Please Advise!

To sum things up quickly, our neighbor is an inconsiderate jerk. We have only ever had one encounter with him, within a week of moving in, where he confronted Jason (in a rather nasty way) about not bringing our trash can in off the street promptly enough. Apparently he's not aware of the fact that some people work which means that even though the trash men collect at 9:00AM, we aren't home to bring the bin back in until 5:00 or 6:00PM at night. Anyway, that's not even the point of this post. Here's the issue:

Our living room shares a wall with his living room - home to his prized stereo system. When he decides he'd like to listen to music, he does so at only one volume level: MAX. Now, as some of you might now, I'm quite sensitive to noise, so you may be thinking that I'm over-exaggerating here but I can guarantee you that I am not. How do I know? Well, there are a number of pieces of evidence:

1. It drives Jason, Mr. Laid-back, insane as well.
2. We can't hear our TV over his music.
3. We can sing along to the lyrics of the song because it's so distinguishably loud that you can hear ever word.
4. I have to go into a different room to talk on the phone, otherwise I can't hear the person I'm talking to.

Obnoxiously loud, right? So here's my question: What is the proper etiquette for handling this situation? