Rented House - Law on sound?!?

Shambler

To me the OP comes across as completely genuine so I don't see why some people are suggesting otherwise.

The frequencies generated by a sub will literally make the walls/floor/ceiling vibrate which is then carried throughout the property.

Is there no option on the sub itself to reduce the volume of the sub alone while keeping the other 4 speakers at normal volume?

Even if the sub was separate it is not a good idea to disocnnect it from the amp, this can damage the amp.

I don't think you will benefit from any cheap way of absorbing the sound.

Voyager2002

Please visit a quality hi-fi shop (NOT Richer Sounds) and ask about speaker stands. Suitable stands will absorb the sound that at present is being transmitted into the building and to other flats, and will provide a far greater clarity of sound for you to hear. Everyone will gain.

MercilessKiller

Thanks for support in this thread.

Most peopel admit its my fault due to the bass and giving me ideas on how to stop it.

Unfortunately we have one or two posters who want to insult me and call me names. I'll be reporting him for that. Not needed.

MSE used to be such a nice helpful community and thanks to those posters who have helped!

Shmabler, There is an option and it is already on very low oddly enough. I'll stick the rug under tomorrow and see what effect this has.

real1314

OP

Here's my further advice:

Talk to the neighbours about testing the impact of your system. Try the system with the speakers unplugged and then plugged in (as you can't isolate the sub).
This will show the impact of the wall mounted speakers. If they are causing a major problem, you will have to do something to resolve this - either take them off the wall or re-fit the mounts to improve the acoustic isolation (carpet underlay between the speaker and bracket maybe?).

If the sub is the problem, you could try a number of things - first isolate it from the floor - a square of carpet sat on a piece of expanded polystyrene might do the trick. Then look at the sound output towards the neighbours wall - a wall hung rug, maybe with old egg crates fixed behind it ( the cardboard ones) might help.

As a money saver site you should look for cheap solutions first, however ultimately if your system is transmitting through the wall to an unacceptable level, you would have to accept that it's unsuitable for the property you are in. Although "acceptable level" doesn't mean complete silence of the other side of the wall, that's almost impossible to achieve, and as much as you have to accept that you need to adapt/lower the equipment as you are in a flat, people who live in flats have to accept/be tolerant to a certain degree of noise.

MercilessKiller

Thanks for the good advice.

Will do that tomorrow evening.

MercilessKiller

EDIT: This post was replying to chopperharris' insulting me but its been removed

Once again thank you to posters who have helped and given me things to do, to remedy the situation rather than just insulted me.

Idiophreak

A few thoughts...

I had a similar thing with my older neighbours...

Got on very well with them, made small talk etc etc then one day they just stormed round and had a massive yell at one of my mates for parking outside their house blah blah blah. It seems the older generation like to bottle stuff up and just mutter under their breath until they go mental about it.

(for what it's worth, I really don't think they had any real cause to complain about it and I haven't spoken to them since, but that's besides the point...)

So that's the good news. The bad new is, you're probably going to have to report me, too, for not agreeing with you.

I live at home, with my folks, detached house...Have a lovely surround setup in the lounge, really kicks out the noise, sounds great. (have to, in fairness, keep it turned down from 11 still - detached or not, the neighbours would hear/feel it at the max)

Now, shortly I'm going to be moving out with my gf. For my birthday a couple of weeks ago I got her to get me a really nice set of headphones.

Why's this? We're going, in all probability, to be moving into a flat someplace. Which means I'm not going to be able to get a surround sound system, not going to be able to turn the stereo up, not going to be able to enjoy any kind of decent sound quality - I hear what you're saying that you don't have the volume loud, but in a flat any real bass is going to bounce about the place. So I'll have to content myself with the tinny output of the TV and just treat myself to some time on the phones now and then for "good sound" kicks.

This *isn't* ideal, obviously, but sadly it's one of the things you have to give up living in a flat, just as you might think twice about having your Dance Dance Revolution parties if there are people living below you.

I'm firmly of the belief that people shouldn't do anything that impacts other people around them. If having films at this level is bothering the neighbours, you have to do something about it, that simple.

Now, as to the practical advice:

1) Try, as other people have suggested, getting some decent padding under the sub.

2) Turn the sub down, must be able to do that, even if it's just in bass/treble adjustments - won't be the most balanced sound, but you have to compromise.

3) Try getting some stands for the rear satellites - might help, them not pushing back on the walls. I'd also steer clear of spiking them, though - I'd have thought this would only make matters worse.

4) Try rotating the room, if you can, so that none of the speakers are on this wall.

5) If you're *really* that bothered, look into some soundproofing stuff, as above.

6) If all else fails, turn the whole lot off and just put up with the awful TV sound. It sucks, but that's life.

MercilessKiller

Idiophreak, I won't be reporting you don't worry hehe You're advice is constructive and helpful!

Of course I'll be unplugging it as a last resort, but if there is a way to reduce frequencies then I'd obviously explore them first, naturally!

The sub is already very low... on about 2 out of 40 on the dial... (at the time of the complaint)

The stands are on shelves and units. One speaker is attached to a wall going to our bedroom, opposite wall of next door.

It's a strange room in terms of design and it's not possible changing it round without spending lots!

I do like a bit of bass in a movie, like everyone else. Soundproofing seems to give that, but stop the vibrations and frequency going through. As I say its not a loud level problem by the sounds of things (no pun intended)

And yes I agree with point 6. will explore the others first.

Thanks

jamesd

MercilessKiller,

Some products you can try to get started:

Vibration pad: about 33 Pounds for one, cut up to use for all of the speakers as the first step, to isolate them from direct transmission through the wall and floor. This one is most important for the sub.
Fire retardant acoustic foam: about 22 Pounds for one, cut to fit for all of the speakers and use above the vibration pad to isolate lower frequencies. This might be enough on its own for the non-sub speakers.

Combining the two would also be helpful. If the units are enclosed in an open box shape in a unit you might use the foam to also line the whole of the box where the speaker is located, since the unit may be amplifying the noise.

Neither will help if the problem is sound transmitted to and then through the air to the wall and then into next door. These are just to make sure that the sound doesn't go directly from the speaker via physical contact to floor and wall.

The speaker onthe wall to your bedroom probably isn't the problem but no harm to isolate it as well.

You might also look at the floor and wall join to see if there's any way for air to get from your place into the inside of the wall. If there is, filling that with a sound-deadening filler (about 8 Pounds) or even simply using a strip of PVC tape can stop direct sound transfer via the air. This would be a construction fault and breach of building regulations if it was present.

If those don't help it may be a more serious construction fault or could be that one or both sides of the wall would benefit from an additional wall with a resilient bar that doesn't conduct sound isolating the current wall from the new wall and sound absorbing fibre mat between the two layers. This can have high density sound absorbent sheets included in it to further reduce the problem.

poppy10_2

MercilessKiller -

You have my sympathies - I had pretty much the same situation, was living in a flat next to an old dear and she would complain if we had the TV on even at a low volume. She even complained that when we walked around the flat we were doing it too heavily!

She made the same threats re council noise abatement etc, but the reality is that they won't do anything about it unless the noise is above a certain level, which I'm sure it's not.

I agree that the sub is likely to be the main problem - you can turn it down in your system's settings, or do as I did and place it on a thick platform of bubble wrap to dampen the sound.

I eventually moved out as she was coming round and complaining so often. Maybe I should have complained to the police about HER, harassing me.