Stereos and Unreasonable Neighbours

[opendoor]

It's hard to know for sure without actually hearing the noise levels, but bass can be pretty annoying because it's almost impossible to drown out. Hearing someone else's bass is like nails on a chalkboard to me because when I'm listening to music or watching TV I'll still hear the lower frequencies over top of what I'm listening to.

Given that your other neighbors haven't complained it's probably just her being unreasonable. Still, how high were the peak levels of your dB readings? Were they a lot higher or was it a steady 70 or so dB from inside your apartment?

[TorqueDog]

opendoor, the peak was 73.1 dBA, average of 69.8 dBA. Measurements were taken at 6' away from the system, 2.5' off the ground.

Originally Posted by taco.vidal

Its not your own home. Its a shared living space.

Shared living space means you share living quarters with someone, such as two people living in a suite. These are separate suites altogether.

Originally Posted by taco.vidal

Move into a house or unplug the sub.

...Or I'll listen at a reasonable volume during the daytime hours as I already do and she can bitch all she wants and I'll just ignore her. I'm not 'cranking' the bass by any stretch of the imagination (seriously, it's under quarter volume), and I'm not prepared to continue to pander to this whining idiot when the other tenants beside and below me have zero issues. The landlord is on my side.

[Frequitude]

Sorry torquedog. I'm a pretty chill guy, but bass that is not your own is really annoying. It has nothing to do with how loud it is, its just that it is there. You can't drown it out. Its over top of everything.

It sounds like the woman's complaints have all to do with the bass, and nothing to do with how loud the other tones are. So the dB readings don't really matter.

Subs just don't belong in an apartment/shared space. I know, it sucks, but that's how it is for everyone living around you.

[Regular_John]

Having been on the other side of this issue I'll just say, unplug the sub woofer.

I've tried to be reasonable with my neighbours on this as well, had a beer in the place and yes, sitting in their living room with the volume at a very reasonable level it sounds great and I honestly found myself thinking "this is a very reasonable level". But the stray bass on the other side of a floor/wall is a completely different story than what you experience in the room with the stereo. You live in a shared space and you have to respect that. You can argue till your blue in the face about the dB levels and bylaws but the fact is low level bass can travel far depending on the building construction.

[Ducay]

While I agree some people were being a bit over the top(see: SCUD); the fact you've now mentioned that its a WOOD building should really indicate that you've got to unplug the sub. As someone who likes the quiet and hates being forced to endure other people's noises (regardless of levels/bylaws), I wouldn't want to live next to you. That said, in reality, she shouldn't have the expectation of pure silence if she chose to live in a wood building too.

[Yellefan]

To be fair to the lady, I once lived in an apartment where the neighbor had a sub woofer, and although he never listened to his music loudly, I could always hear the constant noise from the sub in my apartment and it drove me crazy. I know it may not seem loud to you, but it's fricking annoying when all you can hear is the bass... I would have rather had the neighbor play loud music than having to hear just the bass.

[V]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

...Or I'll listen at a reasonable volume during the daytime hours...

[topfiverecords]

Originally Posted by V

Staple her ears shut with a red swingline.

[Flamenspiel]

Low frequency sounds from a sub below 20 hertz are usually felt as vibrations rather then heard. |You cannot really measure the true effect with a sound pressure meter.

When testing my home theatre construction, using a well built sub played at 1 quarter reference level it could still be felt two floors above a sound proof room. Due to the prohibitive cost I basically gave up on that effort and focused on screening the highs out. Low frequency noise cannot be screened out by wooden walls or drywall.

That being said, this issue is really between the landlord and the tenant, if it reasonably interferes with her right to peace and quite, she could demand rent abatement from the landlord. Typically in a case like that the landlord will not take action unless there are two complaints from seperate units or the complainent formally demands abatement.

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by V

That's actually the voice I intended that sentence to be read in. Good catch.

Talked to the landlord again and she said it's absolutely not an issue and not to worry about it any further.

[valo403]

Originally Posted by Ducay

While I agree some people were being a bit over the top(see: SCUD); the fact you've now mentioned that its a WOOD building should really indicate that you've got to unplug the sub. As someone who likes the quiet and hates being forced to endure other people's noises (regardless of levels/bylaws), I wouldn't want to live next to you. That said, in reality, she shouldn't have the expectation of pure silence if she chose to live in a wood building too.

That's the key point right there. Everyone is acting as if this is a one way street, if you choose to live in an apartment you take on a certain amount of noise from your neighbors. Obviously there's an element of reasonableness here, and without being in the situation it's hard to tell whether something is reasonable, but requiring the bass to be completely shut off doesn't sound all that reasonable.

