How Do I Keep My Apartment Neighbor From Hearing My Subwoofer?

[intothedragon]

I just bought a new pair of speakers and today was the second time I got the downstairs neighbor on my door complaining from the bass shaking his apartment.

I swear it wasn’t too loud ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡° ) but I mean,

What can I do to try to isolate the bass from the floor? Is there any DIY solution? Bass traps?

Do isolators pads as these ones work??

Please advice

[intothedragon]

9 minutes ago, GregWormald said:

As you know from the rumble of outside noises, bass can travel through structures. 

The isolation pads may work if the vibrations are coming from the sub cabinet, otherwise thick carpet on the floor might help.

The only real options that I know of are: a complete sound absorbing false floor (and possibly walls), turn it down, wait 'till neighbour isn't home, or get a new neighbour.

Sorry.

I'll check on these. It's the sub from my floor standing speakers that I just bought and cost me the liver. 

[intothedragon]

3 minutes ago, GregWormald said:

Oh dear, I can understand a kidney, we have two, but only one liver.

I only cut 80%, it will grow again, they said...

[intothedragon]

40 minutes ago, Allan F said:

I had a similar situation with my downstairs neighbour and my previous set of speakers, the frequency response of which went down to 20Hz. The speakers were on sharp spikes, which went through a thin carpet to rest on a concrete slab. I purchased granite slabs, 3/4 inch thick, cut to the same size as the base of the speakers. I placed these on the carpet, with the speakers and their spikes resting on top of the granite.

 

My neighbour stopped complaining and I gained the added benefit of tighter bass. I bought the slabs from a Marble & Granite supplier, who cut them to size and bevelled the top edges. If I recall correctly, the cost was less than $100.

Do you have a picture of the slabs by any chance? Do you think it will work on laminated hardwood floor? 

[intothedragon]

16 hours ago, Allan F said:

 

The slabs on the thin carpet were very stable. With the considerable weight of the speakers, the slabs (9" x 18") sunk into the carpet and there was absolutely no wobble or other movement. I assume that the granite absorbed or dissipated the vibration that would otherwise have been transferred to the concrete slab. I really don't know how this approach would work on a laminated hardwood floor. You might want to put some material between the slab and the floor.

 

Do you place the speaker over the slab with the spikes? 

[intothedragon]

15 hours ago, jiminlogansquare said:

Now that I know that you, like I, have a wooden floor, I'm going to double down on recommending you try an IsoAcoustics product. To reduce risk to your wallet, you could try to purchase from a vendor that will let you return them if they don't work out.

 

As the name "IsoAcoustics" implies, they isolate - or decouple - the speaker from the floor. Why this doesn't ruin the tightness of the bass is documented pretty effectively  at the manufacturer's website and in numerous product reviews around the internet; they have a novel internal structure/engineering solution and are not simply rubber stops or feet.

 

Their value for me and possibly you is that they greatly reduce how much speaker vibration is transmitted into the floorboards of a wooden floor, which in my case was creating annoying resonance in my listening room.

 

Of more direct value to you, I found the IsoAcoustics product also reduced the amount of bass disturbance in the rooms directly below my listening room (which is in an attic).

 

I don't have any experience with heavy absorption materials like the stone and concrete slabs discussed above; they might work as well or better. Experimentation can be fun, though!

yes, my first thought was indeed the Isoacoustics Gaia series. But the price of the pack for 2 speakers is almost the price of one of my speakers, so I'm really trying to find a cheaper solution before needing to start all that family novel about spending 700 euros in speakers isolators. But yes, thank you 

[intothedragon]

13 hours ago, GregWormald said:

I'd be starting with some concrete pavers from the sand and gravel/gardening shop on top of some carpet from the scraps bin of a carpet place. Get some tightly woven thick wool carpet.

 

If that works then you can go for the granite or just paint the pavers.

in this case of concrete or granite, do you place the speakers over it with the spikes or rubber feet? 

