What do your nieghbors think of your stereo?

What do your neighbors think of when, and how loud, and what kind of music you play? Most of the time I don't have any problems, but one Sat. evening last summer, a guest at the house across the street, came over and told me to shut my door! It was only 7pm.

 

My Stereo

All,

I am very lucky. My neighbors are pretty tolerant for the most part and I do not get out of control too often. One time, however, I was having a late evening listening session/social gathering with friends when one of my neighbors called the Police who knocked on my door and asked me to turn my Stereo volume down. I, of course, kindly complied. The complaint call was received from a neighbor--5 floors below my unit!

Bob

 

Hey, Bob, nice avatar!! Mostly OK around here. One of the forum members lives across the street from me .WER'E the trouble makers.

 

Ya mean after I have to turn off the system to get rid of them.....
All kinds of rock from the Beatles to ZZ Top. Probably about 75-80 db but can increase upto about 95 db. The neighbours seem to like most of the music that I do.

Never been asked to turn it down............except by the wife (sigh)

 

Ron,

I bet. The night in question that I referred to in my posting, one of my guests was the former lead guitar player in one of the city's better, more historically known "bar bands" back in the 80's. He kept saying the Stereo sounds great--turn it up! I, of course, obliged his request. We just out of hand that night.

My avatar--thanks! My hobby is compiling programs from my music collection on reel and then dubbing them down to CD-R for easy use. My "creative outlet" is creating the formatted programs and trying to "master" the programs using the best available sources while recording the programs with "loving" care with regard to quality of the sound. I have over 270 "mastered" programs. My hobby has taught me a lot.

Bob

 

My neighbours don't think anythink, they're to far away to hear it.

On the other hand...one of them used to bother me with his stereo. During summer he'd put his big speakers outside and play it as loud as possible. During daytime when you want to hear the birds and enjoy the silence this is not nice. But when you are asleep at 5 in the morning, and you have closed all windows and doors and have covered them with blinds....but still wake up because of the noise (he played terrible music). Anyway I'm glad tho police arrested him for drug dealing. So I don't have to worry about it anymore.

 

Did anybody catch "The Osbournes" on MTV last night???

Their neighbors were playing "He's Got The Whole World In His Hands" at 2 in the morning, and she decided to tell them to turn the music off...of course in her own tactful way! Jack, Sharon and Ozzy throwing verbal insults and "food products" at their neighbors is something to see!

Sharon Osbourne would make Yoko Ono say "uncle"!!!

 

My neighbor called me one night last month to tell me to turn it down....
I know because I saw the message light blinking when I went to sleep.
Sorry dude.

 

I live in a brick house on a corner opposite two churches and a library. One of the main reasons I'm in this house is the large "listening room" and the ability to turn up the volume at all hours without complaint. The first time in my life I've had that freedom and I like it.

 

I can tell you what COPS think!

 

I used to have a neighbor who would have liked to smash my stereo with a baseball bat.

 

Do Wives count???

 

Now no one has ever complained about the stereo, mainly because I usually listen at low to medium levels. However, three boys live next door and like to play Basketball on their concrete driveway at 10 o'clock at night. thump, thump, thump

 

I got a compaint once, when we first moved into our new townhouse. It seemed the neighbor thought the walls were defective, since they heard the bass everyday after 4:30pm (when I get home from work).

I hear there home theatre through my wall (not disturbing though) and I told them so. The said maybe we should both be considerate of each other. I agreed.

I still play music at whatever volume I feel comfortable up until 9pm - then I use my STAX Pro Lambda "Earspeakers". Haven't had a complaint since and it has been over 1 1/2 years now.

For movies I try to be close to the remote to turn the volume down when the sub really starts kicking in after 10pm. But for movies they have never complained, probably because the low frequencies from movies are not sustained over the entire length of the feature, whereas if you listen to music for 2 - 3 hours straight, the thump of the bass through the wall is probably constant.

 

Hi,

Hell yes! I got the bumps in the back of my head to prove it.