[Huntingwhale]

I had a similar situation to the OP. I live in a townhouse and beneath me there is a tennant that I refer to as the old hag. One day I was playing music no louder then average, when my landlord calls me to tell me that the hag below me is complaning the music is too loud. I was flabergasted. The music was no louder then average, and it was only coming out of 2 small speakers from my computer. It was also only 8pm at night.

I saw the hag the next day outside and went outside to talk to her. Instead of being able to communicate with her and reach a resolution, she ignored me and ran inside. I've never had a noise complain in my life and this was the first time it has happened. I finally came to the conclusion that since there was an air vent right beneath my computer, the sound my have been travelling down into her area. I blocked it off with pillows and haven't heard from her since.

Having a sub does cause inconvenience as other have mentioned. Unfortunately, having a sub in an apartment is a bad idea unless you have cool neighbors. I bought little speakers for my computer because it just doesn't make sense to have loud ones in a shared unit. My recommendation is to cut out the sub. It sucks balls to have to do that...but the reality of the situation is that subs in a shared living area are just a bad idea. However, if you do want to get back at her, complain to your landlord about her banging on the walls. At least the LL seems to be on your side.

[simonsays]

Why do you need a sub to listen to the Eagles?

[troutman]

Originally Posted by simonsays

Why do you need a sub to listen to the Eagles?

Have you never experienced the Thunder of Timothy B. Schmit?

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

Talked to the landlord again and she said it's absolutely not an issue and not to worry about it any further.

Just because she's not worried about it doesn't mean you're in the right. You seem to think her approval justifies your listening to a sub in your apartment even though it's a dick move.

[THE SCUD]

Originally Posted by Sliver

Just because she's not worried about it doesn't mean you're in the right. You seem to think her approval justifies your listening to a sub in your apartment even though it's a dick move.

+1. I was trying to play devils advocate because this forum is heavily slanted to (including myself) young males, so of course 90% of this group will agree with you (except Ducay who is a 90 year old curmudgeon), so asking if 'you're in the right' on CP makes little sense, as this is essentially a peer group with similar thought patterns.

However, in the grant scheme of things, a sub woofer in a wood apartment is a dick move, end of story.

[Bigtime]

My first condo was in a wood frame building in Bridgeland, I unplugged my sub.

Your landlord might not have any issues right now, but what happens if the situation gets escalated and brought to the condo board? Then it could become a headache for your landlord and they may have to put the squeeze on you.

[corporatejay]

The counter argument to "you live in an apartment, you shouldn't have a sub" is "you live in an apartment, you shouldn't expect complete silence".

If the neighbour wants that, then she should move into a house. There needs to be reasonableness on both sides. You can't expect country living in an apartment and at the same time you can't party like a rockstar. I think you are being reasonable here, she is not.

[Bigtime]

Ever since moving out I have lived in condos with shared walls and floors (wood frame and concrete). I've never had any problems with noise (even after the usual 10pm cutoff), but I have to agree with others that bass just gets into your head and can drive you crazy.

Now perhaps if the bass was steady in rhythm and coming from one song that lasted hours on end it wouldn't be too bad, as you would get used to it. But when the beat changes from song to song it rudely reintroduces the bass into your brain and body.

I have tuned out ambulances, fire trucks, police cars, CP Rail trains, HAWC 1, buses, and many other "urban island" noises. But bass is the one thing that I will notice over the sound of my own tv or wake me up.

[Jedi Ninja]

Bass does weird things. This spring, every night laying in bed I would hear this very quiet, very low frequency pulsing noise that would start in the evening and last until morning. It was annoying, I'd sometimes have difficulty getting asleep because of it, and several times I'd go on a late night hunting trip through the house looking for the cause of the problem, unplugging fridges, freezers, etc.. Go out in the back yard, can't hear anything. My wife couldn't hear it, but she often doesn't hear high or low pitch noises that I can hear. It got more annoying each day. I started sharpening my axe. Then early one morning I realized that I could hear it faintly outside when standing by the garage. So, I go for a walk through the neighborhood and find, a couple of blocks away, that they have a massive propane-fired construction heater blowing air into one of the giant estate homes going up. Standing 30 feet away from it, the pulsing noise was only slightly louder than in my bedroom 2 blocks away. As best I could figure it, the heater was creating some sort of low frequency standing wave that was causing my house to resonate.

Too bad about the fire that destroyed that house the following week.*




*Just kidding.