Question - party wall bleed thru & speaker placement

B

BruT-804

Active Member
We're moving into a new townhouse when it's completed, hopefully in November. I'll finally have a good sized listening room, roughly 19 X 19. One wall is the party wall between our unit & the neighbors.
I'm wondering about speaker positioning in order to limit noise thru the party wall and not pi$$ off the neighbors. Would there be less sound going thru the party wall if it was the front wall, the back wall, or a side wall? I'll have room to pull the speakers & sub well away from the front wall if that makes a difference.
Thanks
BT
 
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when we were in that situation, we put cork tiles and 12 x 12 carpet tiles on the wall.
it helps but not much
 
John James said:
If it is under construction, could you add something inside the wall to help?
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That's not an option; the builder won't allow changes like that this late (drywall is supposed to start next week).
I might be worrying about nothing, the builder says they've had no complaints from the buyers that are already living in the development. I guess I can just set up my system & play it at normal listening volume for a while, then talk to the neighbors to see if they're getting noise..
 
Normally party walls are concrete block with a space or extra drywall between 2 framed walls to make a fire rated/spaced assembly. This is actually a good way to reduce sound transmission also as the 2 units are decoupled from one another,
You could improve on that after u see how it is going with the neighbors.
Really would depend on your listening levels.
Congrats on the new place.
 
HeilYeah said:
Normally party walls are concrete block with a space or extra drywall between 2 framed walls to make a fire rated/spaced assembly
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Ours is the framed walls with extra 'firestop' drywall in between, they also leave a gap of an inch or so between the framed wall & the firestop drywall.

I usually listen at lower levels, not sure how accurate it is but an app on my phone that says I usually listen at 75 db or lower. I guess I'm mainly worried about the lower bass from the sub bothering them. I'll probably try it with the party wall being the back wall first & see if the neighbors complain.
 
A double layer of drywall is said to help. From what AKers have posted. You say the contractor won't allow changes at this late a date. Adding second layer isn't much of a change. Just some drywall , longer screws and extra labor.
 
Old Guy8 said:
A double layer of drywall is said to help. From what AKers have posted. You say the contractor won't allow changes at this late a date. Adding second layer isn't much of a change. Just some drywall , longer screws and extra labor.
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I'll ask but I'm not hopeful they'd do it; the purchase contract states that no changes are allowed after the framing walk-thru which was over a month ago.
 
BruT-804 said:
I'll ask but I'm not hopeful they'd do it; the purchase contract states that no changes are allowed after the framing walk-thru which was over a month ago.
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Oh well.
Just a thought:
If your neighbors are bothered after you move in. You could add a layer of soundproofing rigid fiberglass etc. over the drywall. And cover with wood or tapestry or wallpaper etc material. If don't want mess of drywalling again. To look like an accent wall. Would have to move any electrical receptacles out to the new surface. Following any local building codes.
Keep sub well away from party wall.

Sound can bleed through gaps in walls. Maybe add the 1/8" thick foam insulation pads that are available for behind outlet and switch wall plates.
20220818_091226.jpg
 
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BruT-804 said:
Ours is the framed walls with extra 'firestop' drywall in between, they also leave a gap of an inch or so between the framed wall & the firestop drywall.
Click to expand...

If I'm understanding correctly, you have a "double wall" construction like the third picture here:

Walls.gif

That kind of construction gives very good isolation of sound between spaces because the two walls are actually separated from one another.
 
Old Guy8 said:
Oh well.
Just a thought:
If your neighbors are bothered after you move in. You could add a layer of soundproofing rigid fiberglass etc. over the drywall. And cover with wood or tapestry or wallpaper etc material. If don't want mess of drywalling again. To look like an accent wall. Would have to move any electrical receptacles out to the new surface. Following any local building codes.
Keep sub well away from party wall.

Sound can bleed through gaps in walls. Maybe add the 1/8" thick foam insulation pads that are available for behind outlet and switch wall plate
Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestions, I'm hoping I won't need to do anything but if so will keep your suggestions in mind.


dcmfan said:
If I'm understanding correctly, you have a "double wall" construction like the third picture here:
'
index.php


That kind of construction gives very good isolation of sound between spaces because the two walls are actually separated from one another.
Click to expand...


Thanks, the construction is similar to the Double Wall diagram; there's actually a 3rd 'wall' in between the 2 stud walls, the firestop drywall material. I'm not sure how it's built it's not 2x4 studs. But it probably adds more sound isolation so hopefully won't have an issue regardless of where I put the speakers.[/QUOTE]
 
I've dealt with this in an apartment. I personally found that putting the speakers facing away from shared wall worked best. Which was good because that was also the best orientation for my room.
 
ra7c7er said:
I've dealt with this in an apartment. I personally found that putting the speakers facing away from shared wall worked best. Which was good because that was also the best orientation for my room.
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Thanks ra7c7er, I'll give that a try when we move in. Good to hear from someone that had the same situation.
 
rothwellaudio said:
The direction in which you point the speakers won't make a scrap of difference. Actually mounting the speakers onto the wall would be very bad. Sound transmission through the structure via direct contact between the speakers and floor could be minimised by having the speakers mounted on compliant material such as this:
https://www.thomann.de/gb/the_takustik_isopad_6.htm
or
https://www.thomann.de/gb/isoacoustics_iso_puck_set.htm
or something similar.
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Thanks for the suggestions, I'll keep them in mind if I get complaints from the new neighbors. I have floor standing speakers so they won't be mounted on the wall.
 
Old Guy8 said:
Oh well.
Just a thought:
If your neighbors are bothered after you move in. You could add a layer of soundproofing rigid fiberglass etc. over the drywall. And cover with wood or tapestry or wallpaper etc material. If don't want mess of drywalling again. To look like an accent wall. Would have to move any electrical receptacles out to the new surface. Following any local building codes.
Keep sub well away from party wall.

Sound can bleed through gaps in walls. Maybe add the 1/8" thick foam insulation pads that are available for behind outlet and switch wall plates Bay Area mechanical bull rentals.
View attachment 2641926
Click to expand...
Thanks for suggestion
 
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