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Having a surround system or anything else that has loud bass is extremely inconsiderate while living in a shared dwelling.
Dealing with, for example, the people upstairs walking around on hardwood floors, exercising, doing work to their home, is normal and expected, but loud bass? Move to the ghetto if you want to play loud bass.
I agree that it is extremely inconsiderate playing loud bass. Noisy neighbors suck, and I hated sharing walls. But it is the reality of sharing walls. People don't think about their neighbors for the most part. They do what they want to do. It sucks but it is the way it is.
I agree that it is extremely inconsiderate playing loud bass. Noisy neighbors suck, and I hated sharing walls. But it is the reality of sharing walls. People don't think about their neighbors for the most part. They do what they want to do. It sucks but it is the way it is.
But it's not always an insurmountable problem. The OP has been given some sound (pun intended) advice and hopefully will heed at least some of it and come back to the thread with an update.
Low frequencies are a problem, they will not register high decibles yet it carries quite well through walls and in some instances may seem louder on your side then in their room. I remember in college I had some speakers with very large woofers and used to rattle my next door neighbor. It was not until I went into his room did I realize how annoying it was.
I didn't even have my system running very loud. When I did I could get stuff to fall off his shelves!
There is no solution other then moving out quickly while you still have a valid reason to cancel your lease.
I'd go back to the neighbors retaliating against their neighbor and invite them over - while their stereo is on and asking them to not shut it down. Have coffee and munchies. Tell them that retaliating against their noisy neighbor is not getting them anything other than same reputation and ask them what their preferred method of dealing with a noisy neighbor would be.
Invite your landlord over the same time.
I think I'd be asking to get out of my lease and move again.
DO NOT retaliate - think of your opinion of your neighbor doing so and do you want to be known as the idiot, ignant (NOT ignorant), slum-dwellers you are already calling your immediate neighbor.
Low frequencies are a problem, they will not register high decibles yet it carries quite well through walls and in some instances may seem louder on your side then in their room. I remember in college I had some speakers with very large woofers and used to rattle my next door neighbor. It was not until I went into his room did I realize how annoying it was.
I didn't even have my system running very loud. When I did I could get stuff to fall off his shelves!
There is no solution other then moving out quickly while you still have a valid reason to cancel your lease.
Thank you everyone for your suggestions. Sky1 hit the nail on the head. The low frequency bass isn't going to register high db's, but the low tones simply travel through the floor joists and studs and overwhelms the sound coming from our TV.
Just thought i'd post a quick update.
My fiance and I decided we were going to give them 3 strikes before we escalated it. We have been documenting everything, and keeping our landlord informed of the progress (or lack thereof) we're making with them. We spoke to them twice. They turned off the subwoofer for one evening and then it continued.
Last Wednesday it was happening again, back to the original volume. We went next door to give them the 3rd strike. We knocked on their door twice, and rang the bell twice. Their front door was open, leaving only the screen door closed. I *KNOW* they heard us knocking, but just chose to ignore us. POINT TAKEN.
We immediately went in the house, called the landlord and told her what had happened. She said she will do anything within her power to get it addressed.
Cut to Thursday evening, my landlord emailed and said she had made significant progress. She called and spoke with a Baltimore County Police community relations officer. He informed her that Baltimore County has a 24 hour noise ordinance. He said that we should call 911 any time we hear the noise, and an officer will come over to listen, and give them 1 warning. After the first warning is given, any incidents afterwards will result in a criminal citation (fine+court date).
The Officer that she spoke with said that he will be visiting them this evening to explain the process to them, and what could potentially come of this situation should they choose not to turn the subwoofer off. My landlord and the officer are hoping this makes them realize that we are all adults, and will NOT tolerate this, and hopefully they will turn it off and avoid having us call 911.
I'm planning on calling the officer this morning to give him my perspective and to make sure he stresses to these people that they brought this upon themselves. We did the polite and proper thing by speaking with them like adults, and they chose to ignore us. By ignoring our request, and ignoring us when we knocked, we have no choice but to escalate.
I'm not a religious person, but i'm PRAYING this evening goes well, and that I don't wake up tomorrow morning to 4 broken car windows and 4 slashed tires.
Maybe too late for this but as another poster mentioned, it can sometimes be louder next door than in their place. Subwoofer placement and setup is key. If you get back on speaking terms with them offer to let them come over to your place and listen, then move the sub a few feet here and there and come back. Try lots of locations around the room. They might find that the sound is much better for them and less for you in certain places. Then you should have them use a HT reference disc to make sure their levels are correct.
So we tried politely speaking to the neighbor a total of 4 times. In the past 7 days we've called the police twice. As soon as they see the police car pull up they turn the bass off. The cops come in to discuss, and don't hear anything so they can't do anything.
Last night around 9:30pm I got into a verbal confrontation with the neighbor. I once again tried being polite, but he was a complete a-hole and called me a m-fer.
This is going to escalate very quickly, and I have a feeling they are going to retaliate against either my fiance, myself, or our cars.
I'm calling the community relations officer later today to discuss with him, since I'm starting to feel like the boy who cried wolf every time the patrol officers come out.
We contacted our landlord last night and told her that something has to be done or we're moving. We cannot live like this, and now, on top of the subwoofer, we have two people who completely hate us and probably want to hurt us, or our property.
Doesn't look like your neighbor gives a damn about you. Try to have your lease voided and move out, if the landlord won't void the lease, go to court to have it voided.
It's a pain to move, but I wouldn't be able to deal with that crap.
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