Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Newbie with issues

I actually posted this in general discussion, but I think I should have put it in this section so I'm posting here as well. I hope I'm not going against posting etiquette.

I have two issues that have crept up and I was wondering if anyone has some advice. But first I want to say that I watched Once Upon a Time in Mexico last night (a decent, campy gunfest) and it sounded awesome. I've never been so enthralled by such an average movie - thank you Axiom! Okay now to the concerns.

First, I discovered the dreaded sibilance issue that I've read about. It only happens on the audio from my satellite. Wondering if maybe an upgraded reciever from direct tv might correct this. Currently it only has L/R stereo cables coming from the box. Oddly enough if I switch my Yamaha to a 5 channel mode like THX it remedies a lot of the hissing that shows up in stereo. Everything else, DVD's and CD's sound incredible so I think it's just the speakers revealing flaws in the signal.

Second, I got my first complaint from a neighbor last night. I found this to be quite depressing as I didn't really feel like I had the system all THAT loud. I mean come on, the subwoofer hasn't even come in yet and my neighbor is complaining about things rattling in his house. I could be in for a lot of trouble. This has led me to conclude that perhaps my house is not built quite as well as I thought, but that's beside the point. I was wondering if anyone knows much about sound proofing a house without putting baffles and crap on the walls. I went outside and it seems to me that a lot of the sound is coming through the roof. I have blown insulation in the ceiling and I was wondering if there are better dampering properties to batted insulation. Any ideas that won't cost a fortune would be appreciated.

Sorry for the long post.

Yeah, it's a little against etiquette. But we'll forgive you. Most of us read all of the forums anyway.

you can delete the other post if you want. Then we'll forgive you.

Hey, despite my posting gaffe I see I got promoted to regular. Woohooo!

Grifter, unfortunately your neighbor will complain more after your sub arrives, since low freqs carry farther are much harder to stop.

If you live in a regular detatched dwelling (not a condo with a shared wall) separated by at least 15 feet from another house, I'm actually surprised he could hear it, unless both your and his windows were open.

I have a simple brick house with neighbors on either side about 20 feet away. My system is in a bonus room above my garage. I can turn up my M60/VP150/QS8/Hsu VTF-3R up to punishing levels and outside I can barely hear it from most directions. My only problem is some sound leakage through the window facing the street, but it's not too bad and I'll be putting an velcro-detachable Owens Corning 703 fiberglass panel over that window (needed for light control, anyway).

Your first step should be thoroughly reconnoiter your house while playing music. Walk the house perimeter, go upstairs, downstairs, attic, garage, etc. Walk your property boundary. Make note of the locations you can hear sound the loudest. If you're fortunate you'll find a single fixable location (like an uninsulated attic access door) where sound leaks through.

I also have blown attic insulation, but not much sound escapes there. I don't know why. There's huge sound leakage to the garage below, since my bonus room floor isn't insulated. However my garage door is insulated, so that stops most of it, as long as it's closed.

Baffles on the interior walls aren't for sound isolation but to reduce reflections and improve interior acoustics.

Sound proofing an existing house is often difficult and expensive, esp for bass frequencies. However sometimes you get lucky and the leakage point is isolated and more easily fixable. Although you've already done it some, the 1st step is very carefully examine where the sound is leaking. There are a variety of sound insulation materials usable, depending on the location and need. If ceiling leakage is truly your problem, that's probably easier to fix than walls, assuming you have good attic access. Up there, aesthetics don't matter, and maybe you could just add additional fiberglass batts on top of the blown insulation. Just one idea.

I think most of the sound leaks out from my house through the windows and exhaust vents (over the stove, laundry, etc...). You could try some heavy window treatments, but the vents... I have no clue. Some heavy foliage between your house and the neighbor's might help a bit, too.
Or park an RV between the houses.

or invite him over to get on good terms. Friends -- even acquaintances -- are much more forgiving than strangers.

Thanks for the pointers. I have my surround sound in the living room downstairs and I have a large triple window in that room, with a sliding glass door int the dining room slightly behind that. I'm beginning to think that most of the sound is leaking through both of those. I'm going to try some really thick curtains and see if that helps. It's really only the neighbors whose bedroom faces my house.
As far as befriending my neighbors goes we're on good terms but I really just don't like them enough to want to hang out. I'm really just wanting to be respectful while still being able to give myself an audio headache.
One curious thing I found out last night with the sibilance thing is that if I switch my reciever to 6ohms I don't hear the hissing at all when I watch TV. Strange but true. I've been told this can't hurt the speakers. Hopefully this is true, because the hissing was driving me crazy.

I totally hear you on the neighbor thing. If only we had a say in who moved in next door.

Say, somebody should start a planned community (in an affordable part of the continent!) for audio nuts. The homes would have soundproofed walls, of course.

when you watch a movie put your lawnmower in the yard and leave it running,they will never hear the stereo...ron