Living in apartment with neighbors above & below, what are some home theater tips?

[toddly6666]

For people that don't have a full house and live in apartment buildings, does anyone have any advise for a practical way of having an enjoyable home theater if one lives in an apartment with neighbors above and below? Is there a way to have a decent level of subwoofer and sound volume high without bothering neighbors? I don't want headphones. And I don't want to keep volume low/subwoofer off. What can I do if I already have neighbors above and below. And what can I do in the future when looking for a new apartment to live in?

For example,
1. Is it better to have the top floor apartment (no one living above)?
2. Is it better to have a first floor apartment (no one living below)?
3. Cement, wood, stone, or brick walls/floors make a difference?


What do people do that live in cities, such as NYC, Tokyo, etc...when apartment space is small and it's possible to hear neighbors?

Whenever I research home theaters, they tend to be in houses, not apartments...Anyone have any advise or recommendations of what people do in this situation?

[Drexl]

Get a night job so you can watch movies during the day when they're gone? ;)

All I know of that you can do is enable dynamic range compression (sometimes called midnight mode or just night mode). This usually only works for Dolby Digital tracks. I think it works with TrueHD but I'm not sure. It depends on the receiver though.

[TallGuyMe]

move

[Spiky]

Get a subwoofer with a flat line frequency response way down low. SVS, for instance. That way you still have sound from the sub when you turn down the overall volume.

[toddly6666]

Drexl, haha, well that would be nice, but I'm not a vampire...

Tall Guy Me, I will be moving actually...;)

Spiky, can you link me to any subwoofer that has SVS option, so I have an idea what to look for?

[Brian Shannon]

Drexl, haha, well that would be nice, but I'm not a vampire...

Tall Guy Me, I will be moving actually...;)

Spiky, can you link me to any subwoofer that has SVS option, so I have an idea what to look for?

SVS is a subwoofer company, they make some of the best, I love mine.

http://www.svsound.com/

As for tips, I am not sure I have any. Enjoying a dynamic soundtrack requires power and power translates into volume.

If you have neighbors above and below, all I can suggest is to see what volume level makes them complain and then try to stay below that.

Good luck!

[FantasticVSDoom]

Well, my neighbors are assholes, so I don't care and listen as loud as I want to...

[TallGuyMe]

Well, my neighbors are assholes, so I don't care and listen as loud as I want to...

chicken or the egg?

[Berkowitz]

I live on a top floor condo and I crank my system.
I did sell my Paradigm Servo15 sub and bought a little baby sub

DO not use a downfiring sub. My condo is new construction and it has really good sound qualities. No complaints and I have been cranking for years now.

[toddly6666]

If one uses a subwoofer, i'm assuming the neighbor below would be more affected by the rumble than the neighbor living above?

Is their such thing as setting up a subwoofer anywhere else besides the floor?

What's a downfiring subwoofer? And if not a downfiring one, than what kind do you get?

[Nick Martin]

What's a downfiring subwoofer? And if not a downfiring one, than what kind do you get?

That be a sub with its driver, port, or both projecting the sound/air towards the floor.

I live in an apartment as well, and I have a front-firing sub. It's small, cheap, but enough for me due to volume limitations.

It's been my experience that you can turn the volume up a decent, enjoyable level and not bother anyone. Just be responsible with the sub level. You'll know better than anyone what's appropriate and what is too loud. Neighbors living above should not be affected in any way, because you have all that space between your equipment, the ceiling, and their floor. I can't for the life of me hear anything at all in the apartment below mine.

[Spiky]

Why would down-firing or front-firing matter? The low range frequencies that you should be running through the sub aren't going to care about that. They radiate outward regardless. Above neighbors may be slightly less annoyed, but if you crank the system like DVDs want you to crank it, anyone in earshot is going to hear it. I can make my SVS soft or loud. Soft, they don't hear it above me and I get deep bass. Loud, well with loud....things break. ;)

If you have a concrete-on-steel building, you shouldn't have any worries. Standard wood/sheetrock construction will let it through a lot easier.

[toddly6666]

Spiky, now how does one find a concrete-on-steel building?haha...I wish they had that option in the real estate section....what are they, ex-factories/churches turned into apartment buildings?

[Berkowitz]

I live on the top floor. I know bass frequencies are omnidirectional. But a downfiring sub will create MUCH more annoyance to neighbors down below then a front firing.
It will use the floor to resonate.

Example. I have NHT towers. They both have a large sub in the side(side firing)
When a speaker is just placed in the open. The bass is not as pronounced. I realized this after running my system sans the Servo sub, that I sold. I ended up repositioning one of the speakers so the side firing sub faces the wall(about 12 inches) The bass from that one speaker was excellent now. It made me realize that condo or not, I needed a sub. So I ended up buying a cheapie Polk that serves the need and doesn't cause the neighbors to call local law enforcement.

