Can subwoofers cause structural damage to the house?

[multichannel_guy]

Hi guys,
I have 2 sealed subs in a 28 by 20 by 8 feet basement room. I went outside to the back patio with my drink last night and put my hand on the outside wall. I could feel significant vibration output on the wall. Long term exposure of such vibration levels to a McMansion's walls couldn't be any good for assurance of structural integrity? Or is it alright?

I have a feeling that some audio enthusiasts hosting lots of ported subwoofers could be abusing their houses even more. European guys with masonry, double brick or stone structural walls have less to worry about than Americanos and their rickety McMansions perhaps?

What are your thoughts? Anyone else worry about your house falling apart when you crank up the volume? Any civil engineers around?

 

[Brian Hall]

Yes, but they would need to be big enough and be fed with sufficient power to produce enough sound pressure to also cause physical damage to a human. I don't mean hearing loss. Think about how strong a blast wave from an explosion needs to be to blow out windows and crack walls.

If you are not experiencing actual pain in that room, your structure is probably safe.

Much lower levels are needed if you are talking about something like the "tofu dreg" Chinese construction techniques as documented by some youtubers.

Too bad Mythbusters is not around to test this.

Edited to add:

Google's AI says:
"Frequency and duration of a 100 dB sound pressure are much more critical than a static wind pressure of the same magnitude. However, a rapidly rising acoustic or blast pressure of 130 dB is commonly used as a design limit for blasting to limit window breakage. Glass usually breaks when the blast level exceeds 150 dB."


I hope no one is planning on listening to subwoofers putting out 130 db or higher.

 

[Chrispy]

Not surprising it traveled that far....but doubt it's threatening your structure but may depend on the quality of build the mcmansiion builder provided....

Mythbusters would be cool....remember the car with giant sub?

ps and oh, no thoughts about my subs doing damage....I did have a neighbor complain once, tho....

 

[sam_adams]

No it won't have any effect. As a homeowner you should be more concerned with the two most serious threats to your home, water and insects. Other concerns would depend on where you live, earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, wildfires, etc.

 

[DVDdoug]

I could imagine cosmetic damage if something was "weak" already, or if there has been settling or ground-shifting, strong bass might "trigger" some cracking in stucco, etc., that would happen sooner-or-later anyway.

But structural damage, no.

 

[Mr. Widget]

No it won't have any effect. As a homeowner you should be more concerned with the two most serious threats to your home, water and insects. Other concerns would depend on where you live, earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, wildfires, etc.

Damn... here in Northern California I have every box checked. No cardboard and styrofoam McMansion issues though.

 

[G|force]

I used to live in a house built in the 70's. Drywall interior walls over wood studs, typical American construction. The drywall was nailed on and mudded / sanded. No screws.

I had 4 JBL 2226 15" subs with 800 WPC.

When I moved out, I found that all of the nails holding up the drywall in the corners of an adjacent room had backed out 1/2".

I didn't notice anything was amiss until moving out when I puled away the book cases in those corners.

 

[Randyman...]

I've cracked sheetrock at the seams back in the day (similar to @G|force - a 70's house). Had eight 15"s blasting along in my younger days. No "serous" damage - mainly cosmetic. I would not be too concerned unless you get into multiple 24" drivers with tens-of-thousands-of-watts and massive ULF response. I "get by" with four Dynaudio 10"s now

 

[voodooless]

Your subwoofer is probably less than .25% efficient, so the sound waves of a 1kW blast of bass constitutes to about 2.5W of kinetic sound energy. Add inverse square law, and you’ll know how much will actually hit the walls…

 

[Pareto Pragmatic]

As someone with an old house that moves a lot..... no. I mean, I sometimes make the house "shake", sure, pipe organ has to pipe organ. But a heavy truck driving by on the road can make that happen more forcefully.

I think G|force and Randyman said it well. Stuff will move, and cosmetic damage might result.

I am really trying to imagine a worst case scenario. I think that would be electrical, poorly installed electrical. I can see how vibrations might cause issues with electrical behind the walls in a McMansion that was put up at breakneck speed. But if it was put up to code? Nope.

 

[Deleted member 69358]

I had the knockdown wall texture crack near a taped drywall seam directly above each of 2 15" Pioneer 3 way speakers(96db sensitivity) when I accidently turned the VSX-90(100wpc) up to full volume with the iControl app from another room. I have also has the knockdown texture covering a few drywall screws fall out with 1/4 inch circles.

 

[Deleted member 69358]

Dollar for dollar, quality of McMansions is slightly higher than that of custom built homes of similar size and price in the same area since everyone uses the same subcontractors and suppliers. The McMansion builders can offer economies of scale as well as extensive experience building the same model repeatedly.

 

[multichannel_guy]

I used to live in a house built in the 70's. Drywall interior walls over wood studs, typical American construction. The drywall was nailed on and mudded / sanded. No screws.

I had 4 JBL 2226 15" subs with 800 WPC.

When I moved out, I found that all of the nails holding up the drywall in the corners of an adjacent room had backed out 1/2".

I didn't notice anything was amiss until moving out when I puled away the book cases in those corners.

I am seriously contemplating installing mass loaded vinyl and 2 layers of 5/8th drywall to better sustain subwoofer abuse in my stupidass mcmansion. Lot of work and moving things around, ugh, it might have been easier when i was younger.

 

[multichannel_guy]

No it won't have any effect. As a homeowner you should be more concerned with the two most serious threats to your home, water and insects. Other concerns would depend on where you live, earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, wildfires, etc.

I live in tornado alley...Subwoofers, house and I will be shredded and hoisted up into the clouds soon enough.

 

[multichannel_guy]

Yes, but they would need to be big enough and be fed with sufficient power to produce enough sound pressure to also cause physical damage to a human. I don't mean hearing loss. Think about how strong a blast wave from an explosion needs to be to blow out windows and crack walls.

If you are not experiencing actual pain in that room, your structure is probably safe.

Much lower levels are needed if you are talking about something like the "tofu dreg" Chinese construction techniques as documented by some youtubers.

Too bad Mythbusters is not around to test this.

Edited to add:

Google's AI says:
"Frequency and duration of a 100 dB sound pressure are much more critical than a static wind pressure of the same magnitude. However, a rapidly rising acoustic or blast pressure of 130 dB is commonly used as a design limit for blasting to limit window breakage. Glass usually breaks when the blast level exceeds 150 dB."


I hope no one is planning on listening to subwoofers putting out 130 db or higher.

Could it be some room modes coupling in a sophisticated fashion and messing with my walls?

 

[HarmonicTHD]

It depends. ;-)

 

[fpitas]

May be pertinent:

 

[Brian Hall]

I live in tornado alley...Subwoofers, house and I will be shredded and hoisted up into the clouds soon enough.

Same here. I'm in Oklahoma. I wonder if a sufficiently powerful subwoofer array would be able to alter the path of a tornado. I would not want to be close to either.

 

[dasdoing]

Glass usually breaks when the blast level exceeds 150 dB

reminded me of the day fighter jets destroyed the windows of our supreme court during a ceremony

 

[Deleted member 48726]

A sub can crack windows in a car. A sufficiently powerful sub would also be able to damage a house. I would guess it is even a more rare phenomenon than the broken car window.