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Originally posted by etazbaz im selling my house and moving into an apartment. i like to play really loud music and i have a really strong subwoofer. anyone have any experience soundproofing their apartment or condo so that they can still throw wicked parties yet keep the cops at bay?

to truly soundproof your apartment costs a lot of money. but maybe this will help:

1) try to get a corner suite, or one next to the elevator/stairwells to limit sharing a wall with neighbors. if you don't mind, a ground floor flat reduces any sound transmission to the people below you.

2) rugs/carpets/sofas...stuff as much as you can in the room. these will help reduce mid-high frequencies.

3) speaker placement: if you can, at least 1 meter away from the walls and corners. keep your sub OFF the floor...styrofoam or if you can afford it, acoustic blocks.

4) since bass is most commonly the problem, see if you can shell out some dough for acoustic bass traps but effective ones tend to cost a lot. not sure how much tho.

other then this, it really depends on the original wall and floor construction of the apartment...

if your lucky, live next to someone really old or with hearing problems.

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Any apartment is gonna cramp the style. Soundproofing that is affordable only reduces the treble. Some buildings have party/meeting rooms or maybe there's a nearby place you can use.

An apartment on the top floor of a concrete building would be good, ideally a corner unit. To have a minimum number of neighbours. A loft would be cool. Get the phone numbers of the closest neighbours and phone them at party time to see if see if they're in or it's OK with them to play it loud.

Yep, unfortaunetly, it's true... not much will stop the sub frequencies... hope your neighbours are really understanding, otherwise be prepared to seriously UNDER use your sweet sub...

Only affordable materials that would have any chance of silencing sub frequencies... lead... and concrete... both aren't necessarily worth the hassle for soundproofing an appartment.

Anyways... GOOD LUCK!!