Is there anything I can do to my floorspeakers to be courteous to my downstairs neighbor?

Don’t ask anybody if there is a way to achieve something because other people already know there probably isn’t a way to achieve it (and somehow know that without asking)? You’re blowing my mind.

 

Move into a house surrounded by a lot of property.

 

That might not fly in an apartment building. Definitely won't in an apartment complex. They will usually have rules written into the lease about excessive noise and complaints. When I lived in my first apartment, I once got a visit from management at 3 in the afternoon telling me to turn it down because they were getting complaints from the neighbors. It was really freakin' loud though.

I'm really lucky, I guess. The apartment building I'm in now doesn't transmit noise very badly. I never hear the neighbors.
I have an old 5.1 surround system set up in my room. I use it to play music and watch tv/YouTube/video games. I don't have the sub very loud at all, but I was still worried about it transmitting noise downstairs (I'm on the top floor). About the only place I usually play music loudly anymore is in my truck, so I don't really crank it that often, but if you've ever watched a lot of YouTube, you know the volume can vary a LOT from video to video. Sometimes games can get loud too.
For the first 6ish months that I lived here, I didn't have a downstairs neighbor, so I didn't have to worry about it. Then I got one. After a few weeks, I realized she was the new apartment complex manager. I decided to just ask her one day if my music/tv was ever too loud. She said I was good. She would hear it a little sometimes during the day, but I've never disturbed her at night. "Don't worry honey, you know I'll text you if it's too loud."

 

Try some paving stones. Maybe a couple w some thin rubber between them. Cheap to try

 

Quite simple. They have stated that music played loudly after 9:00PM is troublesome. Well, 9:00PM is the time some like to relax and snooze.

As far as your neighbor waking up at 4:30AM, I don't understand what that has to do with anything. Are you listening to music around 4:30AM?

I think the key here is to tone it down after 9:00PM, just going by the stated facts.

Yes, I have lived in apartments my entire life. I deal with it. If I can't deal with it I move. You do have my sympathy, it is what it is.

 

The floors in a building built to code or HUD standards could have an STC rating of as low as 50, meaning roughly a reduction of 50 dB. Reality is, music is just louder than that. It will disturb neighbors.

 

Let me introduce you to this amazing new technology, Google "wireless"

 

Yeah, like this

 

Get rid of the floor standers. Buy new stand mounted speakers that don't boom. Deal with it .

I had to do the same a few years ago with the same circumstances. Went from Mission 752 floorstanders to Tannoy DC4s. Never missed them and they were the right gear for the room.

 

The 4.30 thing is very relevant.

It means, I imagine, that the neighbour doesn't want their sleep disturbed after 9pm by music coming from an apartment above because...she gets up at 4.30. Which is not an unreasonable ask.

 

Lying in bed? Are you in a studio? Maybe move your floor standers to the living room if not?

 

There really is not much you can do, I have survived that situation. After say 7 PM in the evening, simply make sure no subwoofers are turned on and keep the volume at a nice low level. The majority of the time it's always the bass. If you can pull your speakers out from the walls it will help the situation. Go visit with the neighbor and run a test to see how loud the volume can be without causing distress, she will help you establish a reasonable listening level. Headphones are an answer, but it you will just touch bases with her, you can establish volume levels that are acceptable as well as times to not blast. Communication is the key and headphone in early hours of the morning for sure. Be sure and ask her if it's the bass that is getting through. If she is a keeper, ask her over for dinner!

 

Harassment? Lol! Something really easy like hanging her scarf (for example) on a hook by the door and taking it with her when she leaves the house (she doesn't have to wear it) is pretty simple and could be a solution. No need to 'harass' each other with texting every time. If you cannot deal with things like that, go and live in the woods for all I care but don't go and live in an appartment where you need to respect your neighbors, which needs to go both ways! Find a compromise is what you need to do, one can't have it all if you have neighbors.

 

Don't play music after 9 p.m. without headphones. I don't think that's an unreasonable request for apartment living.

 

This is absolute nonsense, what a neighbor hears is the excited building resonance and this primarily comes comes from energy going into the floor by mechanical transfer.

So the OP can definitely reduce the noise in the other persons apartment, the question is will it satisfy the neighbor. With neighbor disputes you should always talk and take into account the other persons perspective, you need to be in the other persons home to hear the level of noise, from that point a mutually agreeable level can be agreed. Here the issue seems to be how loud after 9pm, so we've already entered in to being reasonable and once we're on that footing things can shift both ways.

Terraced Victorian housing means noise complaints are very common, my previous neighbor said she could hear my music but it wasn't troublesome my present neighbor knocked on my door at 9.30pm saying he was going to bed and the noise was too loud.

As I don't want to be troublesome I increased isolation of my speakers from the floor and he now he says it's not a problem, if I play a bass heavy album very loud I can hear it in the bedroom directly above but it's at a level that many would find acceptable.

I frequently play my music loud and no complaints here.

 

I live in a terraced house and have my set up in my attic which I have wall insulated, carpeted etc, bumped in to my neighbour who complained they cannot hear my music anymore!

 

Asking a neighbor to hang a scarf to notify you of her movement seems pretty invasive/ harassing to me.

 

Why? It's just a question of having mutual respect with regards to eachother hobbies. If I was in her place I would only be happy to hang a scarf or whatever if this would mean that I would not be 'harassed' with his noise otherwise when I'm at home !
OP could even give her 2 scarfs as a present, one green and one red so she can switch them out !

 

Getting sleep at night is not a hobby...

It’s not an easy situation, because, on the one hand, she shouldn’t have some obligation to report in whether she’s home or not (and may even feel unsafe doing so; after all, she doesn’t really know OP...), but, on the other hand, this is something that is only disturbing to her when she’s home, which supposedly is a minority of evenings. Maybe OP should err on the side of assuming she could be home every night, but I can see how it would be nice if he didn’t need to.

I didn’t take OP’s mention of the texting to mean he’s relying on her keeping him informed of her whereabouts, anyway, but rather that it was a gesture, to say, hey, I don’t want to disturb you, so if it’s ever happening, please feel free to say something. It seems to me like he’s still trying to figure out how to prevent it from being disturbing.

 

4 pieces of 1 1/4 inch MDF (slightly larger area than speakers) under each will help..if speakers have spikes, so much the better...works for me..they sound better too...

 

To get up at 4:30AM one has to go to bed before 8:30PM.

Is this a joke? Marking her presence/absence with a scarf every time she leaves the house/comes back so the neighbor she barely knows can enjoy his freakin music at inappropriate levels just because he is not familiar with the concept of civilized living in a multi flat building? Do you know what privacy is?

So "respecting the neighbors" means to accept their loud, sound aggressive and uncivilized behavior? It's the opposite - the one that disturbs is showing disrespect and HE should go to the woods, not the quiet neighbor who takes no aggressive actions of any kind towards the surrounding environment.

 

For me it’s easy. Play at a normal speaker volume from 5:30-8:30pm

Headphones anywhere before or after

 

I agree, I would not trust anyone enough to let them know of my comings and goings in the house. She doesn’t know him. While his intentions may be to just play music, she is opening herself up to a situation someone dishonorable may take advantage of.

 

What are the rules regarding noise in your apt complex ? Till 10PM ? It's not your fault she has to get up so early. You probably come back from work at what, 7 PM ? That leaves you just 2 hs to listen to music and do all of the other things you do. The Subdudes are really a good idea, although they might change the sound of your speakers, for good or bad.

 

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