[brothermaynard]

Did I have an epiphany or am I crazy? I think it might work but what do you all think? If I put a Bass Shaker on the wall that my neighbor and I share and use a phase adjuster 0-180 to cancel out the low frequencies, can I expect any real results? I have been doing some reading on sound damping materials and have found that it is hard to deal with the deep tones but I have never read about anyone using this method?!?! Quick someone tell me i'm crazy...I am close to going out and purchasing a phase adjuster...

 

[Bigus]

If the bass is being transmitted entirely through membrane action of the wall, I could see that being a possible solution. If however there is significant acoustical energy leaking from cracks around doors and windows, and indeed even the membrane action of the windows themselves, you may wind up treating the less offensive of the possible transmission modes.


Neat idea though. Makes me wonder if I can cancel the mechanical forces generated by a line array infinite baffle setup so I don't have to use a manifold...

 

[brothermaynard]

What an interesting idea! I like the idea of an infinite baffle... I'll test mine if you test yours .

 

[pbryan]

Lets see if I can reach back into that engineering education I have...


A bass shaker only emits vibration, not sound, correct? So you won't cancel out any audible sound waves, unless they are emitted by the movement of the wall itself... Also, waves, either sonic or subsonic (vibration) travel faster through air than wood, concrete, wallboard, etc... whatever the wall is made out of... I would think the low freq. vibration your sub creates will hit the parts of the wall that are further from the bass shaker at roughly the same time they hit the area around the shaker... However the shaker's vibration will travel through the wall slower. Now you have the possibility of overlapping waves in the wall making the vibration worse in some areas....


Does this make any sense??

Maybe I'm completely wrong...


but, 10 to 1 odds the shaker makes it worse


--Paul

 

[Larry Fine]

I agree with Paul. The shaker(s) would more likely produce additional vibrations that the speakers don't, making the problem worse, not better.

 

[brothermaynard]

Quote:

Originally posted by pbryan [B A bass shaker only emits vibration, not sound, correct? --Paul [/b]

Sound is just pressure waves in the air. As soon as it hits the wall it turns into vibration and then back into sound on the other side. So what I would be trying to do is effect the transmission through the wall...


Quote:

Originally posted by pbryan but, 10 to 1 odds the shaker makes it worse --Paul

Those look like fun odds, say, wager a Bass Shaker, they still have them at Partsexpress.com .


I still think there is still something to this due to the length of the waves at say 40Hz and down. I am going to have to involve my Behringer Feedback Destroyer in this one.

 

[pbryan]

Quote:

Sound is just pressure waves in the air. As soon as it hits the wall it turns into vibration and then back into sound on the other side. So what I would be trying to do is effect the transmission through the wall...

Correct, but part of my point was that if the neighbor is hearing sound emitted by the sub, not the wall, the shaker will do nothing... If the sound he/she is hearing is created by the movement of the wall, then you may have a chance, albiet still a small one I think


--Paul

 

[Bigus]

Yeah, like I pointed out the room would have to be essentially airtight first to prevent acoustical energy from escaping via direct sound waves.


If that was done, then I could certainly see out-of-phase cancellation of wall vibrations being a possibility. My guess is that it would be difficult to calibrate, but I could be wrong.


I may try the idea on an IB manifold. Bass shakers are cheap (price of an enclosure or less), so it would be interesting just to find out. You'd have to apply an appropriate EQ curve to the bass shaker so that at each frequency it was vibrating the wall with appropriate amplitude (or attempting to... ideally the bass shaker would be moving internally and the wall would be completely stationary).

 

[brothermaynard]

Quote:

Originally posted by Bigus You'd have to apply an appropriate EQ curve to the bass shaker so that at each frequency it was vibrating the wall with appropriate amplitude (or attempting to... ideally the bass shaker would be moving internally and the wall would be completely stationary).

I totally agree with all of this. I can see this might become complicated but it is too fun to give up on. I'll test between my other wall and my adjacent bathroom first. Though it will not be as air sealed it will make for easy testing. I think that the fact that sound travels faster in solids than air will help in this endeavor especially if I want to do higher frequencies with shorter wavelengths.


I will give this a shot thats for sure but I know it will take a little time and i'll need help so it is definitely a weekend deal. I think that I will pick up a phase adjuster today, are there any types/brands to watch out for?

 

[Darian]

This method is described on the clark synth website. They list noise cancellation as a possible use for the products they sell.

 

[brothermaynard]

I wasn't able to find where they describe it on the Clark website...


I bought an Energy sub crossover/phaseadjuster. I think this weekend a little testing is in order. Too bad these BassShakers are not tuned flat though...

 

[billfold]

An easier solution would be a pair of noise-cancelling headphones for your neighbor. Or better yet, offer to help him move