Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater apartment listening level advice

Hello everyone,

I recently moved into an apartment. Finally was able to set up my surround system. Only problem was that i got a compliant already how loud my subwoofers were. They said they couldnt hear anything else but just the subs.

Now i did some adjustments and am listening at a lower level. It is kind of dissapointing, though. I know that sub risers like grammas have been discussed before. I dont want to beat a dead horse but do you think it would make a difference in my situation? I live on the first floor and she said she heard it from the third floor where she stayed

I hqve come to terms that ill will have to listen at lower levels to accommodate my neighbors, but i am looking fir anything that will help

This will be a hard one to solve I believe. The low frequencies of a subwoofer will be very difficult to isolate to your apartment. Turning the levels down for the sub should help, but will suck for movies for you.

All that amp power probably won't get used either from your Emo as you won't be able to crank things up anymore...

Isolating your sub from the floor won't help much. The long waves of the bass are going right through the ceilings/floors above you.

Work with your neighbors. In your room, watch an action movie at your preferred volume. Without changing the volume knob, turn off your receiver for a moment and unplug your mains, center and surrounds. Now when you turn your receiver on, you'll only hear the sub. Call your neighbor on the third (and preferably the second floor) and use the subs' rear-panel volume knob to keep turning down the sub until it's not bothersome to them anymore.

Now turn off your receiver again and hook up your other speakers again. This is the output that will be acceptable to them.

If it's not acceptable to you, you have a few options: Tactile devices like Buttkickers, headphones, watching action movies while the neighbors won't be home or inviting them to watch the movie with you (especially if you're each single, etc....)

In our apartment, apart from having the sub on a Subdude, I'm also using an antimode 8033c (applied before Audyssey) to counter peaks in low frequency response. I've recently noticed, comparing my usual setup to the M22s in "source direct" mode, that the latter can give the impression of having more bass -- just because the bass with sub is much smoother and cleaner. This is mostly with music, of course, and I'm not sure my neighbours benefit as much as I do from equalising the sub, but it might be something to consider.

Appreciate it everyone. It really does confirm my fears. Does kind of suck i wont be able to listen to a level i really prefer. I didnt even bother hooking up the amp knowing i wouldnt be abke to push it to a level i can use.

It isnt all so bad i supposed. Changing the settings on the speakers helped a bit and im still listening at a decent level where i still get impactful and clean bass. Just not as loud as i like. Im also pushinf the volume a little higher than i think comfortable for them, but ill ask them if the situation is better and if i could make more changes.

Thanks!

Some day maybe you can ditch the apartment and get a home, heck with some of the rental rates you can get a house for the same payment.

That's enough to make me cry. Stupid Canadians are still patting themselves on the back for avoiding a financial meltdown and loading up on debt like there is no tomorrow. Houses are stupid expensive up here.

At least I can console myself with the fact that I live in a concrete bunker and can crank my sub as loud as I want at 2:00am

My house would probably be worth a Mill up there, good thing it is 1/3rd that down here in Iowa.

ps: I can relate on the concrete bunker, I love my basement theater.

Getting a single family house is definitely something I have been thinking about a lot. I decided to hold off for now until my military tour is done in less than three years. I am currently located in Spokane, Washington but I want to settle in Seattle, Washington when its all said and done.

I saw one of my neighbors that came down and mentioned the volume of the subs today. There were two of them and they were roommates. She was walking up the stairs so I didn't really get a good look at her, but I did try to say hi. She ignored me, I think. Maybe she's still upset that its still too loud. I don't think it is too loud. I turn it down accordingly. I have not have another complaint yet so we will have to see how that goes.

If I see either one them again, I will definitely invite them over for dinner and a movie night if they want to.

Hey, someone from Spokane. I'm from the Tri-Cities, so I'm not THAT far away. Did you make it to Pig Out in the Park? I didn't make it there, but I think I'll have to plan for it next year. Seems like my kind of event. Ha ha.

CV,

I just got stationed here and got here about a week ago. I really have no idea what youre talking about but it sounds fun.

Maybe i can get an audition from you sometimes. Im located on exit 289 on 90. Im not sure how far that is relative to you

Oh, I'm not exactly sure, either, but Spokane is a good couple of hours away from me. If you find yourself over this way, you're more than welcome to come check out my system. My room leaves a lot to be desired, which is why I haven't officially made myself available for auditions, but I certainly wouldn't turn anyone away who was interested in hearing my system.

Charles, see if he can bring the girls!

Seeking: Screw all the electronic answers to your volume problems. None of them allows 'loud.'

When I lived in an private apt. building in grad school, I left a note on all my adjacent neighbors' doors to let me know the best times to use my stereo w/o interfering with their serenity.

Of course, I had to try to be home when I knew they weren't, but it was way better (to me) than a volume compromise.

Eventually, they even left ME notes when they were going to be out of town. Then again, I was having sex with each of them, so maybe that was a mitigating factor?

my way of doing it is almost the same.
i visit those 2 neighbors who share a wall with me and ask them at what hours they sleep, and if it would bother them to hear some noise, sometimes loud ones for some seconds or maybe minutes during the hours when they're up.

usually they greet my request with a smile and arrangements are easily done.
it happened only once in 20 or so years that a neighbor, as soon as he would hear a weak little "something" from me, would yell, saying that "my hearing is so acute and sensitive that the least bit of noise hurts my ears".
i referred him to the homeowner who told him to rent a flat somewhere else.

the situation now is that i can do whatever i want from 8 am to 11 pm.
if i had not discussed this with them, i would never feel at ease listening to either music or movies, even thought i never "crank it up", but always use "realistic" levels.

I shoulda talked to you first, before I, umm, err, compromised my integrity.