Stereos and Unreasonable Neighbours

[Frequitude]

TorqueDog, it sounds like the consensus amongst those who have lived in a similar place is that you should just unplug the sub. Unless its really important to you, then knock yourself out. Just know that it really is quite annoying for those living around you.

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by simonsays

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

Originally Posted by troutman

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

I lol'd.

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.

A dick move would be blasting my music at all hours without any regard for anyone else. I've made enough concessions and have gone out of my way to try and understand her side of the issue. A dick move would be me standing at my wall and yelling "QUIT [expletive] BANGING ON MY [expletive] WALL, YOU [expletive]-ING [expletive]."

Originally Posted by Bigtime

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.

There is no condo board, since these aren't condos.

Originally Posted by 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.

Exactly! I can hear people walking down the hallway when I'm sleeping (I have doors on the first and second levels of my suite leading to the hallway). It's the nature of the beast. Dealing with a reasonable amount of noise is part of the disadvantage of being in an apartment building.

[JustAnotherGuy]

Sounds like you have your answer already. You will do what you want. So why bother asking?

[PIMking]

I had a neighbor that decided to have parties at 4am on school nights. My 2br apt. master bedroom was right next to his living room. So nothing like pimping bitches and slapping hoes at 4am to really make you feel good. I did the wall beating and finally called security on him. It took 3 visits from security that night to finally figure out that I was tired of it. Then his hood rat buddy had the idea to start beating on windows of my apt and threatening me.

I get up and walk to the door and the guy started screaming at me about how I need to chill and "party some". I told him it would be a good time to go home before the authorities are called. He flipped out even more and started to walk towards his car, the only problem is he opened up the passenger side of the car. Well at that time I basically held him at gun point until the police arrived and the guy was a wanted felon and convicted felon that had a pistol.

The apartment manager told me that she would have a talk to the actual tenant about his friends actions. He did it again later that week and I didn't even call the security, I went to his door and confronted him personally. I then asked the management to talk to him again, then this turd thinks people wants to hear him pound on drums like he is some terrible rock star at all hours of the day. He did it at 8am when I just got off of work.

Finally after enough complaints the management group told him that if he has any more complaints that he would be kicked out and would have to pay the remainder of his lease.

It's just inconsiderate of people, but I don't flip out about any noise, just when you can hear everything they're saying in music that's just too much.

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by JustAnotherGuy

Sounds like you have your answer already. You will do what you want. So why bother asking?

I have my answer now, but in the OP I asked if anyone else has dealt with an unreasonable neighbour before (expecting some stories to be shared).

[GGG]

I am in the no sub in an apartment. I had one in a Town House and had it real quiet. Once I went over to the other persons apartment and you could here a very quiet thump, thump and I understood that really the only solution was to unplug it.

I think the difference between expecting some noise as a result of living in an apartment. And having quiet low level base invade your space is very different. If she was complaining that you made too much noise entering your apartment and she could here you from the Hallway. Or if she complains when you occasionally have a few friends over and end up being a little loud than she would be being unreasonable about her expectations for noise in a Public space.

But base is a whole different story and very difficult to quantify.

[freedogger]

Time to be decent about this and just buy her some ear plugs.

[4X4]

I also lived in a wood frame apartment building once upon a time, and I had a neighbour with bass. TBQH, I was not bothered by it, probably because I was about 20, but the one thing that I did notice about it over time was that if I didn't know what song was playing, it had potential to annoy me.

What I'm getting at is that for you, OP, to go over to your neighbour's house and listen for the bass is different than what she's hearing. You're hearing (and recognizing) the bass line of a song you like; she's hearing an intermittent hum. Intermittent hums or beeps tend to annoy people that have no control over turning them off.

I don't know if that changes your perspective at all. Just thought I'd add that. And I'll also add that I have dealt with biatch neighbours as well. That's no fun either. Some people will complain over things that 99.5% of the rest of world wouldn't even notice.

[Winsor_Pilates]

Is all bass equal?
No one has yet to differentiate that there are different levels of bass, and outputs of subs.

To the no sub crowd, no subs what so ever?
What about a tiny home computer sub that comes with a couple of little plug in speakers?
What about the sub that's part of a standard tower speaker, but not a separate boxed unit?

Without hearing the OPs actual sub, it's hard to judge if he's over-bassing.

[Hemi-Cuda]

nm, beaten to the punch

[Deegee]

I used to live beside someone with a sub and it used to drive me up the bloody wall, especially when I worked nights. To even suggest that having a sub woofer is fine in an apartment is somewhat laughable.

Living in an apartment it is expected that there will be some residual noise pollution between the suites, but that doesn't mean that a person should expect to have neighbors who think it is perfectly fine to create noise without a level of consideration.

