Walls, ceilings, floors -- neighbors and sound

Some condos may have double thick walls between them. Some that are smaller may be designed to have a garage between them on the lower floor which is almost like having a house.

Bass frequencies will travel through alot. If you like to listen at any significant volume with good bass then consider building a false wall and use resilient channel to mount the sheetrock. Also putting some lead sheeting between these two walls would help.

Your worst problem is most likely the bass. As I said it will travel along trusses and through walls. I've heard of people also mounting their speakers on something soft so as to not transmit vibrations to the floor.

As Warnerwh notes -- the longer the wavelength the more sound will propagate and go through anything. In practise, though, upstairs gets more of a blast than downstairs (because you can decouple the spkrs fm the floor)... So if you have no upstairs neighbours, you may get away with some extra dB. BUT, there's the next door to consider: Lead sheeting is one of the best attenuators.

If you do use lead sheeting, make sure to ground it or you may get RFI. UHF Magazine didn't do it when they lined their listening room with lead, and one of the preamps they tested apparently picked up Radio Moscow as a result.

Headphones.....and if you have a lover over, have DUAL headphones.

My suspicion is that the people below you may be especially annoyed -- THEIR ceiling is shaking with YOUR bass. I also think that the music issue is a BIG reason to get a freestanding house rather than a condo, for a music person; I worked in residential rental properties for years, and noise issues are very difficult to resolve. Many places, everybody is legally entitled to "quiet enjoyment"; in practice, it often seems that one neighbor exercising what might be reasonably thought quiet enjoyment is incompatible with another neighbor doing the same. Of course, you could get lucky; I've had neighbors who were unfazed by silly loud volumes. But you may not; I've had quite the opposite, too.

Might be worth reflecting on your home buying strategy. I moved to St. Louis, where I now live, expecting to go condo, and found houses both a better value and equally approachable in terms of entry price point. If finances dictate condo in your market, I'd try to develop a system that sounds rich played at low volumes.

Good luck,

John