Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Neighbor problem

Well actually i wonder how it could be whithout a sub and adding a pair of m60 instead of my M3 as front.

When I first got my EP500 in my apartment I asked a sound engineer friend what I could do keep it from bothering neighbors and his answer was to leave it off. He also said that just going into the next room of my apartment to gauge how loud it was “next door” might not be sufficient since some of the frequencies might actually excite room modes two rooms or even two apartments away thus sounding louder than even in the adjacent or same room at certain frequencies.

My suggestion is to play something that is to loud in his house but just through your M3s and see if that bothers him. Then play a test tone of about 30-40Hz through your subwoofer (simulating the bass extension of the M60s) and see how loud that is for him. My bet it the M60s will be loud enough in his house to still be bothersome.

One reason I often suggest bookshelf speakers and a subwoofer for people in apartments is that you can always turn the subwoofer off at times it’s bothering them, but still occasionally use it like when they are gone.

Late at night in my apartment I often switched to headphones if I was listening to something like a movie or video game I wanted really loud.

My concrete bunker doesn't seem so bad now. Serenity playing at 1:30am with the windows rattling: no complaints from the neighbours.

I guess Grunt is right...

Hi Philippe,

Grunt's engineer friend is correct about leaving the subwoofer off. I hate to see you give up your EP350, but deep bass and its ability to be bothersome to neighbors is a function of two factors---low-frequency extension (how low the speaker or subwoofer will play) and the output at those frequencies.

The M60v3 speakers have very good bass output, but it does not go as deep as the M80s or a subwoofer. Nor is the M60's output at those frequencies nearly as great as a subwoofer or the M80s. So a pair of M60s might be the solution for you.

Regards,

Alan

There is obviously an opportunity for further research into noise cancelling, this time at the lower frequencies. You put a big sub in your house, a smaller sub in your neighbors house, and use the smaller sub to cancel out leaked bass from your place.

If only someone made a subwoofer with a built-in DSP. Oh wait...

I found out that my Honda Odyssey has a sub under that passenger seat that is a noise-canceler for the rumble I guess I would hear when the Variable Cylinder Management shuts down engine cylinders.

I think if your neighbor had a good mic, a preamp and a sub with a phase switch, he could quiet his place right down!

So today i have spend my entire afternoon doing some test and trying to tune my subwoofer. My goal was to lower the volume of course. From the beginning it was tune for movies only (been trying to set the sub for music too but movies require higher volume) So for now my subwoofer it well tune for music or 2.1 mode. I have to say it give me a way better soundstage for stereo listening and at my surprise it still give good bass from movies when it need to. The impact from an explosion or the sound from a chopper still very deep and present but witout blowing the house. In some way it's better.
Anyway it look like i am changing my mind everyday. Now i consider looking for the VP180 instead of my 150...

Philippe, can you not make a compromise with your neighbour that gives you certain hours where you CAN crank it up a couple of times here or there according to peoples schedules?