A good soundbar will certainly give a boost to your TV speakers, some soundbars even provide a sense of surround sound, because the individual speakers inside the bar are angled to take advantage of square and rectangular room acoustics, bouncing sound off the walls and ceiling. 

They don’t offer the highest end of home acoustics, but they are affordable and can offer a decent upgrade from what your TV is capable of. In a small apartment, however, the rich bass and the booming sense of surround sound may be too loud for your neighbors.

Are Soundbars Too Loud For Apartments?

It depends on the apartment, the placement of the soundbar, and the capability of the soundbar. Since most soundbars imitate surround sound by bouncing sound waves off walls and ceilings, they can often be too loud for apartments that don’t have good soundproofing in the walls. 

Many people living in apartments actually find that once they set up a good quality sound bar they don’t need to turn their TVs as loud as they used to hear voices clearly. A good quality soundbar will greatly improve the audio from your TV by doing things like making voices more audible.

Do you ever hear your neighbor’s TV? If you don’t then the soundproofing is most likely good in your building. However, if you’re regularly listening to your neighbor’s TV or radio through the wall, a soundbar or anything that could tempt you to turn up the volume on your TV may not be the best option.

In general, you can carry out ‘normal’ activities at reasonable times and volumes. Nobody expects absolute silence. But people will expect things to be pretty quiet after 9 or 10 at night.

The last thing you want to do is start a war with your neighbor. All of the things you can do to upset them can always be turned right back around at you. Next thing you know, the landlord is involved and, in worst-case scenarios, even the police.

Whether or not a soundbar will be too loud for your apartment will depend on a number of factors.

Your Apartment

The kind of apartment you live in matters because of its design and size. The thickness of the walls can make a huge difference. Thin apartment walls will make a simple factory TV speaker sound like a jet engine roaring to life next door. 

How small your apartment is matters as well. The closer the walls are to your soundbar, the louder the sound is going to be next door.

If having decent sound in your apartment is really important to you, you could consider putting up some sound absorption panels to help contain sound waves within your apartment.

sound absorption panels are like isolation pads but instead of placing them under a speaker, you stick them on your walls and in the corners to absorb the sound.

Related Article: Can A Subwoofer Interfere With Wifi? (Answered)

The Position of the Soundbar

Every make/model soundbar is a little different from the next. You would have to disassemble the soundbar to determine what direction the speakers are facing. Soundbars are designed to be more effective based on their placement. 

The best choice is to center the soundbar at eye level when you’re sitting down. That way, you get the most out of the forward-firing speakers. A lot of soundbars come with a subwoofer since the soundbar itself lacks deep, low-frequency bass soundwaves. 

In that case, it’s the sub that will probably get you in more trouble than the soundbar. You can gather info on the soundbar you want to buy beforehand and get an idea of the best positioning in the room. Just be careful not to place it near any walls or too close to the floor or ceiling.

Positioning the soundbar as close to you will mean you won’t have to turn it up as much and if your soundbar has a built-in subwoofer, placing it on an isolation pad will help to stop the base from getting to your neighbors.

The Quality of the Soundbar

If you buy an outrageous soundbar that’s supposed to reach 150 decibels of fun, expect to have a spitting, purple-faced neighbor at your door within the first few minutes of firing it up. Fortunately, there are some soundbars that are considered safe for apartment use. 

However, even “safe” soundbars can be overdone if you crank the volume up to maximum. The Sony HTSF200 is a budget-buy soundbar that is still a solid device. It’s not designed to blow the sheetrock through the wall framework so it’s worth considering. 

The Yamaha YAS 209 is another good soundbar that is considered apartment-friendly. It does come with a sub, so be careful to set the sub off the ground, away from the walls, and centered in the room (both up and down). 

The Bomaker Soundbar is another good choice if you want some depth, rich sound, and slight immersion without infuriating the neighbor.

Bottom Line

Any soundbar can be loud for an apartment. There are certain factors that have to be considered before you purchase a soundbar and install it in your apartment. Even if you get a small soundbar, if you crank it up, you may end up with a complaint. 

Your best bet is to stick with one of the above-listed soundbars and try not to vibrate the walls with it at two in the morning.