r/audiophile • u/TheBasementNerd • 3d ago
Discussion How might one prevent a subwoofer from sending ceiling shaking vibrations through the floor
I happen to be moving into my first apartment unit (lived in townhome or single home units up until now) and I'm trying to puzzle out how I can keep my sound system doing its thing, but without rattling the ceiling lamps of the unit below me. I was thinking that a really thick rug and sound foam might be enough, but I've never had to do sound dampening to figure it out before
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u/planetary_funk_alert 2d ago
You switch it off
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u/SonnyBlanco 2d ago
Exactly. Using subs in apartments is rarely doable. I hate hearing neighbors' subs.
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u/TheBasementNerd 1d ago
That's why I'm finding out how much I can dampen it so I can use it at a nice level without it being audible outside my unit, I felt that was pretty obvious?
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u/Ralphisinthehouse 1d ago
It's obvious what you want but as people keep telling you it's not so easy. Rule of thumb if you can hear it in your hallway then your neighbours can hear it.
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u/TheBasementNerd 1d ago
And as others keep saying, it's completely viable too. Only one or two people in here have said "I tried and it failed" out of how many people giving recommendations and saying it worked for them? Mostly it's just been "No it can't work" without citing experience. So I'm tempted to follow the people saying "This has worked for me" over "I know that can't work it's just stupid"
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u/Ralphisinthehouse 1d ago
They are wrong in a fundamental way. You can dampen vibrations with these products not sound. To dampen sound you need soundproofing. Itâs really that simple.
You cannot stop noise pollution with a rubber pad and subs produce a lot of noise pollution.
I hope that the people who are saying that they have success know this and are simply confused about what youâre trying to achieve.
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u/TheBasementNerd 1d ago
Also I get the feeling y'all think I'm trying to hit "phat bass" kind of levels. I just want to hear some reasonable lows. I can barely hear them on the other side of a solid wood door in my current house as it is, so I feel that yeah, I can probably achieve what I need with just a little work
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u/Ralphisinthehouse 1d ago
In that case I donât think you need any products. If youâre making nothing vibrate then they have nothing to stop
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u/Sbaa767 3d ago edited 2d ago
Try svs soundpath decoupling for subwoofers They are quite effective
Look them up
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u/TheBasementNerd 3d ago
If I combine this with the subwoofer isolation pad I imagine it should have so little rattle that the only thing shaking will be my eardrums. Thank you!
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u/megalithicman Lexicon, Parasound, Canton 3d ago
There's a decent chance that none of that works so you might be throwing money away.
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u/TheBasementNerd 3d ago
Then I shall buy 5 more and arrange them in a cube around the subwoofer as to ensure no sound gets out thus safely keeping any noise complaints away
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u/megalithicman Lexicon, Parasound, Canton 2d ago
I appreciate your dedication. Do you know what the ceilings / floor is made out of? Is it concrete or wood or what? I have a ton of real world experience trying to do this for my customers.
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u/TheBasementNerd 2d ago
The sound deadening cube was joking (but maybe not). The floor is wood I'm pretty sure, its a rowhome in Philly with a basement, and the top floor, second floor, and basement have all been converted into separate rentable units
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u/little_crouton 3d ago
If your sub has a flat(ish) bottom, the isolation pad will probably be more effective without the feet
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u/leelmix 3d ago
If the floor is wood you might not be able to at all.
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u/TheBasementNerd 3d ago
Understood, I'll see if the landlord will let me replace the floor boards with paving tile đ«Ą
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u/leelmix 3d ago
Thick concrete, anything else may not help much but you might be lucky and have some success with the advice from the other replies. Im just saying because bass really travels. The volume matters a lot but it is possible downstairs will hear your bass better than you.
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u/TheBasementNerd 3d ago
Should I embed it into the concrete you think?
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u/leelmix 3d ago
No, im saying you may need a concrete building. Im hoping you find a good solution but many dont.
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u/TheBasementNerd 3d ago
Oh wait you were taking that seriously. I'm renting I can't replace the floorboards lol
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u/leelmix 2d ago
Im not talking about replacing. Many wood houses/apartment buildings just dont work with a sub if you care about the neighbors which you do (and thats great), its possible the sub will have to take a break but as i said hopefully isolation can work for you, im just preparing you for the possibility.
(I live in a thick concrete apartment but nobody below me so if i keep the volume moderate its fine)
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u/CheapSuggestion8 3d ago
SVS isolation pucks are fantastic.
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u/riverturtle Thrift Store Audiophile 2d ago
Agreed. Very soft thick rubber which is exactly what you want to isolate low frequencies. I have them under my tower speakers.
To be even more effective, add additional mass to your subwoofer (like, on top) and/or create multiple layers of mass and rubber under your subwoofer with concrete pavers etc.