Still Smilin',
Jeffrey

 

I have to find a new studio apartment for May 1st (tight budget) and one of my concerns are neighbors. I sometimes enjoy listening to music/films at louder levels (not earthshattering but a little higher than "norm") and I'm hoping I find a place where I won't get complaints or terrible knocks on the ceiling or walls. I listen to my stuff during respectable hours but I hate feeling self-conscious about disturbing people. So, one of my needs for a new apt. is something on the first floor, older buidling (good solid construction) and fewer "common" walls. It's difficult enough finding something "reasonable" here but this is an important factor for me to consider. I don't want to disturb people (or people disturb me). Then there's the packing, moving, unpacking, setting-up, some new furniture... I love moving (errrrr)...


Todd

 

Was over my girlfriend's house one night this week, and I came home late. Went to bed, work, come back home later that afternoon playing some Miles Davis and some Meatloaf, at comfortable levels. Then appearing at my door was this older War Veteran guy in the condo 2 doors from me.

"Hi...."
"Hey, what's up?" I ask; noticing it's a tennant 2 doors down.
"Umm.. A couple of people complained that I had my stereo up too loud. I just wanted to come over and make sure that I didn't wake you up or bother you last night."

[Here's where I became plesantly shocked knowing it wasn't me. I remember watching Jurassic Park III on DTS and I thought the condo was going to take 'lift-off' when a dino started running after someone.]

"Oh," I said; "Oh....oh...no, no, no!"
"Oh good." he said
"Not at all. I wasn't even home!"

He thanked me and left. I must be doing something right, not bothering neighbors at all, but making them feel guilty as they assume I'm a quiet mouse.

"Hmm, I'm not listening to music loud enough. I'm starting to bother people." said to myself.

 

Neighbor Management

All,

A few thoughts about neighbor management....

First off, I try to engage and get to know my immediate neighbors as best I can, so they see me as a real live personal human being and not some nameless figure that lives next door. Establishment of friendly, polite rapport, naturally, makes them have more tolerance. Secondly, when I have an occasional cocktail party with my music playing, I let my neighbors know in advance of the function and I sometimes invite them to attend. Rarely, do they attend, but because they were invited they usually have never complained about an unusual amount of noise coming from my unit either. I try to limit the hours of my "louder" music enjoyment, especially, on work nights. Unfortunately, some people have unrealistic expectations about the level of noise one can expect to hear when living in an apartment or condo building. Over the years, I have heard some pretty amazing things through those walls!

I cannot say that my tactics have always been successful but they have noticably helped as well....

Bob

 

I have never had any complaints from my current neighboors. I normally do not play my music LOUD with the windows open. I also usually drop the volume at night (spousal attenuation). Occasionally during the summer, I'm sure they can hear it during the day but no one has ever complained, yet.

However, back in the seventies I was stationed in Germany and living with a freind in a duplex flat for a few months before returning home. We had combined our two systems into a massive mega-watt monster and on occasion during the day we would crank it for a song or two just to get a high dB rush. On one particular day when we finally turned it down, there was a knock on the door. The little girl next door said that her mother had sent her to ask if we could turn down the music because we were shaking the pictures off her wall. To quote Bill and Ted, "Excellent".
I've since matured (sort of).

 

Well, I used to have a guy who lived below me with a very uh, vocal girlfirend! Every other morning at around 10:AM Haw! Haw! Haw! Haw! Ooohhhh....

 

Noises

All,

I dated a woman like that a numbers of years back. I called her "the screamer". While I appreciated her passion and exuberance, I was embarassed because I know that my neighbors could hear everything....you know...that wink or smile I got from the neighbors the next day in the hallway. Sadly, that was before home theatre systems so I had no recourse. In all seriousness, however, I had a immediate neighbor who committed suicide with a pistol late on a Saturday evening about 8 years ago. I heard the shot! The slug went through my second bedroom wall and landed on the floor!

Bob

 

Re: Noises

Damn.

 

Grant,

It was very sad! The Police and a forensics guy had to come into my unit to collect the slug, take measurements, ask me questions, etc. He was quiet and polite but very friendly. I later learned he was distraught over the loss of someone he loved very much. If he had been a music collector he could have simply, listened to the "blues".

Bob

 

I'm sorry to hear about your neighbor, Bob. Love is a beautiful thing but it also can be a very painful one. I"m sorry the neighbor couldn't work through it...

Todd