Home » Audio » Room Acoustics » Bass transmitting to an adjacent house
Bass transmitting to an adjacent house [message #74108] Wed, 10 October 2012 17:21 Go to next message
FloydV is currently offline  FloydV
Messages: 124
Registered: November 2011
Location: Boise, ID
Master
I've had a neighbor complain about bass leaking from my theater room. My outside wall is of 2 x 6 construction and insulated. All
the walls in the theater room are insulated.

Bass on sound tracks still leaks through enough for the neighbor I'm closest to complain. He has glass windows facing me and I have no windows in the theater.

So, I'm wondering what else I can do. My house is sited. Do you guys think that a brick wall the length of the room, 20'x 14', would do? Maybe cinder block? Would the wall have to touch the house, or could it be a foot away?

I need some help on this. I don't want to go to all that trouble and then find out it doesn't work.

Floyd


He who joyfully marches to music rank and file, has already earned my contempt. -- Albert Einstein
Re: Bass transmitting to an adjacent house [message #74109 is a reply to message #74108] Wed, 10 October 2012 18:08 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Wayne Parham is currently offline  Wayne Parham
Messages: 18669
Registered: January 2001
Illuminati (33rd Degree)

Got the big basshorns going, do you? Laughing

Honestly, you have a tough problem to solve. Generally, you can either absorb the sound or contain it, but both are pretty hard to do at bass frequencies. Best if you can go with a solution that covers both bases, a large concrete wall for isolation, and a lossy membrane between you and that wall for absorption. It's going to be expensive.

Might end up just having to kind of keep it down.

Re: Bass transmitting to an adjacent house [message #74148 is a reply to message #74109] Wed, 17 October 2012 00:38 Go to previous messageGo to next message
FloydV is currently offline  FloydV
Messages: 124
Registered: November 2011
Location: Boise, ID
Master
Yep. It is deep bass that escapes, nothing else. In my opinion, after standing outside and listening, the guy is a real jerk who needs to be living on a mountain top. I guess there is one in every neighborhood, but why does he have to end up next to me.

I am looking at a site called soundprooffoam.com
They have several products. One would require me to rip out the sheet rock, and install this really heavy, strange looking insulation. Then replace the drywall, and use a special caulk on top of that drywall, and finally another layer of drywall, finishing with texture and paint.

A second option is to use their Quiet Barrier HD over the original drywall, then cover that with another layer of drywall, etc.

I stood outside after the guy's complaint and listened (after turning the sub down 2 db), and the sound level was very low, and from the center of the theater room. They seem to have no complaint now, but the bass seems subdued to me when watching or listening.

You are right about concrete. The last house I owned had a basement that I used as a theater, so all walls were thick concrete and below ground level. The water table is too close to the surface here for basements to be feasible.

Would you look at the site and give me an opinion? Some of their products are for rooms that have compressors and generators.

What I really want is an environment that I can have the sound at 85 db with a lot of bass, and not have the police knocking on my door. As sealed as my theater room is, I doubt I would hear the door bell. Even if I do some of the work, I suspect that I will end up paying $2000 + to get the work done. I would like to know if the work would have the expected result.

Thanks,

Floyd


He who joyfully marches to music rank and file, has already earned my contempt. -- Albert Einstein
Re: Bass transmitting to an adjacent house [message #74153 is a reply to message #74148] Wed, 17 October 2012 09:38 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Wayne Parham is currently offline  Wayne Parham
Messages: 18669
Registered: January 2001
Illuminati (33rd Degree)

What level of construction are you planning to do? Are you going to tear out the sheetrock on the wall nearest the neighbor or ar you going to apply the vinyl over what you have? Perhaps do a constrained layer using the vinyl sandwiched between sheets of drywall?

Re: Bass transmitting to an adjacent house [message #74248 is a reply to message #74108] Wed, 24 October 2012 22:38 Go to previous message
VoigtClub is currently offline  VoigtClub
Messages: 15
Registered: October 2012
Location: Cambridge, MA
Chancellor
The first thing that I have to ask (and you didn't mention)...

How are the speakers coupled to the floors and/or walls? Soundproofing the walls won't do a darn thing if most of the sound is being transmitted through the floor beams and into the entire support structure.

So if the speakers aren't acoustically decoupled from the floor and moved away from the walls, I'd suggest to do that first.

Previous Topic: Music system for an apartment building
Next Topic: Sliding Glass Doors
Goto Forum:
  


Current Time: Thu Mar 28 07:15:52 CDT 2024

Sponsoring Organizations

DIY Audio Projects
DIY Audio Projects
OddWatt Audio
OddWatt Audio
Pi Speakers
Pi Speakers
Prosound Shootout
Prosound Shootout
Smith & Larson Audio
Smith & Larson Audio
Tubes For Amps
TubesForAmps.com

Lone Star Audiofest