So glad I live in a house now and don't need to worry about living attached to inconsiderate and ignorant people anymore.

[Jedi Ninja]

The net-net of this is that, given you're landlord's position on the subject, you totally get to decide whether you keep the sub or not. You don't, however, get to decide whether or not it bothers the old lady next to you. She's bothered. If you don't care that it bothers her, then, bang on.

[morgin]

I just wanted to bump this thread as it's an interesting topic for me. My annoying neighbors have finally moved out - they had a full drum kit, two giant tower speakers and a pretty big sub. Their entertainment room shared a wall with my bedroom. I could usually hear the guy playing Halo at 3am. After a few complaints, the drumming stopped and the system got turned down quite a bit. I was in their place listening to it once when they were so confused how it could be bothering me, and it was typical home theatre listening volume with the sub turned on.

To them, it sounded reasonable. They didn't grasp the concept that repetitive bass when you are trying to sleep (it would vibrate my matress) is probably the most annoying thing ever. Trying to be a reasonable neighbor, I never complained during the day - but it wasn't any less annoying then. If I was in my bedroom, the wall would literally be vibrating and all I would hear is "thump, thump, thuthuthu thump"

Home theatre systems do not belong in apartments or condos unless you have basically zero bass. Bass travels, seems to rattle and vibrate the most annoying things (like my baseboard heaters or matress) and can cause people to become super irritated because you cannot adjust to the noise. This is a concrete building too.

[vanisleflamesfan]

Ha ha. I spent the day at home today and quite frankly, played my stereo way too loud most of the day.

Then I come on CP and see this thread bump.

[sclitheroe]

My neighbour across the street is a video game addict with a sub so loud it rattles his windows - to the point where I can hear his bass through closed windows in my own home. I can't imagine what it would be like living next to him.

I can't wait until his windows eventually shatter or fall out from the stress they are taking. When this happens, I will walk over and ask, politely, through the broken shards of glass where his living room window once was, if he could please turn it down.

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by morgin

I just wanted to bump this thread as it's an interesting topic for me. My annoying neighbors have finally moved out - they had a full drum kit, two giant tower speakers and a pretty big sub. Their entertainment room shared a wall with my bedroom. I could usually hear the guy playing Halo at 3am.

So unfortunate circumstances (entertainment room and bedroom sharing a wall) coupled with dick behavior (using said sound system at 3 am).

If I'm watching TV or a movie past 10 PM/11 PM (depending on weekday or weekend), my amp volume is low enough that the subwoofers automatically go into standby.

Anyway, to update this thread, my neighbour has not banged on my wall at all since this thread (and my stereo continues to get used as it did). My landlord made a passing comment, "that old hag called me four times today and I just let it go to voicemail, she said she could hear you playing a video game. I asked her 'what about the screaming kids and the loud partiers coming from the condos behind us?' I'm about ready to kick her out myself."

Yeah, safe to say that I'm in the clear.

[morgin]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

So unfortunate circumstances (entertainment room and bedroom sharing a wall) coupled with dick behavior (using said sound system at 3 am).

If I'm watching TV or a movie past 10 PM/11 PM (depending on weekday or weekend), my amp volume is low enough that the subwoofers automatically go into standby.

Anyway, to update this thread, my neighbour has not banged on my wall at all since this thread (and my stereo continues to get used as it did). My landlord made a passing comment, "that old hag called me four times today and I just let it go to voicemail, she said she could hear you playing a video game. I asked her 'what about the screaming kids and the loud partiers coming from the condos behind us?' I'm about ready to kick her out myself."

Yeah, safe to say that I'm in the clear.

Oh I thought you sounded fairly reasonable. My neighbors were not, and I'm sure I wouldn't feel so strongly if it hadn't been such an annoyance to me. It's an interesting thing though - I don't mind hearing people walking around, or vaccuming, or talking in the halls. That's regular condo living noise and whatever. It's usually for a brief period and then it goes away. Bass though is so goddamn annoying even if its the middle of the day on a Saturday in December and I'm sitting on my couch reading. You can't drown it out, and hearing the bass of a movie or music without any of the additional sound is so distracting. I think part of it is that you subconsciously try to figure out if you can identify the bass line (and if you do, your brain fills in the rest of the song). Ugh. My personal version of hell I guess. I'd rather spend eternity on an airplane with screaming kids versus being stuck with a neighbor an an overly loud subwoofer!

[afc wimbledon]

Couple of suggestions, try moving the sub box, run it to the opposite side of the room or so, it is not directional like the mid range's, so placement shouldn't matter.

Also turn the frequency cut off up, it will be alot less annoying (and your music will sound better) at around 35 to 40 hz.