Hollywood Movie Vets Join Forces To Battle Noise In The Home

26-Jul-04

Two veterans of the motion picture sound industry have joined forces to premier Speaker Floats, a solution to the problem of sound intrusion and noise pollution from home theater and stereo speakers, through their new internet-based company 1st Sound Outfitters LLC. By ìfloatingî stereo, TV, and home theater speakers, Speaker Floats break the structural path the annoying sounds follow to people in other rooms.Nearly everyone who has lived in an apartment or condominium has suffered with intruding sound from loud stereos and home theaters. This noise pollution can damage your health by making it impossible to relax or fall asleep when it is pounding through the walls. With the rapid spread of these popular systems and their subwoofers, the problem is skyrocketing, disturbing family members and neighbors everywhere. And if itís your system that bothers others, it brings you big problems when a neighbor complains.ìThe biggest problem with this noise intrusion comes from the low frequencies,î says Bruce Black, a freelance post production sound engineer and designer. ìThey are the most powerful components of sound, and easily travel through solid structures to the floor, the walls, and ceiling. This causes those surfaces to vibrate, regenerating the sound on both side of the surface. When the other side of these surfaces is in another family memberís room or a neighborís apartment, you have disturbing noise pollution.îFormer supervising sound editor and partner Gordon Ecker adds, ìItís just as good as putting another speaker in someone elseís room, whether they want it or not. When that room has a family member or neighbor trying to read, watch TV, or sleep, the sound traveling there is very disturbing. The most effective way to stop this irritating transmission of sound is to isolate the speakers from the structures. ìThis is precisely what Speaker Floats do - placed under your speakers they virtually float them on a cloud,î says Black. Ecker adds, ìIn illustration, a few weeks ago we gave some to the owner of a meditation center that is located right next to a dance studio - itís incredibly hard to meditate when the thump of music is coming through. A few sets of Speaker Floats under the dance studioís loud-speakers took care of the problem, and now everyone is happy.î A dramatic demon-stration of how this structure-borne sound travels is a novelty called ëNewtonís Cradleí where five balls are suspended in a frame. When you lift and release the ball at one end, the middle three balls donít move, but the one at the opposite end flies out. This is exactly how sound travels through solid things like walls and floors. A video of this is available on the website at www.1stSoundOutfitters.com/newin-action.htm.More information on Speaker Floats is available at www.1stSoundOutfitters.com.

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