[Stuart Wright]

I'm lucky because the AVForums home cinema is in a dedicated building in our garden, so everything plays at reference level.
However, we used to live in a mid-tarraced house and being on good terms with the neighbours (something we should try and do anyway) was particularly important if I wanted to crank it up occasionally.
Lots of people have their home cinemas with neighbours in adjacent buildings or rooms. Some with neighbours above or below.
Do you have to compromise on the volume of your home cinema because of the neighbours? Would you move house to overcome the problem?

[C225]

I used to try to be considerate to the neighbours and turn it down a bit if they were in but in the last year they have had a different set of workmen in every couple of weeks getting work done to the house which are making a lot of noise and we never know anything about it they just appear on a monday one week and make noise and never even so much as a word about it from them. My parents do night shifts so they haven't been getting much sleep during the day because of it so i now just leave the volume up when i am watching films.

[Comer]

If the neighbours get too close or start to complain, I just hitch up and move to a different part of the park.

Actually, neighbours are no problem, my only concern is waking my own kids. They have been conditioned to sleep through pretty high volume. As babies, (when their Mom was out) they would sleep in the living room while I watched a movie. Explosions, earthquakes, storms, they slept right through it. So even that's not a problem. When people come to visit and hear the system, they are amazed that the kids could sleep through it though.

Wait, it's only now just occurred to me, perhaps they are not heavy sleepers as I always imagined, perhaps I damaged their hearing in those baby years and now they CAN'T hear the system

[pixelpixel]

I am lucky.....I have family on both sides of me.

[Haggler]

Originally Posted by pixelpixel

I am lucky.....I have family on both sides of me.

That never stopped my mum complaining even when she was only visiting

[kopchoir]

I live in a mid terrace and cant wait to move and build my own home cinema

I used to have a pioneer sound system that pumped out 1000watts but at that time i had very noisey neighbours, so if they decided to be noisey they would be left in no uncertain terms what would happen I have moved speakers flush to my neighbours walls and belted out some pretty loud music to the extent of pictures falling off the wall next door.

[Uridium]

No but i turn it up when the missus and kids are out

[kempez]

Good poll.

I've never had a complaint from the neighbours but as I live in a 1st floor flat with one above and one below me, as well as one accross the corridor, I feel I shouldn't have the music playing too loud. We are planning in the next few years to get a semi or detached house, but cannot afford it right now. Until then I don't feel it's fair to be cranking my stereo up high and in fact, I don't have a sub for that reason.

[pixelpixel]

If you play 'loud music' do you also complain about others doing the same ?

[luke90]

When i was in my uni flat for the past 6months or so we had neighbours above and to the side (i lived in a block of flats rather than student halls), i always thought i should be able to turn it up occasionally. I wouldnt mind if someone else did it to me though. If they did id just give it right back.

[Grumpykev]

I live in a mid-terrace and try to keep the volume at a respectable level but I have been known to pump up the volume now and again; luckily I haven't had any complaints...yet!

[KJ Palmer]

My listening room is in a converted garage at the bottom of the garden, so luckily I'm not (too) restricted, neighbour-wise. I don't tend to listen at ear-spliitting volumes, in any case, though.

[Sonic67]

I asked my neighbour if he minded the volume being loud and he said if it was a problem he'd turn his up even more.

[Stuart Wright]

I wonder how many people have already moved in order (in part) to have volume control freedom. I wonder how much of a factor the home cinema is/was in house purchasing decisions.

When we moved here, the fact that there was a garage in the back garden ticked a big box for me and before we purchased, the wife agreed a budget for me to convert it.

[rovex33]

Im very lucky, although the Z-5500s can kick out some serious volume, and i live in a terrace, the houses are old and the walls thick. Even people in the same house dont seem to mind.

[KelvinS1965]

Originally Posted by Stuart Wright

I wonder how many people have already moved in order (in part) to have volume control freedom. I wonder how much of a factor the home cinema is/was in house purchasing decisions.

While it wasn't the main reason for moving (we needed more space too), but my last house was a semi and the walls were so thin we could hear the elderly neighbour's TV if we turned ours off. They weren't afraid of coming round to get us to turn our's down even early evening, even once when I was feeding our then 1 year old (so the music wasn't that loud anyway ). I was glad when we found a detached house with the extra bedroom we were looking for....the first AV purchase I made after we moved was to get a subwoofer.

