I recently moved into an old house on the 1st floor with a restored wooden floor with no acoustic insulation. I have just ordered my Axiom set (m60, vp150, qs8) a few days ago, and this morning I got complaints from my neighbour on the ground floor that my music was too loud...
This troubles me, because I

a) still have a weak old mini-set (2x40W) until my Axioms arrive
b) did definitely not crank up da volume of this pitiful set

so I'm worried that she is gonna freak out when my new set is hooked up. Luckily I already anticipated on this problem by not ordering a subwoofer, but my concerns are with the M60's. I know they go with spikes, but do they do a good job in keeping the bass out of the floor and into the room? Some tips for additional insulation perhaps?

Tnx,
John

You wont want to use the spikes on the wood floor, because it will ruin it. They also come with rubber bumpers, which is what you'll want to use.

If your neighbors were complaining about a little mini system then it sounds like your gonna have to just keep it down because unless you completely isolate the speakers from the floor,.. like hang them or something your still gonna get vibrations transfered to the ground. And even then they would probbly be complaining.

I think you probably should just make friends with your neighbour.

The M60's come with both carpet (metal) spikes and with rubber feet. You'd obviously want to use the rubber feet on hardwood floor.

But the sound transmission from your unit to your neighbour is a function of vibration and air leaks between the units, not necessarily of the quality of the speaker. Lower frequencies are going to carry more, but the M60 model is not necessarily going to make your neighbour situation worse.

Rugs might help. But I'm going to seriously suggest bribery.

carpet definitely would help but not much. maybe if you had several layers of carpet equalling 6 inches, that might do the trick. I would try that, honestly. Please report back to us with your findings.

Maybe even 6 inches of carpet on all the walls. Is there any chance the old bat is going to want to come watch movies with you? You know, make friends... movie night, or something?

Something else you may want to try if your speakers are static and not subjet to bumps from small kids etc. Once you've decided on the proper placement of your 60's, install the spikes and place a quarter between each of the spikes and the floor. This should help minimize the transfer of sound through the floor without damaging the finish.

Sean

Thanks for your reactions!

I have already tried to insulate my current small speakers by putting them on a few folded towels, and this seems to help a little I guess. I was indeed thinking of putting the m60s on spikes, and use little pieces of rubber to put between the spikes and my wooden floor. This nickel-advice is also a good one, thanks!
I can apply layers of carpet, but this is not going to look nice in my living room, so I prefer another solution.

Oh yeah, she's not an old bat but single and about 32 of age Not a bad idea to invite her to my place when I have my new set and put on a Phil Collins or Coldplay CD or something, maybe she'll loosen up a little concerning my music...

Stinpie,

I had a good experience with Super Soundproofing.com which sells, among other things Super Soundproofing Mat. A one linear foot piece (it comes from a 48" wide roll, which would be more than enough, I would think), of even their thickest 2" mat would only cost you $31.50 plus shipping. And I'm not sure you would need a mat that thick.

It's not hard to work with, either. Place a straight edge where you want to make your cut, draw a box cutter, razor blade, or any other sharp implement, lightly along the straight edge a number of times gently pushing a little deeper with each pass, until you're down into the mat a quarter to a half inch (depending on the thickness of the mat), then use a good pair of scissors to carefully cut the rest of the way through.

If you cut the mat to the same size and shape as the speaker, you could just set the speaker directly on the mat without spikes or feet. I have their 1/2" mat between my M60s and some stands I made for them.



I dealt with them on the phone and they were very helpful, and didn't make fun of me ordering only one linear foot.

That insulation foam is also a good one, but I doubt that applying the insulation foam directly between floor and speakers is going to yield better results than spikes. Maybe I can think out some kind of small platform on spikes, and put the acoustic foam between the platform and the speaker.
Btw I live in Germany so ordering this stuff is unfortunately out of the question, but I'll check out the local hardware markets here for this material.

stinpie,

I don't think any kind of isolation platform is going to help appease your neighbor. Most of the acoustic energy is probably traveling though the air and is then being transmitted to the walls and floor -- rather than being directly transmitted to the floor. You may have to figure out your neighbor's schedule and use you system in her absence.

Can you try placing your speakers face down on the floor and playing them as loud as possible until the neighbor moves out?

Sorry, I know this doesn't help, but I think we have all had neighbors like this before. There may be nothing you can do to make this neighbor happy. Best of luck resolving your problem.

Not sure how friendly you are (or want to be) with your neighbours, but here is an approach that might work. I fly R/C Aircraft as one of my hobbies - a friend of mine was visiting and describing the great new field and club house his R/C club had just finished. I asked him how he went about it considering the cost and our club was looking for new digs as well. Simple, he said, we drove around until we found a farmer's field that was ideal for our club, then we made the Farmer club president. Invite your neighbour over and let him(her) drink of the audio delights of your wonderful system.

Sean