[Closed] A wee dilemma at C_G Towers ...

First off, I'd suggest changing the thread title!

You may find the soundproofing isn't too bad at the moment. Is it a solid wall between the houses? If you can, move the speakers to a non-adjoining wall. See how the neighbours are, they might want to come round for a listen....

move?

Moving will be the best solution.

I've seen a pro job on a flat ceiling - lots of money - no change ......

they might like rock also.

Haha Rich!

Move - to a caravan in a field?

they might like rock also.

everyone else's musical "tastes" are incomprehensible!

Can you find out how much the sound travels? go round and ask your neighbours at what point the nmoise annoys?

There are ways of mounting speakers that reduce sound transmission - put them on a wall that does not adjoin another property rather than the floor for example

I'm a bit unclear. What are the two options you're torn between?

OK, there have been workman in there and when they are not drilling/plastering etc, they talk. I can almost make out what they are saying! And that's with my bad hearing.

I am seriously concerned about my quality of life. I rarely watch TV so music is one of my leisure activities. Bit worried about sound carrying with the other too 😯

Erm.... Headphones?

And who put that tag up there ^^

tails - was that you?

how about[url= http://www.nothingtoseehere.net/2008/11/vallay_house_north_uist.html ] Vallay House, North Uist[/url]?

Jeez, the tags have been breeding 😯

Radio 4 is the answer.

Do you want to tell us what your music system is and where and how your speakers are placed.

Not sure how much it will help other than us nosey parkers get to consider your hi fi. 🙂

I think "slapper" is harsh 🙁

OK, have a really nice new Rega CD player, B & W speakers then downgrades to 25 year old amp/vinyl player from Duel. Speakers are on stands by adjoining wall, couple of inches out.

Ideally what I would like to do is play my rock at the same volume as a TV is listened to.

Had a quick scan of an article in The Times about soundproofing but that naturally was mega bucks ... and I have a bike habit 🙄

Call me "slapper" to my face - you'll find out who slaps the hardest.

harsh tags.
easy to be harsh when its anon. 🙄

folks that hide to tend to be.

I suppose it is a bit too much to have the speakers on the other side of the room away from the adjoining wall? Although I suppose it may be better that the speakers are facing away from next door.

Ideally what I would like to do is play my rock at the same volume as a TV is listened to.

well that doesn't sound unreasonable, but then again how loud have you got your telly? 🙂

Tag removal - thank you. I'll confess to being a PITA but that was definitely not justified.

Yes, speakers really need to face away from that wall. I'm genuinely surprised at how flimsy the wall is, the house is around 30 years old.

Funnily enough when the owner saw my music collection, he had similar tastes! But the house is being rented out.

I may well resort to having North Shore on the driveway again, that should be enough to worry anyone. Plus of course the STW'ers that are sometimes here 8)

but then again how loud have you got your telly?

the poor dear's hearing is going - the telly keeps falling off its stand from the vibration 🙁

nonk - Member: folks that hide to tend to be.

isn't that everyone who doesn't use their own name on the forum ?

Tags - a "tart"? Me? You 'avin a larf?

Sfb, Hardly. Anyone who's had any email contact with me knows my name and tbh about 5 mins of detective work would find it otherwise.

Cg, just talk to them. Good icebreaker I reckon.

Sfb, Hardly. Anyone who's had any email contact with me knows my name and tbh about 5 mins of detective work would find it otherwise.

detective work ? "Hello, who are you?". "Not saying!"...

Lol. I'm sure a clever chap like you could do better than that.

wall mounting the speakers may help even if they end u in the same position. Sometimes the sound travels thru the floor joists into the wall more easily that it would thru the wall. Depends on construction.

I'm sure a clever chap like you could do better than that.

had I the will to care...

Id echo the 'talk to them' comment. In my experience most people will happily put up with more noise if they feel they have some control over it.

have you seen the size of [i]their[/i] speakers yet?

Well quite sfb but that's not the point.

Thanks for replies. I think I will talk to the owner and explain about the poor wall construction/lack of sound-proofing. He actually only lived there for a short while so will be unaware.

Which B&W's you got C_G?