[toddly6666]

Berkowitz, so a cheap front firing subwoofer is the best option, because the better ones/more expensive ones are usually the more powerful ones. And if you live in an apartment building, there is no need to have the more powerful one if one respects neighbors?

Can someone please post a photo of a downfiring subwoofer and a photo of a frontfiring subwoofer? Do they obviously look different?

[Berkowitz]

Simple. A front firing sub has the woofer aimed towards YOU.
A downfiring sub has the woofer aimed downward, it has slightly elevated feet. Woofer is facing down.

This is a downfiring. See the vent on the front? See the elevated feet? The woofer is facing down inbetween those feet. The bass will resonate against the floor.
http://i9.tinypic.com/6yd822r.jpg

This is a front firing. The woofer is behind the mesh. Smaller feet, because no need for clearance. Vent is in back of woofer where connections are.
http://i10.tinypic.com/6qcm15g.jpg

and this is my long lost love.LOL It used to hit so hard!!! But I at least had a little respect for my new neighbors. I would have been arrested if I still had this killer!
http://www.paradigm.com/en/reference/subwoofers-servo15-series-2-5-16.paradigm

[dollfins1]

i have the same problem. there is nothing i would rather do than be able to crank my ht up to really enjoy a movie. condo living kinda sucks in that respect. looking to purchase a home this year with a dedicated ht/finished basement with in-wall wiring and upgrade the tiny yamaha surround (speakers only)system that i currently have and purchase some axiom speakers and an svs sub to go with my sony strda-3000es reciever.

[Overpar]

I live in a 17th floor penthouse condo with neighbors on the sides and below. The building has concrete floors and good solid walls. I used to live in a three story walkup with wooden structure floors and paper thin walls and boy did that suck! I do have to keep my theater sound in check, but I can still enjoy it. There is really no way to get around the bass problem. I keep my sub turned down 8 db lower than the rest of the speakers, but I can still enjoy it! The best advice I could give would be to make friends with your neighbors and acoustically treat your room so that you get the clearest and best quality sound without a lot of reflection. There is really no way to stop bass from bleeding into surrounding rooms or condo's unless you suspend your room within a room, which I've seen on a couple of websites. That allows a buffer so that your room walls can vibrate, but it stops there. Hope that helps.

[Spiky]

Concrete is found in expensive buildings, that's how you find them.

Berkowitz,
You went from a powerful sub to nothing. I think that is a larger part of why you don't get as much problem. It really shouldn't matter for real bass which way it points. And actually, most subs can simply be turned on their side if you want to change the direction. I suppose maybe the higher frequencies coming from the sub may be a bit directional, but not the low ones. I set my sub to 50Hz top end a long time ago, taking ALL the directional frequencies out of its domain, couldn't be happier. They say 80Hz for the cutoff, they are wrong.

I'm not kidding. Take that $2k for the Servo, spend less than half of it on a midrange SVS with a flat line to 20Hz. (2039PC+) Play at whatever volume you like, it can hit you as hard as the Servo, or soft enough not to bother the neighbors but still give "feel", not just sound. The flat line makes it possible. (I feel like a DLP commercial...."It's the flat line")

Not flat:
http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_12_3/images/paradigm-servo-15-subwoofer-fr-gp-2-meters.gif

Flat:
http://www.svsound.com/images/plus.jpg

Overpar,
I've seen those too. Got any recent links? The bass is really the hard part. If you haven't blocked it with earth or decently thick concrete, it's coming through. Turning it down becomes the option.

Little story:
My bro-in-law is another A/V freak. In his last apartment one day his neighbor refused to turn down his system after being asked nicely. It was something like 11:30pm, too. So my bro simply turned his own on, blasted it enough to knock stuff off walls. The neighbor quit after that. And he's only got a little Sunfire. It's cute, and can beat your average sub from a HTiB set or cheap brand. Not much more than that, though.

[toddly6666]

OVERPAR, you said "unless you suspend your room within a room, which I've seen on a couple of websites". That's the sort of thing I was thinking of. Do you have any links or info on that in which I can research?

[Overpar]

I can't remember where I saw the one I was thinking of, but here are some. The last link has some nice pictures.

http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/34579/299683.html

http://www.diy-home-theater-design.com/room-within-a-room.html

http://www.kineticsnoise.com/theater/pdf/architectural.pdf

[Ranger]

If he already has a down-firing subwoofer, why couldn't he just turn it over to be front-firing? Although I suppose that it'd have to be moved a bit above the ground.