# Subwoofer positioning and neighbour party wall



## hcanning (Oct 5, 2009)

Hi all,

At present, my subwoofer is located in an alcove (underneath the stairs, but closed off lounge), and the back wall of this alcove is the party wall with our neighbours being the other side. It's also in the corner.

It seems incredibly well insulated - we never hear a peep from them, but I am wondering if I can reduce the amount of noise I may be transmitting through the wall.

Would rotating the sub 90degrees so it's facing outward into the room and not to the left along the wall, and moving it into a more 'central' position in this alcove reduce the amount of sound that it transmits through the rear wall, or is it not going to make any difference at all, owing to the nondirectional nature of bass? 

Thanks!


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## Wayne A. Pflughaupt (Apr 13, 2006)

Low frequencies are omnidirectional, so it won’t matter which way you turn the sub. 

Blocking bass frequencies is challenging, and there is no cheap and easy fix. Basically, sound proofing requires mass. You’d get the best result by adding a second layer of sheetrock to the existing wall, and then build as second free-standing wall in front of that one, that’s air tight and also double layered sheetrock. This will help considerably, but probably won’t eliminate the lows entirely.

Regards, 
Wayne


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## hcanning (Oct 5, 2009)

Wayne A. Pflughaupt said:


> Low frequencies are omnidirectional, so it won’t matter which way you turn the sub.
> 
> Blocking bass frequencies is challenging, and there is no cheap and easy fix. Basically, sound proofing requires mass. You’d get the best result by adding a second layer of sheetrock to the existing wall, and then build as second free-standing wall in front of that one, that’s air tight and also double layered sheetrock. This will help considerably, but probably won’t eliminate the lows entirely.
> 
> ...


Thanks for your reply.

Do you think the concrete slabs I've put under the sub (that you can see in the picture) are helping much? They certainly pretty much eliminated being able to feel bass notes through the floor and sofa.


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## asere (Dec 7, 2011)

If you have Audyssey LFC you can contain the bass. There are settings for that from mild to great containment but I find LFC kills the bass no matter what setting.


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## BadFollow (Mar 16, 2020)

As far as I know it doesn't matter the direction of the subwoofer. Seems to me I've seen a great party in the woods, where the subwoofer was directioned in the DJ's and the sound was really cool.


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## JamyFoux (Apr 15, 2020)

If you are talking about the party in the woods that had been last Thursday then yes. The sound was awesome. I think they have the other sound master now, and they are ordering the sound from a third-party company. A very good company that has been for a long time on the market and I think this company is the best one on the market if we are speaking about the sound. More than that, the light show is awesome. I think this is surrey pa hire company. I've heard about them a lot of times and most of the times the feedback was very positive. A friend of mine wants to hire them for the wedding ceremony, these guys really know their job


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