condo owners, how do you appease the neighbors?

Man, I guess I am lucky to live in small town USA where houses are cheap and affordable. I can tell what you are going thru would be very frustrating.

I do have one thought. Does your appt. have wall to wall carpeting or laminate flooring? It might not look great, but putting down a layer of that soundproof sheetrock type material on the floor and getting a large area rug might work. This is just a guess.

Or you could always get a crazy look in your eyes, dress real crazy, and go down for a visit and explain that you just got out of a long stay in a mental institution for aggrivated manslaughter when you were 16 and that you don't mind them living there as long as they don't cause any problems. Then scream real loud, sh*t your pants and go running thru the parking lot. I am sure they wouldn't complain about a little music after that. This too is just a guess.

Never mind the neighbors, I live in a house and I am constantly hassling my wife and kids about the dishwasher and my kids about their computer. It is a challenge to get good quiet time to really listen.

Thanks again, everybody. I've read the responses and I have some questions to put out there:

1) Do speakers on spikes really help?
2) What db level would most of you honestly consider to be the threshold of nuisance behavior in a multi-dwelling? I figured 90db measured in-room at 10 feet would be a good guess, but 75db seems to be the limit for me.
3) Will room treatments help? I know they'll make the sound better for me, but will they keep the sound in my living space a bit more?

I don't use a subwoofer.

I like the idea of wwwrecords, but I honestly don't think I could sh*t my pants on queue. Taking a magazine with, and waiting for it, would ruin the whole effect, I think.

Cheers.

Faced with this potential problem, I went the good audio karma/mild coercion route and got my neighbor into high end audio. Then we got his girlfriend into it. They understand when my system is rockin' and I understand when theirs is!