Is there A subwoofer suitable for an appartment (don't want trouble with neighbours)

Hi All,

Does anyone have any experience with using subwoofers in an appartment setting, for stereo and HT (80/20). It should only extend the bass without getting too thumpy for the neighbours. My room is 4 by 6 metres (or 13 by 19 feet)

My setup consists of B&W602 S3 front and B&W601 S3 rear. I have yet to find a not too large center to match these speakers. First I'm looking for a single smallish active subwoofer.

Yesterday I went to a shop and they advised me to get the REL Quake. Are there any alternatives to REL for a slightly lower budget?

Does placing the sub on a stone plate with spikes help to keep the bass from slamming into the ground? Will a downfiring sub give more problems than a front firing one?

Thanks!

Luca

Occasionally I see a Sony sub on sale for about $79 at Radio Shack. Whatever you get should allow you to allow you to control the crossover because I think you are going to have to able to find a balance between what gives you the bass you are looking for without ticking off the neighbors. Given the room dimensions just make sure you keep the sub out of the corner because that will just magnify the sound and probably carry into the shared walls/ceiling of your neighbors.

Pinnacle makes some nice compact subwoofers...affordable, too:

http://www.pinnaclespeakers.com/subwoofers.html

Buy a good subwoofer first!

General good recommendations i can give is REL, Velodyne HGS and DD, Revel and Tannoy. Then when you have a good subwoofer with clean and dry output i would get bass traps and isolate the subwoofer from the floor. Place it on a marble slap with spikes or sand below it. If its too loud you can always use the adjustable volume on it.

Good clean bass is a lot better than little boomy bass. You will have a better product, more fun in the long run and you can change the other values with room acoustics and volume controlls.

-Flo

Luca There no subwoofer suitable for appartment ,invest in a good pair of headphoned .Honestly is going to bring you trouble .I have a 2 storey house 1/2 of a double and my neighbour said he could hear it.

Luca
I live in a townhome and my Velodyne spl 800 sub does not seem to bother our neighbors
I set the channel level @ -5db in my receiver still get good base not over powering

good luck

While the general consensus is that subwoofers and apartments don't mix, I have had no problems using one the past 6 years in mine. I live on the bottom floor in a 2 level apartment building, and have not once received a complaint (and I am an avid movie enthusiast)...

As for a smallish sub, I recommend you check out the Rocket UFW-10 from the website www.av123.com at around $500. I bought my Dad one and he is quite happy. It is a very good looking sub too with beautiful woodworking.

---Dave

There is no way to totally isolate any transmission of bass from one area to another. There however is a way to reduce it tremendously. Auralex has isolation pads that are designed to be placed under the sub that lifts the sub off the floor. This should reduce any vibration and transmission into areas below your apartment.

I am in the same boat as Luca, but I live in a brick building that is very solid and I have thick carpet in my living room that might absorb some of the bass. I am trying to put together a simple system for that room, which is probably about 15' x 12' - not too large. So far it looks like this:

(1) Acoustech H-65 Center Channel
(2) Micro Omnisat Surround x2 OR Acoustech H-63
(3) Denon AVR-3000 OR Yamaha AVR-5830 Receiver
(4) ???? Subwoofer????

I don't think I'll need anything to powerful for the subwoofer. What do you think of these:

Yamaha YST-SW215 ($100)
SONY SA-WM500 12 150W ($120)
Athena Audition Series 10" 400-Watt (probably overkill)
I am also open to suggestions. THANKS