Jack Straw

I face the prospect of having to move from a house to an apartment, and am not pleased with the prospect of not being able to enjoy my 5.1 system (the way god intended) after I move due to the proximity of neighbors. I'm curious as to how many actually have 5.1 in an apartment/condo/townhouse where there are neighbors on the other sides of the walls? Just how loud can you take it? I would think that the subwoofer would be a big problem. Am I wrong? Anyone get evicted due to this hobby?

Goat3001

I doubt it, but if anyone has I'm sure it would be a damn good story

codefree

It's been my experience that loud music and apartments don't mix. I'm all for a nice HT but I care more about not having to hear other people's loud systems. One should rent or buy a house if they want the ability to crank up their system. I hated living in the several apartments I once resided in due to obnoxious neighbors. Luckily I'm renting a house right now and I fully plan to until my wife and I can buy a house of our own in the next couple of years... I plan on getting a large lot in the suburbs so I don't have to hear my neighbors and they don't have to hear me. And for the record, I have gotten people evicted due to their love of loud noises.

palebluedot

It all depends on your neighbors.

I have lived in my townhouse for 2.5 years now and I blast the hell out of my system almost every night and have never had a complaint.

I just tell any new people moving in around me what the deal is and to come to me with any complaints first before they go to management.

Also there has to be some give and take with communal living and there are resoanable times to listen to your system. I had a complaint about 5 years ago but when I explained to management that it was 2:00 in the afternoon on a Saturday they realy didn't care about it and told the complainers to just deal with it

Static Cling

I've lived in an apartment with my HT for the past 2.5 years, and I've never had a complaint. I don't turn my HT to 11 or anything, but I do listen to it and my music fairly loud sometimes. My next door neighbors last year had an HT as well that they liked to boom, so they never complained.

One suggestion would be to place the HT in the center of the apartment. That's about where mine is... I've got my living and dining rooms in between my HT and the next apartment on one side, and on the other side I have a wall and my bedroom.

Edit: Moving to Hardware.

BlackBeauty92

<--- apartment

most of the time, i look at time consideration...
i will experience full-blast DTS on day-time....
at night, i won't be as annoying as daytime

plus we got new-born baby neighbour, so i can't bare my self to blast my HT & annoyed the hell out the baby just so i can enjoy myself

Jericho

I live in a townhouse, and the "movie room" is in the basement, so I wonder if they can really here much next store. Plus it's a brick and block place and I have an end unit. Never had one complaint though, so I'll stick with it

Ginwen

I am very glad I don't live in an apartment next to most of you. Someone else's taste in music and movies tends to be pretty annoying any time, even 2:00 on a Saturday afternoon.

insanecollector

I used to live in a town house for two ears that was awesome to watch movies with my HT with. I had no neighbors to one side and the other side did not mind. Now I live in an apartment in between floors so I can not crank it as loud as I would like. I knew this problem would eventually have risen so my two HT are just simple straight from the box HT. I will invest in a bose HT when I get my own place with my own rules.

greatjedi

I never had any problems in any apartment. We moved into a house last year, and my next door neighbor came over one night over Memorial Day weekend last May and threatend to beat the snot out of me if I didn't turn my movie down. Well, it was about 85 degrees in the house, and we had all the windows shut, and the fans off just so we wouldn't bug our neighbors in the first place (I always try to be a considerate HT owner). And to top it off, the movie was at a comfortable listening level (not loud at all), and my three year old son was asleep on the couch next to us. The guy was just a troublemaker. My guess is that he saw the TV on through the window and got jealous or something. Anyway, he moved away a few weeks later.

BigDave

We live in a duplex, but have never had any problems with our HT. If I know they're gone (no cars in driveway) then I'll crank it. Otherwise I try to keep it at a decent level. Scenes with lots of bass tend to get the volume turned down. I don't want to be an ass, so I try not to disturb them too much with the HT.

Deke Rivers

I agree..I lived in a town house and had to share a wall and would never think of subjecting my neigbors to subwoofer noise, etc,,I has some small sattellites for surround effct and waited until I had a house of my own to upgrade to nicer and louder equipment..

Mazinger

I live in an apartment and this is the reason I haven't bought a HT system yet. Those two just don't mix too well.

Sure I can watch with the volume turned down, but it kinda defeats the purpose, so I'll just stick to my TV speakers.

bfrank

Even low five channels changes the movie experience for the better.

HOUSE here and 2 12" subs

My kids are always yelling at me to turn it down

cpgator

Hell yea!! Now you're talking!!

milo bloom

Did he just say Bose?

Anyways, I'm currently in a townhouse, and previously lived in an apartment, and I've cranked my DVDs and LDs to some pretty obscene levels and haven't had one complaint. I've talked to the neighbor actually, and he hadn't heard a thing, and was surprised I didn't hear his stereo all the time.

What I do hear more, actually, is the people outside playing 80's hard rock in their backyard across the way. I guess the windows transmit the sound better than the walls.

Try talking to your neighbors before you crank your subwoofer up. Maybe even do a demo where you crank it up, and have them call you when it gets too loud, and then remember that level.

skar

I live in a small 1 bedroom Manhattan apartment. My neighbors downstairs have a powerful PA system that they like to crank at 1am on a Tues morning.

Luckily, I can sleep though almost ANYTHING. (I used to sleep 50 yards from the Chicago-San Francisco rail line with no sound wall, slept through a 5.8 earthquake, etc.)

If my neighbors are playing their "music", then I take that as a free ticket to play my system fairly loud in the middle of the night. If not I turn it down to moderate volumes by 10-11pm (midnight on weekends). My receiver also has a Late Night feature which helps.

tylerwillis

Living in an apt for all years with a HT... depends on the neighbor... we had one set who were absolutely horrible and would complain at the smallest sound... but mostly no complaints. We try to not watch really loud stuff unless it's a weekend.

costanza187

ive lived in my apt for over a year and never had any complaints.

namlook

If you can watch a movie with a HT system in an apartment and not get complaints you aren't watching it the way God intended. The floor rumbles and shakes when I watch movies. There's no neighbor on earth that could share a wall with me and take that. I am so glad I am in a house where I don't have to worry about it.

gotwavego

When I lived in Hawaii I was showing off my system to my friend one day, cranked up T2 during the nuclear blast. My neighbor was the resident manager, he and I were good friends so he usually tolerated a little bit of noise now and again, but this time, he pounded on my door for 5 minutes before I heard him.

He said it sounded like the elevator had just dropped from the 30th floor (we lived on the 1st floor so noone else was disturbed) and could I not test my system like that again.

Thats really the only case I have of disturbing someone, the rest of the time I enjoy the movie at respectable levels

Once I get to the states I'm going to build my own house with a real home theater room with proper sound insulation.

-g

criptik28

I live in an apartment, but I've been able to watch movies quite loudly without any complaints. Maybe there are thick walls or something, since I've actually never heard any noises from my neighbors.

Iz Splat

I used to live in an apartment. The trick is not to abuse your power. Play your H.T. (loud) during the day and maybe early in the evening. Maybe check with your neighbors before you start the movie. I used to have a guy that lived above me. He would go crazy at like 7:00 am. When ever I want to play something loud at night, I turn down the L.F.E or I have a set of digital headphones. Hope that helps!!!