What adjustments are required to enjoy a Home Theater in an apartment without annoying others?
Posted by admin in Home Entertainment Q&AMar 2nd, 2009 | 7 responses
Sreedhar T asked:
I live in an apartment & I recently got myself a Home Theater System. Looks like my subwoofer is generating lot of vibrations, and my neighbor is getting annoyed. What is the best possible solution for this? (Other than taking a mortgage)
I live in an apartment & I recently got myself a Home Theater System. Looks like my subwoofer is generating lot of vibrations, and my neighbor is getting annoyed. What is the best possible solution for this? (Other than taking a mortgage)
7 Responses to “What adjustments are required to enjoy a Home Theater in an apartment without annoying others?”
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soundproof your living room?
You can set volume levels on each individual speaker. The best solution is to turn the kevel on the subwoofer down, it is generally the bass that neighbors hear.
If your subwoofer has the speaker facing the ground, this is much of your problem. The size of the sub also matters. Sometimes the smaller the better, meaning a 10 inch has more punch than a 12 inch. The 12 will vibrate more stuff at lower frequencies. For an apartment I would recomend a 8 inch, front facing sub. Front facing so the sounds you hear are from the speaker and not from the vibrations of your walls.
Examine this website. This might be just what you’re looking for…
Other than the obvious — turn the volume way down, or only play movies when your neighbour isn’t home — there isn’t anything you can do which will allow you to listen loud with thundering bass if the apartment isn’t properly/adequately soundproofed.
The problem is the subwoofer, and the only real solution is to turn down the bass. Some improvement may result from decoupling the subwoofer from the floor. For example putting a piece of hard foam insulation or foam rubber or a cushion under the subwoofer.
Unfortunately, trying to retrofit the apartment to improve sound insulation would be expensive and of limited effectiveness.
Try lowering the volume for one suggestion, at least the volume on your subwoofer.
Try putting a piece of carpeting or some sort of sound absorbing material under the subwoofer.
Surround is great, but my neighbors dodn’t appreciate it either, I use the sony MDR-DS3000 dolby digital wireless surround headphones at night. I got an extra set so that my wife and we can watch TV with decent sound after the kids are asleep. It’s the next best thing to a good surround system.