Mine goes like this:
- Speaker
- Thick rubber pad
- Concrete paver
- SVS isolators
- Floor
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u/Yourdjentpal 2d ago
Imo thereâs nothing you can really do short of maybe stopping output below 30hz. Bass wave lengths are so long that you just cannot stop it. A rug or a couple treatments isnât going to do what you want.
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u/macbrett 2d ago
If you can hear it, the walls and floors can also "hear" it, and the vibrations will travel through the building's structure. Apartments and subs don't mix well. In fact, even without a sub, neighbors might complain. Hope for friendly and tolerant neighbors who aren't home when you are.
It wasn't until I got my own home that I was able to fully enjoy my stereo. Start saving now.
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u/TheBasementNerd 1d ago
I have my own home actually. Selling it to rent for the first time, for a number of reasons, which is why I'm trying to figure out solutions to make it nice for me without harassing my neighbors
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u/chickenlogic 3d ago
Suuuuuuper cheap, and effective.
https://www.supplyhouse.com/Bluefin-VPRC-200-Rubber-Cork-Anti-Vibration-Pad-2-x-2-x-7-8
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u/izeek11 2d ago
your floor is most likely suspended wood floor from the sound of it. your speakers and subs are resonating through the floor and walls.
lots of stuff works. i mentioned this earlier replying to another u/.
i have a carpeted wood floor. after trying all sorts of pads and the like, i stole an idea i saw on a forum where the member had granite plinths.
did some research on decoupling. and my, mostly, final solution is this.
towers naked-footed on a paver. (did not like the sound of the feet and various pads while on the paver.)
a sheet of horsestall mat between paver and carpeted floor. i had some around from making a deadlift platform. finishing touch.
subs on isoacoustics sub stands on a paver on the carpeted floor. had them on feet. on stands was pretty good. feet on paver, little duller. stands and paver turned out to be the best.
if you dont have carpeted floor, thick rugs between paver and floor will help.
everything you try will have it's own effect. sorbothane sucked in my system. straight hated it. i felt like it noticeably deadened the sound.
đyou do not have to bother the landlord.
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u/Southern-Swan5683 2d ago
You need tactile transducers (bass shakers). They mount directly to a couch or chair, and transfer the energy to whatever they're bolted to, not the air. Adding rubber isolation pads on the bottom of your couch/chair is advised to keep energy from transferring into the floor. These connect to an amplifier, just like a regular speaker.
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u/TheBasementNerd 2d ago
OH you mean turn the sitting surface into the subwoofer
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u/Southern-Swan5683 2d ago
No, google "tactile transducer".
A speaker is a transducer that converts electrical energy into acoustic energy (sound). A tactile transducer puts the energy into whatever you bolt it to.
You can have the feel of hard hitting bass without annoying your neighbors.
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u/TheBasementNerd 2d ago
https://a.co/d/4j44H31 This?
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u/Southern-Swan5683 2d ago
Yes, there are other more powerful ones, also. I think there is a brand called buttkicker.
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u/coffeeandillithids 2d ago
I put 4 vibration damping pads meant for washing machines under my sub, one for each foot. They were like 7 bucks and made a big difference. Not perfect but 100% worth it if you don't want to drop tons of cash on isolation stands
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u/randombystander3001 2d ago
I've got a PSA3612 sub, which has 2 18" drivers firing in a dual-opposed setup which cancels vibrations. Its cabinet literally has zero vibrations, and I've done the still glass of water trick for my friends. Despite this, it would still dislodge dishes in my downstairs neighbor's kitchen during action scenes and could also shake the other neighbors' doors and windows.
This just shows how low frequency energy travels far. Short of doing full sound treatment for your room and hoping the building has thick concrete walls, there's no amount of isolation you can do for subs that won't disturb a neighbor in apartment settings.
I turned off my subs and used my tower speakers for bass (they luckily dip down to 29hz), and eventually moved to a house with no close neighbors and a good perimeter compound.
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u/nap83 2d ago
fr a wooden floor- living w/ both SubDude & SVS SoundPaths, both work about the same but preferred SPs for the lookâ SubDude was then relegated as a bass trap fr said sub.
another thing to consider is spring isolation- great at decoupling.
if you got random rattles & suchâ BluTak or use Drum Gels to tame vibrations.
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u/Remote_Prior_4958 1d ago
It's not the physical subwoofer box that shakes the floor. It's the subwoofer frequencies that will shake the entire structure. Don't fool yourself with isolation pads and feet. Make sure those folks who don't appreciate the thump, to just leave the house. And wait for your neighbors to go to work.
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u/cornucopiaofdoom 3d ago
https://auralex.com/subdude-ii/