Subwoofer recommendations

[Ustauk]

I had the polk sub on a the coffee tablish piece of furniture with two cabinest built into it.  I think I'll put the new one there, but I'll turn it to face the entertainment unit right next to it, and see how that works.  I don't want to face it backwards since that would point it at my neighbours apartment

The best place for the sub is on the strongest, flattest, most inflexible surface.  In houses this is typically the floor.  If that piece of furniture really doesn't bend at all when you push on it with all your might, it *might* work.  You might still hear a rattling noise and/or see your subwoofer moving (and thus eventually falling off the furniture) when you turn it up loud.

The suggestion to face it at the wall was to try and diffuse the sound to make it less directional, and thus make it seem more like it's part of the front soundstage.  However, this would make a small difference, not a large difference.  Then again, a bunch of small differences result in a large difference, usually

Its a fairly sold piece of furniture.  I don't recall my old sub moving at all while on it.  I may put it on the floor.  Will the carpet dampen the bass any?

[Cova]

While possible to install drywall directly onto a cement or brick wall, you won't see it done very often - its not a good thing to do.  I've only ever seen it done once (and I've seen a LOT of construction sites, as my dad used to do it for a living and I worked with him weekends/evenings as a student way back in the day), but you can spray an entire wall with glue and stick the drywall on.  Normal construction would be to nail/screw studs to the cement, and screw the drywall to the studs normally - in a large commercial building the studs would be steel.  Then there's the in-between way - when they don't want to make the wall 3" thicker, but don't want to glue drywall to cement - they'll use 1x1's or 2x2's attached to the cement as backing to screw the drywall too.

Anyways - as to whats separating you from your neighbors, I doubt it's just a stud-wall with drywall on both sides.  I'm pretty sure fire regulations require some type of fireproofing between apartments.  And the bigger the building, the more fire-proofing required (eg. those 4-storey apartments with no elevators are usually all-wood construction and burn down real easy, 5+ stories they aren't allowed to do that)

[Ustauk]

While possible to install drywall directly onto a cement or brick wall, you won't see it done very often - its not a good thing to do.  I've only ever seen it done once (and I've seen a LOT of construction sites, as my dad used to do it for a living and I worked with him weekends/evenings as a student way back in the day), but you can spray an entire wall with glue and stick the drywall on.  Normal construction would be to nail/screw studs to the cement, and screw the drywall to the studs normally - in a large commercial building the studs would be steel.  Then there's the in-between way - when they don't want to make the wall 3" thicker, but don't want to glue drywall to cement - they'll use 1x1's or 2x2's attached to the cement as backing to screw the drywall too.

Anyways - as to whats separating you from your neighbors, I doubt it's just a stud-wall with drywall on both sides.  I'm pretty sure fire regulations require some type of fireproofing between apartments.  And the bigger the building, the more fire-proofing required (eg. those 4-storey apartments with no elevators are usually all-wood construction and burn down real easy, 5+ stories they aren't allowed to do that)

The building is 1969 vintage seventeen story highrise, but  I'm not sure if the fire regulations were the same back then.  Given the age of the building, the fire proofing could be asbestos insulation for all I know

[Mr. Analog]

FYI, from the Edmonton City Noise By-Law:

PART 4 - NOISE LEVEL IN RESIDENTIAL DISTRICTS


400.   No person shall cause, or permit to be caused, noise of a level greater than 65 dBA in a residential district during the day unless the noise is of a temporary or intermittent nature and does not exceed the following limits:


dBA____Hours Per Day
70-----------2
75-----------1
80-----------0.30
85-----------0.25

         The time indicated herein is the total elapsed time during
         any one calendar day.

401.   No person shall cause, or permit to be caused, noise of a level exceeding 50 dBA in a residential district at night.

That being said, noise by-laws are "fuzzy", i.e. if you are annoying someone with "noise" they can call the cops on you, this includes any noise for any duration, though it is at the discrecion of the officer to serve out justice. Loud music, an annoying car muffler, obnoxious relentless laughter, a dripping tap, anything could be considered.

Read more here.

OH yeah, just so you know roughly what decibel levels sound like:

0-Threshold of hearing
10-rustle of leaves, a quiet whisper
20-average whisper
20-50-quiet conversation
40-45-hotel, theater between performances
50-65-loud conversation
65-70-traffic on a busy street
65-90-train
75-80-factory noise( light/medium work)
90-heavy traffic
90-100-thunder
110-140-jet aircraft at takeoff
130-threshold of pain
140-190-space rocket on takeoff

(from Encarta 2005 apparently)

[Thorin]

Its a fairly sold piece of furniture.  I don't recall my old sub moving at all while on it.  I may put it on the floor.  Will the carpet dampen the bass any?

Not that you'll be able to tell.  You might lose a tenth of a dB, but you'd only discover that with a high-quality SPL meter.  Remember, our hearing cannot distinguish volume differences below 1 dB.

[Darren Dirt]

That being said, noise by-laws are "fuzzy", i.e. if you are annoying someone with "noise" they can call the cops on you, this includes any noise for any duration, though it is at the discrecion of the officer to serve out justice. Loud music, an annoying car muffler, obnoxious relentless laughter, a dripping tap, anything could be considered.

Well in that case, my brother might call the cops on me if I don't get off my butt and ask our townhouse management to fix that damn kitchen sink!  

[Ustauk]

Well, my sub came in yeasterday.  Thanks for steering me towards the JBL, it seems to be working great.  A 12" would have been overkill for my speakers and my condo.  After fiddling for a bit, I listened to some Nickelback, Bif Naked, and Default while I baked cookies, and was quite please how it enhanced the music without overpowering it.  I think it helps it takes LFE input, so the receiver can manage the frequency response.  I'll probably try it with a movie tonight.  I'll let you know how it goes.

[Mr. Analog]

I have a DTS sampler CD you can borrow to test your gear, if you want.

[Ustauk]

I have a DTS sampler CD you can borrow to test your gear, if you want.

That would be cool.  I have a wmv for speaker positioning I run from the XBox, but an actually DTS sampling would be nice

[Lazybones]

I listened to some Nickelback, Bif Naked, and Default while I baked cookies

I think that that quote is a keeper  

[Ustauk]

I listened to some Nickelback, Bif Naked, and Default while I baked cookies

I think that that quote is a keeper  

I'm just glad I said I was bringing cookies and not cake; a cake would have fallen flat

[Thorin]

Well, my sub came in yeasterday.  Thanks for steering me towards the JBL, it seems to be working great.  A 12" would have been overkill for my speakers and my condo.  After fiddling for a bit, I listened to some Nickelback, Bif Naked, and Default while I baked cookies, and was quite please how it enhanced the music without overpowering it.  I think it helps it takes LFE input, so the receiver can manage the frequency response.  I'll probably try it with a movie tonight.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Good to hear that it's sounding right.  Those three bands all have fairly similar sounds - try some country, some classical, and some rap, to see if it makes all music sound good.  That's when you'll know whether you'll truly be happy with it or not