[jackman]

Hi Guys,
I have not seen anything on this and was wondering what you do to prevent ceiling tiles from vibrating.  I have a drop ceiling in my basement listening room and it vibrates when my system plays low bass.  I was playing a track with very low bass notes at relative high volume and the vibration was really noticeable and driving me nuts.   Has anyone tried blu tac or similar products?   

At first I thought it was coming from my speaker driver but its definitely coming from the vibrating ceiling tiles.  Thanks for the tips!

Jack

[ArthurDent]

They do make holddown clips for some systems, or did, for fire rating purposes. You might check with your local ceiling contractor see if he has a source, or if there is room you can just lay batt insulation on top to help hold them in place, though that will add weight to the whole system depending on how much & what thickness you use. The clips are probably a better solution if you can find them.

A search turned up several links, here's one    http://ceiling.clutchot.com/ceiling-hold-down-clips/

JD

[bpape]

Or you can just lay something on top of each tile with some weight to it. Might have to add some additional hanging wired to beef up the support. Something as simple as a shingle would work most likely.

Bryan

[jarcher]

How about just turning down the volume or the eq on the bass........cheapest / simplest solution of all!  Just yankin' your chain 

[PDR]

Putting weight on the tiles will over time warp them, Ive seen it
many times in my over 30 yrs of being a wall and ceiling contractor.

Try clothes pins on the cross tees....

[jackman]

Thanks Guys!

I like the weight idea and the insulation suggestion a lot.  This is because I have some stuff on hand that should work.  If I warp the tiles, I've got a whole box of extras.  If this doesn't work, I'll order some clips. 

I only need to do it to the ones near my speakers.  Also, it only happens when I play bass heavy music loudly. I'm talking about bass in the 30's or so.  Synthesized bass usually does the trick.  Acoustic bass is usually fine unless I play it very loud. 

I've got some old books that should work or maybe some old records.  Something large and flat would be ideal because I don't want to put too much pressure on one spot and deform the tiles. 

Thanks again. I'll keep you posted in case so done has a similar issue.

Jack

[Rob Babcock]

The place I lived seven or eight years ago had the same issue.

[Alex Reynolds]

I think laying some insulation on top should help the resonating and also will give good bass trapping as well, so that would be my first choice.

[Roc]

I went thru this also.
The standard pressed paper ceiling tiles would move/vibrate, and I believe muddied the bass.
I changed all the tiles to the light weight fiberglass versions.  No help.
Next I changed to hand made drywall tiles.  But even these very heavy tiles move.

Finally, working in a composites industry, I special ordered panels of Polypropylene honeycomb, from a company called Plascore.
They made the panels to my spec's. after which I cut them into 2x2's, using them as ceiling tiles.
These panels have no surface, you can look straight thru the panel.
But they are 1.25" thick, so on even a minor angle they look solid.
Advantages I found: 
I got one additional foot of ceiling height, which opened up the sound and the bass.
Eliminated panel movement, and flex.
I believe this helped with bass response, making it a bit tighter.
Eliminated ceiling reflections entirely. This helped with clarity.
Cost for 14x23 room.  $500.

Picture attached.

Dave