Can the neighbors really hear my sub from inside their house?

[jtvang125]

I have nothing crazy. Just a 12" sub with about 400w. It is against the wall adjacent to the neighbor's wall, which is about 10-12 ft apart.

There's a few times when the neighbors commented about our HT and jokingly said if they can come over sometimes cause it sounds "badass". We rarely turn it up except for when a good action movie is playing so that may only be once every 2 or 3 months. They're not complaining but I do want to be considerate.

 

[olds]

Bass? They can at least feel it if not hear it.

 

[nickbits]

Shared wall? Then yes they can. If the wall is concrete it is probably minimal though.

 

[Randy99CL]

Are you surprised that they can hear it? I hate the cars with giant subs; when I lived in an older house the windows would rattle when they drove by.

I'm considerate of my neighbors too, because I don't want to be bothered with their loud bass.

I'd put on some loud music, go outside and check it out yourself. Only way to be sure.

 

[DigDog]

actually, rigid walls will carry the sound more efficiently.

my advice, is to speak with your neighbor; do a listening test thus:
call him on his mobile.
crank the sub quite high with some techno / hiphop, and move it around your room. there's bound to be a spot where it propagates more in the air rather than through the walls (protip - its NOT a corner).

 

[MustISO]

I can hear my neighbors music (when it's up loud) and we're not adjacent but there's only about 15ft between the houses.

 

[tential]

With my current sub, if I turn the gain to about 50% and I was in your situation my neighbor could hear it. I'm in an apartment. Gain is at about 20%.

At home when I lived with my parents I set it to around 70% for my listening levels which was barely, and I mean barely, audible outside of the home. Couldn't be heard on other properties but if you were in the backyard within a couple feat of the basement then yes. Otherwise no. With the new subs/system I want to build though... I need secluded property lol.

 

[SLU Aequitas]

With my current sub, if I turn the gain to about 50% and I was in your situation my neighbor could hear it. I'm in an apartment. Gain is at about 20%.

At home when I lived with my parents I set it to around 70% for my listening levels which was barely, and I mean barely, audible outside of the home. Couldn't be heard on other properties but if you were in the backyard within a couple feat of the basement then yes. Otherwise no. With the new subs/system I want to build though... I need secluded property lol.

That's when you graduate to bigger subs 😛

 

[BarkingGhostar]

I usually am sensitive to noise that I am not originating. So when my basement theater went into service I had thew wife start some noise (movies, music) while I stood outside between my house and the house adjacent on the side of the theater. I initially set the master volume to -20dB (where reference was 0) and I was stunned by what I could pick up outside. I have curbed my enthusiasm until when I think most folks are not sleeping.

 

[DesiPower]

Yes it can be heard and can be annoying

 

[SLU Aequitas]

Yep, unless you're designing the entire room envelope with soundproofing in mind (decoupling, damping, adding mass), sound will carry extremely well, apartments especially.

 

[stockwiz]

I'm house hunting and I've kept this fact in mind... since so many lots in town are tiny with houses packed together to make the home builder and land seller extra money, looking for larger lot in and out of town adds extra time to the search.