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Hi all,

We received our new Yamaha C2x yesterday after a 45 minute struggle getting it in through our tunnel entrance duplex. Kudos to the movers for not scratching it after all the tight turns they had to navigate.

We've already spoken to our neighbors about all the piano music they'll be hearing. All the homes in our neighborhood are built really close to each other so you hear everything. Our elderly next door neighbor said she doesn't care how long or how loud we play which is great. Unfortunately, we live in a duplex and our neighbor downstairs (who BTW is my brother-in-law) is probably not too happy with our purchase. We've already told him that we will try to avoid playing the piano after 7pm. The piano is sitting on hardwood floors, and he probably hears everything. Short of soundproofing our living room, what is a good way to muffle the sound? I know i probably should put a rug under the piano, but does the entire piano have to rest on top of the carpet or can I get away with throwing a small 3x4 area carpet underneath? The piano is in a 11x18 living room. We already have drapes on the wall and there is a large carpet next to the piano.

Also, I notice when my son is playing and he's pressing on the pedals, I'm hearing a slight thump each time and it seems as if the floor vibrating. I don't know if he's just stepping on the pedals too hard, or I'm just noticing it more because it's on hardwood floors.

Hmmm... close the lid, stuff the room with sound absorbing materials I guess.

I'm wondering if you knew this was going to be your living situation, why didn't you get the C2x with the Disklavier that has the silent feature.

Some dealers have policies like they'll take your old piano back at full price towards a new purchase, but you know they'll just bump up the selling price on the new piano to cover the loss on the first Or maybe they can stick one in, or get another type of player/silent system.

Otherwise, congrats are your new piano. I like the Cx's, they're much nicer and warmer than the C's.

Big thick rugs, and maybe a set of these:

http://www.pianofortesupply.com/accessories/caster-cups/piattino/piattino-acoustic-caster-cups-2/

Very good question! I guess the answer is that he and his family didn't want to use headphones no matter what the neighbour that will suffer the most said?

Would a disklavier still produce vibrations when in silent mode, though? Might be a silly question, sorry, I have never tried one of those.


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Magic-sta...nstr_Keyboard_RL&hash=item1c392e3892

Congratulations on your new piano!

It is very kind of you for being considerate of your neighbors. There are a number of things you can do to help tame the sheer volume of sound coming from a grand.

As Ando mentioned, the Piattino caster cups work very well to decouple the sound transmission, through the legs, and into the floor. A floor, especially if it is standard joist construction, can become a second sound board and transmit sound throughout the structure of the building.

Often an area rug can help with overall volume reduction. A small throw rug will have minimal effect, but a larger area rug under the entire piano, including all three legs, is the most effective. The thicker the nap, the more effective it will be. Visually, having a rug large enough to also include the bench ties it all together.

Do take some time to experiment with the placement of other objects in the room. How the sound reflects from, or is absorbed by, the various surfaces will affect the perceived volume of the piano. There are certainly more drastic measures which can be employed to further reduce the volume, but it is best to start with what you have and take it step by step.

Enjoy - Enjoy - Enjoy!

Also there are blankets for inside the piano....I believe they are made from wool...they really do muffle the sounds.

rada

Simple communication works- I'm a longtime apartment dweller. Ask when the neighbors are not home/at work, and a text message every now and then helps greatly. I've had the same neighbors for over 2 years with my grand piano on the common wall, so perhaps I owe these kind souls next door a gift of some sort!

You *should* do some form of soundproofing. Full carpet with heavy underpad would be a start. Or a large thick area rug, as Marty suggests. You could put cork under your hardwood, if you are willing to take up and re-lay your floor. Or you could offer to split the cost of your brother-in-law lowering his ceiling a few inches with a false ceiling.

A 3X4 small area rug is hardly helpful.

Actually, we checked with him beforehand about getting the piano. He seemed ok with it. I don't think either of us realized how much sound would be transmitted to his unit. He's usually at work most of the day so we'll get our practice time in during the day. We're just worried about the weekend.

We bought the piano for a good price and didn't think we would get a better deal with the disklavier. I don't want to get into specifics, but the piano was part of a group deal negotiated with the dealer.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I guess I'll have to go searching for thick rug.

Do check out and consider the Piattino caster cups. They are the best at blocking direct sound transmission to a lower unit.

http://www.pianofortesupply.com/accessories/caster-cups/piattino/piattino-acoustic-caster-cups-2/

Thanks Marty! Will look into the cups as well...

These guys, and others similar to them, make these "sound reduction kits."

http://edwardsstringcovers.com/

Search on PW though, I ***THINK*** I read that Edwards' service was a bit unresponsive, but I might be getting them confused with someone else. I was searching for a string cover recently (for dust).

But it almost just looks like foam mats. I wonder if you can cut up some kiddy puzzle mats and cram them in your brand new C2x. Other prob is a lot of sound comes from the bottom. Maybe you can nail some to the bottom frame.

I had a tech tell me once that I could cut out fiberglass to fit in between the beams underneath my piano. I never did so I can't speak to it's effectiveness, but I would think you could get a significant reduction in the decibel level... might be kind of a cool idea.

Lots of good suggestions in here that can be done. In addition I'd have to agree with terminaldegree that communicating with your neighbours will go a long way, as well.

I'm in an end unit townhouse, and recently picked up playing the piano on a regular basis again (I bought a new grand and I'm back in lessons!). I was worried about my neighbour as, for 8 years or so, playing was very infrequent and pretty much only on the weekend for probably less than 1/2 hr.

I ask her every time I see her if she can hear the piano. She says she hasn't heard it. She is a bit hard of hearing (what luck!) and our units are newer so construction is probably better quality than old town homes, but I did promise her I would never play before 9am or after 9pm, and my practice sessions are usually about 1.5 hrs long. My typical time to practice is 5-6:30 in the evenings, and afternoons on weekends. I also invited her to feel free to call and ask me to stop for a while if she's ever not feeling well and just wants quiet. We enjoy a very good neighbourly relationship and I don't want that to change. So far so good…