Summary
Any decent person should be concerned about whether they’re bothering their neighbors. Unfortunately, subwoofers can be a major culprit when it comes to excessive noise. Here’s how to keep it to a minimum.
Ask Your Neighbors if They Can, in Fact, Hear It
The first step to avoiding bothering your neighbors is checking in with them to see if you have been bothering them in the first place. If you’ve been using yoursubwooferwith no added insulation and things they may have been hearing, knock on their door or give them a call to see if they can hear it, if it’s annoying, and if so, how much. If you live in a well-insulated building there’s a chance they might not be hearing it at all, and you may have nothing to worry about after all.
If they can hear it, ask how bad the situation is. Is it so loud it’s disrupting their work or sleep, or is it tolerable but just annoying? The degree to which it’s audible matters a lot, since a slightly annoying subwoofer might only require one or two mitigation methods. A more audible and irritating subwoofer will require a combination of methods, as well as being mindful of when you’re blasting your music.
Put Down Some Rugs
Rugs are a music lover’s best friend. Not only do they make a space feel better decorated, they also absorb a lot of sound waves. This helps to both reduce echo and reduce the amount of sound your neighbors have to hear coming from your suite. Rugs on the floor and even rugs mounted on the wall can do a lot to mitigate any excessive bass travel from your subwoofer through the walls and floors.
Acoustic treatmentlike placing rugs doesn’t necessarily serve to soundproof the apartment; that would require renter-unfriendly measures. But dampening some of the sound does keep some level of sound from escaping your space, and putting the subwoofer on a rug can keep the vibrations from going directly through a hard floor.
Place Your Subwoofer on a Sound-Isolating Pad
One of the major issues with subwoofers is that when they’replaced on the floor, the vibrations emitted by them travel very directly downward with little mitigation. Sound-isolating pads are a fantastic way to reduce the amount of bass traveling through floors. Lots of drummers use them to prevent downstairs neighbors from hearing every single kick drum hit they make, and they are super handy for speakers as well. Putting your subwoofer on a sound-isolating pad will keep the rumbling from traveling downward to the floor directly below it.
If pads that are specifically marketed as sound isolation pads are a bit too expensive for your budget, you can also use any thick foam pad underneath the subwoofer. Those puzzle piece-style foam exercise pads you see in the gym are much more affordable, and one or two of those will help a lot with a loud, boomy subwoofer.
Raise Your Subwoofer Above the Floor
Building on keeping the subwoofer from being directly on the floor, you can always raise it. Many people will opt to attach feet to the bottom of the subwoofer, so it’s not directly vibrating against the floor. This won’t completely prevent sound from traveling through the floor, but it does diminish it quite a bit.
You can also opt to place the subwoofer on another surface, like a small end table, a shelf on a media console, or any other flat raised surface.
Install Bass Traps
While acoustic treatment isn’t the same as soundproofing, it does create a little bit of a dampening effect when it comes to sound waves. On top of whatever dampening you may manage with rugs and wall coverings,bass trapsin the corners of the room will help to absorb some of the bass traveling throughout the room. Not only will bass traps help keep your music from bothering your neighbors, it’ll also make music sound better in that room by evening out some of those bass frequencies.
Turn Down the Volume
Sometimes the key to not annoying your neighbors is listening to their complaints. If you’ve tried a few things and the bass from your subwoofer is still audible outside your suite, you may always just opt to turn down the volume. You’re still going to be able to enjoy your music if the bass is a bit quieter. If you can directly control the volume of the subwoofer itself, turn that down. If you can’t change it directly, you can control the EQ of the music you’re listening to. Go ahead and de-emphasize bass and sub-bass a bit until it’s less boomy.
By taking some of these steps to acoustically treat the room and keep the subwoofer from being directly on the floor, you can help keep noise complaints at bay and not make enemies with your neighbors. Apartment living means you will always be able to hear some amount of noise from other suites, but you can do your part to not be a problem by keeping that subwoofer in check.
