Home cinema

[komodosp]

A similar situation to "Party Wall Help" below, but I will be putting into a sort of home cinema... the problem being it's an upstairs room and it's adjoining a neighbour's bedroom.

For me, I will have the sub-woofer at the opposite side of the room to the wall touching the neighbour, and I'm hoping to be able to play the sound at an "enjoyable" level and of course, the neighbour is probably using it as a bedroom. I don't mind losing a couple of inches (up to about a foot?) to the soundproofing, and I want to do it on the cheap, do it myself if at all possible.

The common wall is about 2m wide, not including about 50cm taken up by a chimney.

Also I'm a total newbie to the concept of soundproofing... Looking through different web sites gives different materials and I've no idea what they are or where to get them... (Do normal DIY shops sell this kind of stuff?)

[Skip]

We suggest that you first take a look at  a Soundproofing Company web site such as: soundproofing.org.

The site can answer many of your questions. Regarding low frequency bass sounds from your stero system, that is a very hard type of sound to deal with -  the common wall that separates you and your neighbor would have to be extensively sound proofed inorder to get some good results regarding sound reduction.

That can include sound absorbing material, sound barrier material and addition layers of dry wall.

Products such as Mass Loaded Vinyl, Ultra Touch Cotton Fibre and Isolaltion Tape can be used to resolve your sound situation.

[johnbergstromslc]

Yeah, consider relocating the home theater room to another location.  Even if you soundproof the wall extensively, the bass is going to 'flank' around it.  The sound energy will simply travel along the floor joists, both above and below and arrive booming into your neighbors bedroom.    

And since you said, "..on the cheap..", it doesn't sound like you'd be willing or able to do the work required to truely soundproof the room.  

[joel]

Hello komodosk,

To answer your last question first, No, DYI shops do not normally have or understand soundproofing materials and systems.  We do.  That is why there is so much information on our web site and why we are always willing to take the time to talk with people who call to solve their soundproofing problems.

Probably the most simple and least expensive soundproofing material to date is Green Glue.  It solves many soundproofing situations (especially with existing surfaces) when used sandwiched between building materials.  When used in conjunction with other materials (like MLV, sound isolation mounts, and closed cell foams) in various systems it makes all work better.  For general green Glue info see http://www.soundproofing.org/sales/GreenGlue.htm  Be sure to view the "slide show" link there.

Joel