Flatmate noise

[TVR MAN]

I have a bit of a problem. My flatmate has invested in speakers and a subwoofer. At first he would play with the bass far too loud and I told him so. He turned it down and it stays below a certain level.

But at that certain level it is still very irritating. At the moment he is watching football and I can hear whenever the commentator speaks - not clearly enough to hear what he is saying but enough that I certainly know when he is speaking and I can tell when a goal is scored! It annoys the fk out of me but I don't know if this is a reasonable level of noise or not. What do you think? Is he a bd and I should do something about it or am I being unreasonable?

[Sheets Tabuer]

Unless you are in a mansion with the drawing room 100yds away from the television room I'd say there needs to be some give and take.

[Simpo Two]

You don't need a subwoofer and loud bass to listen to football commentary.

'Kill him'.

But seriously, it's unreasonable and unnecessary.

Edited by Simpo Two on Monday 24th May 22:29

[Xerstead]

Depends what time of day/night he has the volume turned up.
My housemates commented that the house was shaking when I watched a movie. They were watching TV on the ground floor, two floors below me
I only have it turned up for movies, maybe 2/3 times per month, and occaisonally music for short periods, but I do turn it right down after 10/11pm.

[RV8]

Years ago I used to live in a flat one floor above and across from a guy I used to call "the amazing bat eared man" who was married to a woman who wore a cagoule all year round, actually, that was fair irrelevant, but they were quite odd.
I'd have the TV on so quiet (poxy portable tv) you'd miss half the dialogue when watching a film, yet at even as late as half nine on a friday night (woooo) he'd still come up and knock on the door for me to 'keep it down'.
It is annoying but I suppose it depends on the time and just how bad the distraction is, he's been reasonable so far to keep the sub turned down. You need to keep sweet with the people you share with which is all about give + take. Only you know what you find acceptable but try to keep it friendly but firm you could buy him some nice headphones for his birthday I suppose and make light of it. If you've been cool and tried to be amicable and it still isn't working then it's time for a new flatmate.

[TVR MAN]

Simpo Two said:

You don't need a subwoofer and loud bass to listen to football commentary.

'Kill him'.

But seriously, it's unreasonable and unnecessary.

These are my my thoughts but it seems we are in the minority.

Xerstead said:

I only have it turned up for movies, maybe 2/3 times per month, and occaisonally music for short periods, but I do turn it right down after 10/11pm.

I could cope with 2 or 3 times a month (although I don't think I should have to) but currently it is constant background irritation all day every bloody day. It's not that it is excessively noisy, it isn't, but it is just continual and means I can't really relax because there is always some kind of noise, tv or music coming from the room nextdoor.

Edited by TVR MAN on Tuesday 25th May 01:02

[trix-a-belle]

1) ask him to turn it down again
2) buy him a pair of headphones & ask him to use them
3) state you can not be held accountable for your actions if he chooses not to do either of the above

[sonic_2k_uk]

From experience, just tell the guy.

If needs be get him up into your room or wherever it is you're trying to relax so he can hear how disruptive it is.

I'd spend half an hour playing with the bass/mid/treble volume until its reasonable for you both. Failing that, fight to the death

[ymwoods]

On how good terms are you? Is he a friend or just someone you live with?

If he is a friend then I can not see him having a problem with turning it down and if you think that he would then why not make a joke of it when you are next out having a drink with other friends, something like "It's not like thinking you have a constant earthquake when X's Sub is going all day long!" should get his attention and make the point to lower it a tad without any hard feelings.

[dudleybloke]

just buy a bigger subwoofer than him!

[defblade]

Bass travels. Bass even travels when you can barely hear it in the room.

The trick is to insulate the floor from the bass frequencies. Get a block of foam to put under the sub and things may well get massively better.

[mk1fan]

Work harder, earn more money then you can live on your own.

[Atomic Gibbon]

Chat to him, and disucss the issue. the "fix" will very likely to be to move the sub. Get him to put it in the corner, and it will be louder in his room, less loud in yours.
If it's already here, nove it around a bit. You want it close to the "hard" wall(s) in his room, i.e by the proper wall not stud.

It sounds silly, but the way a sub couples to a building is very dependant on location.

G

[TVR MAN]

sonic_2k_uk said:

If needs be get him up into your room or wherever it is you're trying to relax so he can hear how disruptive it is.

When he first got it we did do this because it was ridiculously loud. I could hear the outlook alert whenever he got an email! But now my problem isn't so much that it is very loud and disruptive. It is more the fact that for an entire day he can be listening to music, watching tv etc and so I have this fkin background bass noise from next door. It's not very loud bass but it gets to you after 10 hours!

ymwoods said:

On how good terms are you? Is he a friend or just someone you live with?

We are fairly good friends but I can tell he is a bit pissed at having to turn it down at all.

dudleybloke said:

just buy a bigger subwoofer than him!

Very tempted!

defblade said:

Bass travels. Bass even travels when you can barely hear it in the room.

The trick is to insulate the floor from the bass frequencies. Get a block of foam to put under the sub and things may well get massively better.

Thanks for this reply. I'll experiment a little with this next time he is out. This would be a good solution.

mk1fan said:

Work harder, earn more money then you can live on your own.

Central London is expensive as a student! But this is the long term plan.

Atomic Gibbon said:

Chat to him, and disucss the issue. the "fix" will very likely to be to move the sub. Get him to put it in the corner, and it will be louder in his room, less loud in yours.
If it's already here, nove it around a bit. You want it close to the "hard" wall(s) in his room, i.e by the proper wall not stud.

It sounds silly, but the way a sub couples to a building is very dependant on location.

Don't think the cable is very long so the range of movement is a bit restricted.

[defblade]

TVR MAN said:

defblade said:

Bass travels. Bass even travels when you can barely hear it in the room.

The trick is to insulate the floor from the bass frequencies. Get a block of foam to put under the sub and things may well get massively better.

Thanks for this reply. I'll experiment a little with this next time he is out. This would be a good solution.

Worked when I lived with my parents still After some shouting, we eventually went and listened at both ends - Dad agreed the stereo was almost inaudible in my room, I agreed you could still hear thud-thud-thud downstairs. One 4" block of foam under each speaker, no complaints from downstairs even when it was louder than I wanted in my rom

[Atomic Gibbon]

TVR,

Sub leads are (9 times out of 10) just single phono cables. Decently long ones are max 20 quid, for a "hifi" spec cable. If he's running it on the cheapy one that came in the ox, Maplin will do you them for a couple of quid =)

[al1991]

Subs are annoying, because they're not 'loud' per se, you can just feel the noise if you know what I mean.

If you're actually in the room that the music is being played in, it seems at an entirely reasonable level - it's when you're outside the room that it's worst.

Edited by al1991 on Thursday 27th May 23:40