We bought this new Samsung to replace our old Samsung which was about 13 year old. The old one had developed a continuous banging noise that certainly was going to lead to a failure. So, we proactively bought new. This new machine makes a banging noise in transition between speeds that literally sounds like a jackhammer. It has frightened my daughters when they are in a different level in the house! It significantly (2x) louder than our old one. Some cycles we don't hear much noise, some loads are louder than others. We have not been able to associate with with a type of load (towels, or just t-shirts). We will be contacting service to have them come out and take a look. I expect them do say it's normal. Very unhappy with the noise level, to the point we may just write it off financially has a mistake. The machine is level side to side and back to back.