider using the Dynamic EQ (Volume?) settings. If you set it to evening or midnight, it cuts the overall volume and dynamic range down, and makes dialogue clearer.

++1 on TTs. Bass shakers and the like are awesome for apartments. "Period"... lol

dradius....they are also awesome for homes that have concrete floors covered by carpeting "Period".

vardo
Edited by vardo - 11/2/12 at 3:07pm