I have/had (mate is borrowing them on permanent loan whilst I have no space!) an old pair of B&W 603S2's... Floor standers with 2 7" bass drivers in each speaker, powered by a bloody power house Rotel Power Amp rated at a conservative 130W per channel...

My neighbours used to love me! 😉

Best option, as said before, move the speakers so they're near a different wall. Also, move them out away from the wall a little bit. The closer the speakers are to a wall, the more the bass booms. So move them out by even 6 or 8 inches, and it makes a fair old difference.

Alternatively, buy a decent pair of Sennheiser Headphones for listening to your music after the watershed?

If they're doing structural work in there already (possible if you can hear the builders talking) you may be able to negotiate some soundproofing installation with the owner. Go 50/50?

But the house is being rented out.

Ah!The new tenants will no doubt be on benefits,so will be playing drum'n'bass,hip-hop shite,& rap crap at volume 10 at all hours of the day,(with a slight respite while Jeremy Kyle's on),so go buy a more powerful amp....

😉

Mark - it says DM600 on the back of the speaker. Mean anything? So ... did you receive any complaints then?

Will move speakers further out. Have some rubbish cordless headphones and the Sennheiser ones are only for the MP3 player. Too bloomin' expensive for cordless!

Rich - definitely not structural work.

Gary - am very confident the tenants will not be on benefits!

Gary - am very confident the tenants will not be on benefits!

c_g,my post was very much tongue in cheek,hence the... 😉

At uni the guy next door used to do nothing but listen to crap music at maximum volume. Very thin dividing wall between rooms, you could actually see it vibrating.

Not really much of an issue because I wasn't in my room all that often but the nights before exams etc used to be murder. He never did figure out why his circuit breaker kept tripping out in January and June. 🙂

I live in a Victorian terraced house. My neighbours on one side are partial to getting pissed and playing godawful music way too loud at 2am. SO far, reason, polite requests, banging on the wall and shouting have had no effect. We have decided that producing a child will probbaly be the best way to get our own back.... 😀

OK, serious answer:

It will be *slightly* better for next door if you move the speakers to the opposite wall (mainly because of the dissipation of some of the bass).

Best, however, is to accept that, at certain times of the day, headphones are king.

Go to a hifi shop and listen to a decent pair. I mean something that costs a minimum of £100, preferably £250, and if you're serious, some Stax (the cheapest Stax come in at around £400 IIRC). Then, to go with your phones, buy a decent headphone amplifier.

You'll have sound so good, you'll wonder why you bother with loudspeakers at all.

Mark - it says DM600 on the back of the speaker. Mean anything? So ... did you receive any complaints then?

Yeah, nice little speaker those DM600's. Basically a mini stand mount version of my lumbering great DM603 Floorstanders. Capable of driving music at a decent volume, but at least you won't have to contest with the levels of bass that I had to...

Did I get any complaints? Only one, and to be fair that was when I hadn't realised the time... I lived with and next to other students pretty much my whole time at uni, as long as I wasn't making noise after about 10pm nobody seemed too bothered.

Cordless Phones are bloomin expensive indeed, why not just buy a decent pair of corded ones with a long cord?

Wooden floors ? If they have builders in they may have carpets out which makes it worse. If you have wooden / stripped floors - even worse again!

If you want some headphones then some SENNHEISER ORPHEUS at £10K may help the neighbours (but prob not your hearing long term).

pop round to MrNutts, borrow his sheeps head thingy and go introduce yourself as the local witches coven and invite them to next meet......(not for one minute suggesting you are witchy in any way shape or form)....but if they are renting they may not stop that long especially if you pop on some maiden and wander round garden late at night with flowng gowns holding sheep thing to the skys......get one of them blood capsules from that rugby team, that'll do the job.

I've probably had too much to drink this evening and you may wish to consider this option in the cold light of day. I will, before offering anymore advice.

Line your walls with egg boxes. Sorted.

CG Towers does not have a 'floating floor' already? Where do you hold balls?

edit/ Oops! 😳

Play some death/grind/whatever metal too loud for a while and then change to your usual stuff. They WILL be very happy (if not, repeat the metal bit till they learn).

