Budget DIY soundproofing chimney alcoves

I am Jon

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Looking to redecorate living room where my AV setup is. Unfortunately it shares one wall with neighbours living room. Since I can hear their kids and TV at times i'm sure they can hear my system too but never had any complaints. I do try to keep the volume reasonable with the sub toned down and in the opposite corner.

Think the chimney itself being several layers of brick and air isn't too bad. Would covering the joining wall in just the alcoves with some acoustic board make much difference?

Looking at something like this: ProSound SoundBoard 4 (1.44m2) 30mm. Total area would only be 3m x 2.4m, so £350 should do it. Can I just apply direct to the walls? Is it ok to paint over this stuff or does it need plastering over?
 
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There is a lot of information in this thread, and links from this thread. Does this help at all?
 
Been reading up on a few of the threads. As usual i'm trying to do things on the cheap, doesn't make sense to spend thousands on my little house. Can loose a few inches from the alcoves but don't want to shrink the room by too much.

I rarely go above -20db (dynamic eq on and using dynamic vol in evenings) and don't mind tuning my little gemini sub down a bit. Neighbours are generally cool and accept some noise.

However as part of the decorating the alcoves do need to get re-plastered anyhow so thinking spending a few hundred extra to improve the sound insulation would be a good thing.
 
Soundproofing is all or nothing. 1% gap will let something like 50% of the sound through. 5% will let 95% of the sound through. You can't just slap up sound boards and it work as you have the floor and ceiling voids to contend with along with plug sockets etc.

Unless you're going to do it "properly" I wouldn't bother as it's probably just throwing money away unless you know what you're doing.

G
 
Looking at something like this as a cheap and easy DIY fix: Laminate Insulated Plasterboard 55mm

Don't expect it to be a magic soundproofing solution but hopefully it will be some help. The wall in question does need fresh plasterboard before we can decorate no matter what.
 

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