Rossp917's Profile

I will admit that I have a huge sound system and like my sound quite loud. Using some basic physics concepts can keep both you and other tenants happier. When I used to live in an apartment I kept a few things in mind.

1) Until certain room pressures are met, sound follows the inverse square law. In effect - doubling the distance from the speaker to your ear requires 4 times the volume at the speaker. By placing your speakers closer to your seating area (especially important with subs) you can reduce the overall volume without lessening your experience. Keep this in mind with your sub. It's sound is omni-directional not limited to line-of-sight as mids and tweeters are. It can be hidden right next to your seating area vs. 15 feet away (i.e. you can turn the overall volume down by 8 or 16 times on the sub with no loss of sound at your seat).

2) Ports on the back side of the speaker tend to radiate sounds that more easily penetrate walls. I never placed any speakers on shared walls...especially rear ported or dipole. Again, going back to number 1...speakers closer to shared walls are going to transmit more sound.

3) Di-polar speakers have a speaker on the front and back which move in out of phase to one another. This creates wide sound fields (some people appreciate this). Additionally, by being out of phase there is a net effect of sound waves being cancelled out, which means less radiation into other rooms. Personally, I love the sound of my dipoles. On stereo recordings they envelope the room in sound.

Another solution that I always wanted to try was to use carpeting on the shared walls. However, my most often used route was the social one. I just invited my neighbors over for dinner and movies. I found that my system was less of an annoyance if they got the opportunity to enjoy it as well.

Hope this was useful!

Count me in as #6 for Le Courbusier.