I now have a preset on my amp called 'Movie night' and one of the settings is the main volume goes to -15db, which I would have ended up with an ASBO for if I'd done this in the old house. We watched 'Saving Private Ryan' in the old place and I spent the whole film grabbing the remote turning it up and down so we could hear the talking/reduce the explosions....I must watch it again sometime now I've got the Monolith.

[mossym]

detached house with a big enough room for a dedicated cinema was a priority when we moved back to ireland, found one we loved..so now i can shake the foundations all we want, was a major difference to my apartment in california where i had neighbours on both sides, and below, and volumes had to be kept very respectable

[Stuart Wright]

Originally Posted by KelvinS1965

I spent the whole film grabbing the remote turning it up and down so we could hear the talking/reduce the explosions.

This is what Dolby Volume does. Well it has the same result.

[WillieCocker]

As my neighbours used to party till 5am with music louder than daytime levels, when i watch a movie it's at reference levels or higher, depending on how good the movie is.

Their foundations must be on their last legs by now.
Semi-detached here.

[JohnG]

I'd like to move to get away from some noisy people 3 houses away from me so I never play my stuff at annoying volumes.

[zircon3035]

When we moved, two of the main requirements were a detached house (so I could turn up the wick on the amp) and to be away from a road (fed up with the cats getting squashed).

I do normally shut the patio doors when playing loud sounds however, so as not to advertise the sound system.

Ian

[dunk05]

I've just bought a detached bungalow with a good bit of garden on all sides

Part of the decision to go for detached was to be able to crank it up without
disturbing the neighbours, similar to Kelvin, I can hear the neighbours TV
or them talking on the telephone when it's otherwise quiet (He's pretty deaf)
but the claim never to hear me at all. The folk through the wall have no
qualms about turning up the volume, so when downstairs are out I have
it up louder but at the end I prefer to inflict my music on the neighbours
to the same extent I'd like them to inflict it on me.

[andy1249]

I live in an old ( that means solid and brick built )detached house , I have tested by cranking up the volume to painful levels and going outside to check what can be heard , and its barely audible.

So Im pretty sure Im not annoying anybody by being as loud as I like.

[The Atheist]

I'm currently living in a mid-terrace shared house (5 of us in total) and one of our neighbours has complained a couple of times about the volume being too loud (mainly the bass ) but I've managed to settle on a happy medium, so its just about loud enough for my movie watching and not so loud as to bother the neighbours. Its only really a problem in the evenings, if i watch a film during the day I can crank it up a bit more

I am looking to move somewhere I don't have to worry about the neighbours too much, but as I live in london (and don't earn that much ) my options are fairly limited. I would like to buy somewhere but that's likely to be a flat so may even compound the problem! What kind of budget would be required to suitably sound proof a living room?

[hat1]

When we moved, my main criteria was a square living room and a detached house so I could enjoy my soon to be purchased home cinema, fortunately the missus liked the house too !!!

[korny]

I'm in a detached house with good space between me and my neighbours so I can pump it up. Being able to have the volume up for tv, films, music and any other sources of noise was a major factor for house selection. The other factor being that I wouldn't be on the receivng end of other peoples noise as well .

[JohnG]

It's worth taking note that I'm in a detached bungalow and I am constantly disturbed by noise from a house which is 3 houses away. The thump thump thump of their "music" is audible over the top of my radio with all my doors and windows closed
Constant booming bass will be a problem to more than just immediate neighbours.

[Basil Plumley]

I live in forces accommodation (semi-detached solid brick 1950's built building) so work with my neighbours - so I really do have to get on with them...plus they are both police officers (one military, one civi...).
I have lived next to them for five years and never had a problem - until I watched Goldfinger on DVD one night at about 10.30...for some strange reason, they heard everything and next day, could even tell me what film it was...so paranoia set in and much reaching for the remote every time the volume increased slightly.

Came up with a compromise though - I went next door while we were looking after their cats when they went away for a long weekend and got the wife to put a film on and raise the volume until I thought it got a bit loud next door...hit -20db and with their TV on, it was barely audible...

Then I got the Dark Knight...

[Inked]

I try to keep the noise to reasonable levels as I know how much it annoys me when I can hear other people above the TV.
I've had to go round to my neighbours a number of times due to their loud bass, it's fine if I'm in my kitchen but I can hear it in my living room (1st floor joining to their house.)
I can also hear the bass from one of the houses down the street when they have the back door open.

[Steven]

I have been lucky in that in all of the places I have rented noise has never been an issue. Everybody playing the same game; live, work and play hard