David,

I don't know about Amana, but we've been _very_ pleased with the three
Panasonic units we bought two years ago. We live in Potsmouth, NH, a
classic New England seaside town, and our house is 25 ft. from one
neighbor and 30 ft. from the other. The outside noise is imperceptable;
partly because, I suppose, the street is 8 ft from out front door. But
even at night, with zero traffic, the Panasonic units are very quiet
both inside and out. They've done something with putty-like-guck on key
points on the little rotary compressors that may be helping damp out
vibrations and noise.

Being a moisture-obsessed person, one of the things I like most about
the Panasonic units is their moisture removal capacity. Here in
Portsmouth, we don't have that many days of nasty heat, but the humidity
level can be very uncomfortable for several weeks in the summer. I just
put the units on "high-cool" with "low fan". Those little units really
pull out the moisture. And they are also reasonably well-built.

The only comparison I can make is to the Fedders units of one neighbor,
and the Carrier units I bought before the Panasonics (and later returned
for credit) The Fedders unit is much larger for the same btu rating
(7800), makes lotsa noise (externally and internally), and doesn't
dehumidify worth a darn. The Carrier units were small guys in a plasic
housing that was nice from a portability perspective, but were
incredibly loud (the compressor is nearly inside the building with those
6,000 btu units) and any moisture that the units pulled out stayed right
in the casing until it started to flood the bottom of the coil and blow
araound (No, I have no idea why that happened, since they have drains,
but somehow they never drained properly)

This experience is not a comprehensive comparison, and the details are
fuzzy, since it all happened two years ago. But the bottom line is that
the Panasonic units were far better than any alternative I saw at the
time, especially from a noise perspective. They cost considerably more
than the Fedders or Carrier units (at Circuit City), but since my wife
and I both work at home, the incremental cost was trivial compared to
the benefits.

Lew Harriman
Mason-Grant Consulting
www.masongrant.com

It is hard enough to get data on the noise of such units radiated to the
inside, much less outside.  You are right about the potential violation
of a noise ordinance.  Communities often adopt ordinances with very low
night-time limits without evaluating the typical levels of condensing
units at property lines.  I know of some towns where most people are in
violation of the night-time limits due to their outdoor condensers near
property lines.

You might try posting to alt.sci.physics.acoustics to see if any of the
acousticians have any data or experience.  I know one that follows that
group was recently looking for data and may have found some.

I can believe the Panasonic possibly being much quieter than US
products.  The Japanese models of many products are quieter.  They
typically live much closer together than we do in the US, and are
subject to more regulation.

Noral Stewart

Checked Consumer Reports, June 97.  In your size range, the 7800 BTU
Panasonic was the quietest and the 8600 BTU Amana was the noisiest.  In
the range of 6000-6600 BTU, the 6600 BTU Amana was the quietest tested,
but no Panasonic was tested in this range. These two Panasonic and Amana
products were the only ones above 5800 BTU to receive excellent marks
for noise.  By contrast, CU rated 9 out of 10 tested in the range of
5000-5800 BTU as excellent for noise.  These ratings were based on
measurements indoors on slow fan speed.  Results outside might be
different.  No actual sound levels were reported.

Noral Stewart

Hey Noral consider one of many ductless mini split systems on the
market.  I have only had the pleasure of installing a couple but let me
say this they are efficient and quiet.  Most have remote control
thermostats 1 ton to 2 ton !    Cosmetically their pleasing hang on the
wall on a pre-manufactured wall plate and all the refrigeration passes
thru the wall and put the compressor outside away from you...

Mel Damron, AllTemp Heating & Cooling