[intothedragon]

2 hours ago, MarkusBarkus said:

Sorry I didn't chime in sooner, but I use the EVP "footers" under one of my REL subs, to good effect:

https://avroomservice.com/evp-2/
 

I don't use them for neighborly relations, but to help with sound/vibration within the room. 

 

There is a white paper and other info (link above), if you're interested.
 

I used the "Morph the Cat" (Donald Fagan) and the "Xanny" (Billy Eilish) test for base handling. Prior to the EVPs, my subs would "walk" with these tracks and a little volume! It's not the music I typically listen to, but it has poop-your-pants bass for testing "gross" output.

 

One other thing, which many may/will disagree with, but has been successful for me. I have two subs: one on the floor, on the EVPs, and the other on a platform I built. The platform mimics a couple of things in the marketplace already. 
 

In my room (well treated), in my listening evals, mixing up the bass works wonders. No subs equals terrible bass response. Subs in re-enforcing corners, is too much pressure and causes standing wave effects (to me).

 

Here: One sub is on a wall perpendicular to the front/speaker plane, the other sub is on a platform adjacent to the left speaker. 
 

I find the bass is more coherent and even with this placement...and I tried all manner of placements, volumes and cross-over settings.

 

The platform footprint is 16x16 inches, and it is 22 inches tall. I wanted the height well away from the midpoint of the total height of the room, and not too tall. 

This platform has a frame made of 2x2 inch lumber (not critical dimension). The top and bottom "plates" are 1/2 inch MDF (not critical). Inside the frame structure, I have a piece of Sono-tube, vertically oriented, with six 1 inch (size "probably" not critical) holes drilled into the sides. Loose-bat fiberglass (un-faced) is inserted inside the tube.

 

Note: Sono-tube is available from home stores. It is widely used as a form for pouring concrete footers. Light, bit rigid.

 

Everything is glued, screwed where appropriate, and calked. The concept is to avoid any rattling type of vibration from the platform itself. 

I then placed 2 inch rigid fiberglass board between the vertical frame legs, and wrapped the assembly with "acoustically transparent" polyester material.

 

Note: polyester fabric is of the type used for the backs and bottoms of furniture. I paid about one dollar per yard. It is widely available/commonly used.

 

I have and have used industry standard acoustic fabrics on other builds, but that is much more expensive and the shipping is expensive due to "dimensional weight." 
 

The concept is to use something that easily allows air to pass. Sorry I did not take pics of the build. I intended this platform as a proof of concept, and intended to rebuild with better finish detail, but...

 

Note: maybe better to use the larger EVP platforms, but these are fine and cheaper. 

 

thank you very much for the explanation. In my case the sub I was mentioning is the Subwoofer from my floor standing speakers, not a dedicated subwoofer. But I hope I'll find something with all the links people sent me here. My last option is the overpriced Gaia series from IsoAcoustics. Let's see

[intothedragon]

16 hours ago, jiminlogansquare said:

The poor OP! We have thoroughly hijacked his thread. I just want to add that regardless of the reasonable doubts expressed above about the impact of Gaia footers (or other similar products) on SQ, the Gaia’s really do help with the problem of bass vibrations going through a floor that brought the OP here to post his query. And in my experience with Gaia’s under both my floor standing full range speakers and a pair of smaller REL subwoofers, they didn’t affect the SQ at all, either for the good or the bad, other than eliminating most of the vibrating floorboard annoyance inside my listening room that I mentioned above. After reading this thread, however, I think I need to start shopping around for an abandoned bank building with a pair of safes bolted to the concrete floor of its basement.

LOL!! no man, it's alright, I'm reading everything and learning a lot, I'm really trying an alternative method before succumbing to the overproved Gaias from Isoacoustics. 

[intothedragon]

14 hours ago, GregWormald said:

If you are looking for a turn-key solution the various isolation options from Herbiesaudiolab are MUCH less expensive than almost all other options, and get great reviews. Herbies turntable mat is by far my favourite.

Nice, it looks good and very affordable. I hope they ship to the Netherlands.  I tested the Gaias last two days and they completely numb all the bass from my speakers, very disappointing results, I'm returning it for sure.  thank you