Anyone here stay in a flat? How do you monitor without getting evicted by the neighbours?

quote:

Originally posted by dj_palm get small nearfield monitors? u wont have to play that loud if they are placed 1m from your head! and small monitors dont provide much bass so your neighboors shouldnt have problems with.

Nice one What are we talking about in terms of cash here? Any links to reviews?

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Originally posted by dj_palm i have no idea. think m-audio has some cheap models around 300-400£ which i belive is good. alesis also have a very popular modell called Alesis M1 Active Mk2, which ive seen in alot of studios but i dont heard them myself. btw theres a mk3 now i think around 600EUR?. google those. The M-audio are called StudioPhile BX6a and costs around 450EUR i guess a pair? i dont know its all much more expensive in my country.

Nice one, I'll check them out. If there's one thing I'm good at, it's bargain hunting. I think there's a couple of threads on this so I'll see what I can find with the search button

Cheers!

You can reduce vibrations from monitors by decoupling them. The biggest problem with generating large amounts of bass is the resonance through material in contact with the monitors.

Decoupling works by having 2 solid masses and a spring in between them to act as a kind of damper or shock absorber. This is how car suspension works and the same idea applies to monitoring. Your monitor is one mass. Your desk the other. You can put an elastic or spongy material in between the two but you have to make sure it compresses easily (about 10 to 15% of its thickness) and returns to its original shape. This is important as plastic materials like blu tack (which keep their shape) are not very good for decoupling your speakers. Auralex Mo pads and variants of do actually work and work well at decoupling.

Dont buy china cones. They say they work by decoupling speakers from work surfaces but that couldnt be further from the truth. They couple speakers to work surfaces by channeling all the weight of your speakers to 3 pin points. This does have some advantage as it will stop your monitors shaking on your desk. However, because they are coupled it will simply make your desk shake with your monitors (unless its of a supersolid construction). Coupling is useful for transfering vibrations. Which is exactly what you do not want to do if you live in a flat with pedantic neighbors.

Other than that, lay down some bass traps. Thick acoustic foam works well.

Thanks guys

Derivative, I remember at my local Hi-Fi store the salesman said I would get a better sound out of my surround speakers if I got 'spikes' to raise them slightly... is this similar advice to what you've given me?

If so, won't the fact that these methods reduce bass vibrations give me a less accurate bass sound?

Yeah, I think I misread what derivative said about china cones. Sounds like that's what the sales dude was trying to sell me. I'll try them out as well as the Auralex pads etc. I've had a couple of beers so please excuse my oddball replies

quote:

Originally posted by Synchronicity Anyone here stay in a flat? How do you monitor without getting evicted by the neighbours?

I live in a 25m2 flat. The best solution to this problem is to use good headphones. I have several with different sound charasteristics.

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Matti Kotala
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www.mkdr.net

quote:

Originally posted by Synchronicity Thanks guys Derivative, I remember at my local Hi-Fi store the salesman said I would get a better sound out of my surround speakers if I got 'spikes' to raise them slightly... is this similar advice to what you've given me? If so, won't the fact that these methods reduce bass vibrations give me a less accurate bass sound?

Putting your monitors on spikes will couple them to the floor/work surface they are standing on yes.

There are various reasons why you would want to couple instead of decouple. However, you will piss off the people living below you if you couple your speakers to the floor. They will hear absolutely fucking everything and feel it too if the amplitude is high enough.