Floor sound deadening in a flat

[seymansey]

Hello,

In my apartment the floor below me is currently unoccupied as the development is new. This is good news for me currently as I can play music as loud as I please with my mission 702e floor-standers. (Ive had the opportuninty to go next as door it's the show flat so I was able to crank up the volume to see how next door would be affected, know my limits there). Downstairs will be occupied at some point in the next few months however.

What can I do to prevent the sound (more than likely the bass) from penetrating through to the occupants below? I've thought about floor spikes, but heard mixed opinions. The speakers currently sit atop a new short pile carpet.

 

[wemorgan]

A thick rug and lots of soft furnishings.

Or some good headphones.

 

[Mudster]

I get a lot of audiophiles asking me for granite offcuts on which to stand their speakers.

One of my fitters produces quite a number of granite plinths for his local Richer sounds every month. I don't claim to understand the benefits of standing a speaker on a lump of granite, but a lot of people who spend eyewatering amounts of money on stereo equipment seem to accept it as an absolute must.

 

[Dieselman]

Stone would be good for damping low frequency sound as it has dense mass, it would be even better if it had another dissimilar substrate sandwitched between two layers.

I think a granite slab on feet to lift it off the floor then a layer of bitumen felt or polestyrene then another granite slab would be a very good sound damper.

It might actually make the speakers work better.

Hmm..granite speaker enclosures..there's a thought.

 

[Sp!ke]

Hmm..granite speaker enclosures..there's a thought.

http://www.graniteaudio.com/

 

[del320]

Hmm..granite speaker enclosures..there's a thought.

...and as with so many things in life - not original!

I would favour quality spiked and sand filled stands to dampen low frequencies yet maintain direction.

 

[Antharro]

Hmm..granite speaker enclosures..there's a thought.

A friend who is something of an audiophile has a pair of speakers made from concrete. They were a one-off prototype for some big speaker company whose name I forget. Sound nice, tho!

 

[grober]

I have a design somewhere for a couple of wide range speakers using lengths of concrete sewer pipe ( unused of course )

A combination of spiked feet and a damped stand (sand filled box or granite plinth or even a couple of cheap paving slabs cut to size / shape with an angle grinder) will all help as has been said . The idea being to prevent your entire floor from acting as an additional sounding board for your system.

 

[wemorgan]

Linn make some fantastic hi-fi kit. A pair of their KOMRI speakers will cost you £27,500. Each speaker weighs 80kg!

 

[verytalldave]

Unfortunately there is nothing you can do that will subtantially reduce the sound transmission between an upstairs to a downstairs flat that can be done by easily.
About the only thing that can be done is replace the whole wooden floor with reinforced concrete. Which of course is impossible.
Standing speakers on a heavy plinth such as a paving slab or similar will not prevent the sound transmission. What it does do is improve the speakers sound by helping to prevent small movements in the speaker when driven at high volume in the lower registers.
The one and only thing that helps stop bass sound transmission is mass and lots of it - over the whole floor area. Even then it will still travel down the walls and rest of the fabric of the building. There is no escape.
If you want to enjoy full frequency music at high volume without annoying the neighbours there is one - and only one answer.
Live is a fully detached home.
Sorry.

 

[Londonscottish]

Unfortunately there is nothing you can do that will subtantially reduce the sound transmission between an upstairs to a downstairs flat that can be done by easily.
About the only thing that can be done is replace the whole wooden floor with reinforced concrete. Which of course is impossible.
Standing speakers on a heavy plinth such as a paving slab or similar will not prevent the sound transmission. The one and only thing that helps stop bass sound transmission is mass and lots of it - over the whole floor area. Even then it will still travel down the walls and rest of the fabric of the building. There is no escape.
If you want to enjoy full frequency music at high volume without annoying the neighbours there is one - and only one answer.
Live is a fully detached home.
Sorry.

