# Why do Sub-Woofers always work better in one's neighbor's apartment than yours?



## turmeric (Dec 16, 2008)

Or the reverse; why does it always sound louder in my apartment than in the one where the music is actually playing?


----------



## Semper Fidelis (Dec 16, 2008)

Low frequency sounds travel in floors and walls really well.

I have a pet peeve for those that crank their subs, especially in the car. When somebody drives up with a pounding sub (it's all you can hear), my immediate reaction is: "What a punk."


----------



## gene_mingo (Dec 16, 2008)

turmeric said:


> Or the reverse; why does it always sound louder in my apartment than in the one where the music is actually playing?



It is proven scientific fact, the more you dislike the style of music, the louder it sounds.


----------



## Galatians220 (Dec 16, 2008)

It's a sub-sub-corollary of Murphy's Laws... Check this out: Murphy Laws Site - Origin.

Margaret


----------



## MrMerlin777 (Dec 16, 2008)

If I find somthing too loud I just assume I'm too old.



Actually I find blasting sub woofers annoying as well. I don't mind loud music frankly, but when someone has a sub that should be in a concert hall installed in their car I think it's just plain stupid period.


----------



## py3ak (Dec 16, 2008)

I support the death penalty for noise violations.


----------



## turmeric (Dec 16, 2008)

It's in it's twenties. It has a boyfriend visisting. I don't think I was ever so brainless, in the same way. There's just no reasoning with young creatures with boyfriends. It's like they're Jeckyl and Hyde. Are we really that biologically determined? Goodness, a Calvinist arguing for free will!


----------



## nicnap (Dec 16, 2008)

turmeric said:


> Or the reverse; why does it always sound louder in my apartment than in the one where the music is actually playing?


----------



## Jon Lake (Dec 16, 2008)

Well, as I got older and married and moved into larger spaces, oddly my Stereo systems shrank, now I have a small, but nice sounding Bose in my study. But as to the question, in "the day" I was one of the "guilty ones" (blush) I had a B&O system with BIG speakers oddly in my smallest apartment! Yes, people, I was the one jamming Steely Dan at 2 in the am! Well, those many years ago, I smoked funny cigarettes and sipped Beam and Cola....so speaking as one of the former loud neighbors, for some odd reason it did not seem as loud to me as it seemed to those who tapped the roof with a broomstick.  (BLUSH BLUSH, hindsight being 20/20 I apologize to all my neighbors.)


----------



## toddpedlar (Dec 16, 2008)

Semper Fidelis said:


> Low frequency sounds travel in floors and walls really well.
> 
> I have a pet peeve for those that crank their subs, especially in the car. When somebody drives up with a pounding sub (it's all you can hear), my immediate reaction is: "What a punk."



Subwoofers also generally take advantage of the floor's ability to resonate at low frequencies by directing at least some of the sound produced directly at the floor... so if you have an apartment BELOW a 'punk' who has a subwoofer, look out


----------



## turmeric (Dec 16, 2008)

Jon Lake said:


> Well, as I got older and married and moved into larger spaces, oddly my Stereo systems shrank, now I have a small, but nice sounding Bose in my study. But as to the question, in "the day" I was one of the "guilty ones" (blush) I had a B&O system with BIG speakers oddly in my smallest apartment! Yes, people, I was the one jamming Steely Dan at 2 in the am! Well, those many years ago, I smoked funny cigarettes and sipped Beam and Cola....so speaking as one of the former loud neighbors, for some odd reason it did not seem as loud to me as it seemed to those who tapped the roof with a broomstick.  (BLUSH BLUSH, hindsight being 20/20 I apologize to all my neighbors.)


 
It's amazing what conversion (and marriage and responsibility) do. I forgive you, even though Steeley Dan doesn't bother me as much as Britney or whatever that is coming through the wall.


----------



## Jon Lake (Dec 16, 2008)

turmeric said:


> Jon Lake said:
> 
> 
> > Well, as I got older and married and moved into larger spaces, oddly my Stereo systems shrank, now I have a small, but nice sounding Bose in my study. But as to the question, in "the day" I was one of the "guilty ones" (blush) I had a B&O system with BIG speakers oddly in my smallest apartment! Yes, people, I was the one jamming Steely Dan at 2 in the am! Well, those many years ago, I smoked funny cigarettes and sipped Beam and Cola....so speaking as one of the former loud neighbors, for some odd reason it did not seem as loud to me as it seemed to those who tapped the roof with a broomstick.  (BLUSH BLUSH, hindsight being 20/20 I apologize to all my neighbors.)
> ...


I embrace the fiat forgiveness Meg!


----------



## Augusta (Dec 16, 2008)

py3ak said:


> I support the death penalty for noise violations.



My husband would concur. We have neighbors that love their karoake. Often and loud. They party into the late hours and then have fights. Our bedroom is of course on that side of the house. Hubby used to have his office in our room. We had to move it to the other side of the house. I am hard of hearing so I never hear it but my poor family does.


----------



## jfschultz (Dec 17, 2008)

I liked the report I saw a week or so ago about a town's enforcement of noise laws.

The violators are required to spend an hour or so in the courtroom listening to "elevator" music. Some of the guys were clearly not enjoying the music!


----------



## Herald (Dec 17, 2008)

py3ak said:


> I support the death penalty for noise violations.





That was part of Steve Martin's comic routine in the 70's. "I have a solution for overcrowding. Death penalty for parking violations."

-----Added 12/17/2008 at 08:52:21 EST-----

An a brief anecdote. In a Baltimore suburb a few years back a couple went to the Caribbean on vacation and their alarm went off shortly after they departed. It was a loud and could be heard by everyone on the block. It took three days before the police could get a court order to go into their home and turn it off. Imagine those three days for the neighbors.


----------



## jwithnell (Dec 17, 2008)

And TVs! Do some people put subs on them too? There's something about the general rhythm that would just soak through!


----------



## Galatians220 (Dec 17, 2008)

jfschultz said:


> I liked the report I saw a week or so ago about a town's enforcement of noise laws.
> 
> The violators are required to spend an hour or so in the courtroom listening to "elevator" music. Some of the guys were clearly not enjoying the music!


 
I think they should be forced to listen to an alternating mix of Barry Manilow singing "Copacabana" and Bette Midler singing "The Rose." First Barry, then Bette; Bette, then Barry. For oh, about 10 hours at a time on a few consecutive Saturdays... Without a "sanity break."  If they took a bathroom break, the "music" would be piped in there, too. (I would make a *cruel* judge...  )

They could be warned that a second offense would consist of more Barry & Bette, this time "Mandy" by Barry and "Wind Beneath My Wings" by Bette.  Bette, Barry; Barry, Bette...

For a third offense, well, we won't even go there. _Not even I want to talk about "A Horse with No Name" or "In the Year 2525" ad infinitum or, more precisely, ad nauseam..._

  

Margaret

(My apologies to anyone who likes the above-named songs... No offense intended; I'm not keen on them myself and thought that teens or early twenty-somethings would feel similarly about them... I wouldn't imagine that there are too many Manilow fans here.  )


----------



## Tim (Dec 17, 2008)

Yeah, this gives me even more incentive to work hard - so I will be able to afford a home someday with a "buffer zone" of land so that music will never reach me and my future family! 

Scientifically, walls and ceilings act as a sort of "low-pass filter". The building material filters out the high frequency sounds and lets through the low frequency sounds.


----------



## Zeno333 (Dec 19, 2008)

I keep wishing to get a neighbor that likes pipe organ music, since its the only music that I would like with a Sub cranked up....instead I keep getting Hip-Hop and Rap lovers with their Subs.... Sigh...


----------

