Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Living in an Apartment

After reading all reviews and posts, I can't think of buying any other HT system than the Epic 80 with M80's, VP180 & QS8's. I am flexible on the subwoofer though.
I live on the top floor of a 27 floor apartment building. This is a corner apartment but the living room shares is wall with the neighbor's bedroom.
My delima is that in case I buy Epic 80 HT, would I be able to do justice to its performance. My living room is 13.5'x27'x8', non-carpeted. Has anyone been in a similar situation?

There are some others here that share an apartment living situation. I can tell you, that even without a sub, the 80's and VP180 will put out some potent bass, without a sub. Some may not believe you that you don't have a sub.

Hi Sarang,

I also live in NYC part of the year in an older building and I use a subwoofer but I bought my condo on the main floor because I knew there were no basement suites beneath mine.

That said, you'll need to be conscious of deep bass. It tends to go downwards, to the suite beneath you. In any case, consider getting some area rugs, with one placed beneath the M80s. They'll help and also reduce the reverb time, which with bare floors may otherwise be excessive.

My living room is 7 feet shorter than yours; same width, taller ceiling (9.5 ft). I mostly use M22s with the EP500 and QS8s and that setup plays as loud as I ever want it (peaks of 96 to 98 dB SPL C-weighting).

Regards,
Alan

Thanks for the suggestions alan and sirquack. I'm sure the M80's would go quite deep, but i guess without the subwoofer I would still miss out on some of the excitement.

Providing area rugs under the M80's and sub would be a good idea, though, i'm sure that would not give any respite from the pounding to the people staying in the apartment below.

However, if i'm able to play the music and watch movies in 75-80db range without my neighbors complaining, would I still be able to experience the superiority of M80's as compared to any other speakers??

Yup. I abuse my M80s regularly by only using them in the 60-70dB range, and they sound fantastic.

I agree!

I got a pair of Auralex SubDudes, they really killed the vibration of the floor, and seemed to make the bass more focused (probably because just the woofer cone, and not the floor is acting as a radiator).

I got my Epic 80-500 system while living in an apartment and was able to use it w/o complaint from my neighbors for several years. However, I never used the subwoofer at night. Deep bass will carry through the walls like they aren’t even there. Sometimes sounding loud several rooms away depending on the frequency. The reason I got the Epic 80 system was simply that I didn’t want to end up buying all new speakers when I eventually moved into a house so I just went ahead and got what I wanted for later and just used it judiciously while living in the apartment. So I would base my decision on whether you want this system to follow you to a house where you can really turn it up. (keep in mind even in my house I could easily play my M80s so loud my neighbors would complain, just using a mid level Onkyo receiver.)

One of the best purchases I made for my apartment theater was a Buttkicker. Attached to my futon it would shake like there was a huge subwoofer filling the room with enough energy to shake the seat but none of it even carry through the floor. So if you plan on being in an apartment for a while it might be worth looking into something like that.

Hi again Sarang,

Excellent advice and options from Grunt, kcarlile and others, and yes, you'd still appreciate the superiority of the M80s at quieter listening levels. I have the M80s as well in my apt. but I mentioned the M22s/sub combo because of the placement versatility in an apartment living room.

Grunt's advice on judicious use of the subwoofer is excellent; you'll get some idea of how good the isolation is in your building by simply listening to see if you can hear anything from any other tenants' suites. When I first moved into a rental modern high-rise in Manhattan, it was one of the noisiest buildings I'd ever lived in. I could clearly follow the lyrics of the Dylan songs played my neighbors.

My current place is wonderful--the old 1930s "pre-war" buildings have walls that are very thick. Even so, very deep organ pedal notes from the EP500 travel through the structure and I can just detect them as a weird non-directional reverberation from the foyer of my building.

I still limit the maximum levels I could potentially use with the EP500 and the M80s because I don't want to risk annoying anyone. I think you'll be fine with the sub and the M80s provided you regulate the playback levels based on how soundproof you think your building is.

Regards,
Alan

I frequently listen to my m80s at 70 db and they sound great. They really come to life with a little more volume but still sound great at lower volumes. Occasionally, my wife wil tell me turn down my speakers... If I say "but babe it's only at 75 db!" her typical response is "I don't care how many db you say it is, it's still too loud", so back down it goes.

If she is watching a movie with me then she can easily handle much louder volumes before complaining. I'd say make friends with your neighbors and invite them over to watch a movie every once in a while

Low level listening is where the M80's are really at their best and stand above other speakers, IMO. The amount of detail they can play at low volumes is a great attribute they have, virtually any speaker can sound pretty good at high volumes but it takes a really good/sensitive speaker to sound good/detailed at low volumes.

It's great to see our old pal David is adjusting quite well with the married life.

Great suggestions!! Each suggestion is reinforcing my decision to buy the Epic 80. I agree that being considerate and turning down the subwoofer at night should avoid any annoyance to the neighbors.

Although, buttkicker seems to be a great idea, I'll leave out initially (coz my wife will kick my butts anyways) but add it later, if required.

As for the subwoofer, would a sealed enclosure (EP400) be any better than the ported ones (EP500) in reducing the transmission of low frequency?

Only in that the EP400 will output less low frequency...

I would buy the subwoofer you really want and then just turn it down or off as is appropriate for the situation.

That's what I'd do also Dean.

Yeah Rick, it didn't take long for me to realize who is boss

We all saw it coming David, but our wives would have beat us had we said anything....

Sarang,

The EP400 is meant for rooms smaller than yours. It does go very low, but it does not have the SPL (maximum output) for bigger spaces that the EP500 or larger can fill with ease.

And no, its smaller footprint won't lessen the potential transmission of deep bass into other suites.

Cheers,
Alan

Thanks Alan, grunt, rick, grover, jason, chris and terzaghi. you guys have convinced me that Epic 80-500 with VP180 is the way to go (without any regrets).

Now, since i'm bit by the bug "one should buy the best they can afford", with a $1500 budget, I was thinking about Yamaha RX-A2000 to go with these speakers. I'm sure 130W x 7 is way to much for the apartment, but not sure by how much?

Can you guys suggest a more rational approach to select the right receiver for this speaker system?

Thanks
Sarang

Just buy a receiver that has the features that you want and don't worry about the power.

Sarang, I'd take a look at the Denon's or Onkyo's in the price range you mentioned. They are both excellent choices and for the record, there's very little difference in spl between say 100 and 130 watts.

If you like that Yamaha then it is fine. Ultimately you control how loud it goes and the extra features it offers might just be what you are really looking for.

Oh god, now I'm Grover.

A few weeks after buying my M3's driven by a Yamaha RX-657 I was watching Kung Fu Hustle and just could not help myself with the volume. There are a number of scenes in that movie that are just sonically delightful. It was only 9 or 9:30pm, but I received a knock on the door from the young lady who lived above me who very nicely stated, "Hi, those are some really impressive speakers. Seriously. But I have to work in the morning."
On her way back upstairs she did ask about the brand, and I did my best to give a blustery sales pitch while falling over myself apologizing.

All that said, one nice feature on the Yamaha (and I'm sure similar features can be found on denon/onkyo/etc) is the 'NightCinema', which basically just trims down volume levels on the lower Hz stuff. It's not as musically 'pure' as just turning the volume down, but it's really helpful when you want to hear the dialog but not the explosions (or organ pedals, or what have you).

HaHa! funny story....I thought, for a minute, it might go somewhere else....

You mean you had "hoped."

Maybe it did. Perhaps Mr. Thumb is an honorable man.

That's great! So mafiosi!

I never knew these stories were true....until it happened to me.....[embellish here]