Yep - I agree. I went detached a couple of years ago for this very reason. I can crank out tunes on my 450-ish amp system with relative impunity. The only downside is that people walking past on the street think there's a club going on inside the house......open plan with only a front door to reduce noise leakage. Not a very grown up image to portrat to the outside world.....heh heh

 

[Satch]

Unfortunately there is nothing you can do that will subtantially reduce the sound transmission between an upstairs to a downstairs flat that can be done by easily.
About the only thing that can be done is replace the whole wooden floor with reinforced concrete. Which of course is impossible.
Standing speakers on a heavy plinth such as a paving slab or similar will not prevent the sound transmission. What it does do is improve the speakers sound by helping to prevent small movements in the speaker when driven at high volume in the lower registers.
The one and only thing that helps stop bass sound transmission is mass and lots of it - over the whole floor area. Even then it will still travel down the walls and rest of the fabric of the building. There is no escape.
If you want to enjoy full frequency music at high volume without annoying the neighbours there is one - and only one answer.
Live is a fully detached home.
Sorry.

Low frequency noise is really difficult to deal with and even having concrete floors in flats does not help that much as I know from bitter past experience.

That is why the main focus of controlling such noise is on the source!

 

[Londonscottish]

Yep - I agree. I went detached a couple of years ago for this very reason. I can crank out tunes on my 450-ish amp system with relative impunity. The only downside is that people walking past on the street think there's a club going on inside the house......open plan with only a front door to reduce noise leakage. Not a very grown up image to portrat to the outside world.....heh heh

Sorry I mean 450-ish watts system. 2x170 for main speakers, 100-ish for sub. First thing I specced when I bought the house.....

 

[Ade B]

Low frequency noise likes to travel down solid structures as stated, we've never had to damp a floor as most of the bars and clubs we do are in basements - we have developed some fairly elaborate ceilings and wall treatments to provide acoustic attenuation. Trying to sound proof a space is very difficult and expensive, you need to work on the principle of a structure isolated within a structure and prevent any airborne noise escaping.

Simplest thing is to get hold of resilient mounts of some sort to isolate the speakers from the floor, this will go some way to reduce direct transmission, however this is probably the opposite of what is desired to get a good bass response..

You could look at resilient flooring of some sort and also offer to fit an acoustic ceiling to the flat below (head room permitting) but I suspect a decent set of headphones will be cheaper..


Ade

 

[Londonscottish]

I did do some soundproofing between the floors of my house which is effective in damping the noise going up (not the same level of problem I know but here is what I did).

Woodern flooring (engineered boards)
Acoustic underlay (the entry level version)
Plywood
Floorboards
2Xlayers of rockwook in ceiling cavity
Plasterboard ceiling.

I have a small hifi in the loft room, also with a sub, and this little lot stops a lot of the sound coming down..

I have subs in the open plan area (music) and front room (surround sound) and it helps stop the sound going up.

The next level would have been to install acoustic underlay with a higher rating but this was twice the price

Beyond this you need to start isolating joists, ceiling hangers etc (a neighbour of mine is a musician and has gone down that route).

In both cases we gutted our houses as part of major works so it was (relatively) easy to do. Retro fitting is (obviously) harder and/or impossible.

So in summary I guess you could go for plywood/good acoustic mattting and think wooden flooring. And stick a carpet on top But then you have the problem of having to do the same throughout the house to keep all floors at same level....

 

[verytalldave]

For "a decent set of headphones" above, read STAX...........

The ONLY make of headphones worth considering if you are really interested in serious music.............
http://www.stax.co.jp/Export/ExportProducts.html

 

[Londonscottish]

For "a decent set of headphones" above, read STAX...........

The ONLY make of headphones worth considering if you are really interested in serious music.............
http://www.stax.co.jp/Export/ExportProducts.html

That could be the ultimate answer.....I want a pair of the references.....

 

[verytalldave]

That could be the ultimate answer.....I want a pair of the references.....

Before you get too enthusiastic, check on the prices.

You might be in for a very unpleasant surprise.

But, as with most things in life, you get what you pay for...............

 

[Londonscottish]

Before you get too enthusiastic, check on the prices.

You might be in for a very unpleasant surprise.

But, as with most things in life, you get what you pay for...............

I did check on the price......note the use of verb to "want" rather than the phrases "intend to buy" or even "be able to buy"

 

[seymansey]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

I understand a detached house is the best solution, but we all have to start somewhere on the property ladder Basically, I understand that I cannot really crank the volume up all the time, but I would like to be able to get the most out my system with the most amount of courtesy to my neighbours. I'll probably give the granite / spikes option a go since I can get hold of both.

Headphones wise, well there's a time and a place for them. I love my headphones (I already own Grado SR80s and ***** SE 530 Earphones) but sometimes you can't beat the sound coming out of your speakers and filling up the place.