CG - Do what I do - Wait until you know the neighbours are out, then REALLY get them speakers bouncing. Not just loud, but [b][i][u]LOUD!![/u][/i][/b] 😀

Think QUALITY, not QUANTITY!

I take it you've noticed my Mission floorstanders? 😉

CG Im not going to read any of the advice above as it will probably be inane/childish.

Play your guitar in their front garden in just your Bikini. Sorted. I'd be your best neighbour if you did that to me. 8)

If they come round and say anything about loud music, claim that you can't hear anything at all (you were quietly reading). Also mention that the 'lovely chap who was tragically murdered and dismembered in the new tenant's house 2 years ago was into rock music and often played it loud when he was alive. Also mention that a strange red patch appears and dissapears on your wall occasionally and that it only started after the murder.

I think most reasonable people realise there will be some sound spillage when you live in any form of attached housing. The crux of the matter usually would be when and for how long you play your music.

I used to get all sorts of complaints from my old neighbours when I, or the band, used to practice in my cellar. In the end they got the police involved. However, when the police turned up, just as we were packing up (at 9pm), they considered that we were being reasonable and were not causing a nuisance. I know the police no longer get involved in this kind of stuff and that it is, I think, now an enviromnmental health matter I am pretty sure 'reasonableness' is still relevant.

With regard to using headphones as an alternative I would advise against doing so on a regular basis, especially if you like your music loud. As someone who has suffered 'noise induced hearing loss' as a result of playing, and listening to, loud music they only make matters worse. Too much pressure too close to the eardrum!

Wireless headphones, but as souldrummer says, keep an eye on the volume. I have a little wireless headphone gizmo I got in the US, so can use any headphones wireless. Conected up to some Grado SR60s (cheap in the US, a bit more pricey over here) and sounds pretty decent. Better than any of the wireless phones that were around when I got them (maybe 8 years ago). Good luck whatever you decide - been on the receiving end of neighbourly music abuse and if you NEED to sleep (inflexible work hours that preclude too many late nights) it's pretty miserable. Impressed you are being considerate - kudos.

air space is the best noise killer...ie be detached.if you are attached you just cant be noisy.so.. big thick walled shed.gargae to have bikes and speakers in or ..headphones

What Fopster said. Just remember their quality of life too and try to be reasonable. We moved house to get rid of the noise from a neighbour (he couldn't help the idiot property developer he bought from had stripped all sound insulation). Luckily we didn't own the place so could just sod off but I have a feeling if I owned it we'd have come to blows or had the police/council/solicitors involved. As it was he avoided me like the plague after one too many 5am visits in my night wear (i.e. just undies) to tell him to keep the bloody noise down.

Thanks for all the replies, both sensible and not!

In all seriousness, I have no intention of being the neighbour from hell and will lower the volume once they move in. Will try moving speakers as well but both my floor and next door's are laminate so that will not help.

Trouble is I've been spoiled from spending decades living in a detached house but life changes ...

As for you hora suggesting I play guitar in a bikini 😯 Now there's an idea 😉

You can try hanging a throw on the adjoining wall in your listening room that always helps especially if you leave an inch or so between the throw and the wall as they are surprisingly absorbent.

Facing the speakers the other way won't do very much I'm afraid as sound propogates in all directions.

Bass sounds tend to propogate more than mid and treble but it sounds like your floor may be concrete under the laminte so it should be less of an issue.

Basically you have to absorb the sound in some way, soft furnishings, rugs, book shelves and wall hangings all help but really there is very little you can do.

Headphones are most likely the best option but you might get lucky the tenants might be hard of hearing!

As for you hora suggesting I play guitar in a bikini Now there's an idea

Something tells me you playing the guitar like that would sell millions of records 😀

but you might get lucky the tenants might be hard of hearing!

you mean harder of hearing than c-g ? THAT is the question, whether tis nobler to suffer the slings and arrows of offensive music... etc

Perhaps CG could offer her neighbours fifteen minutes of [b]her sounds of passion[/b] in exchange for an hour of music at a volume of her choice.

I am assuming a lot here aren't I.

Oh well.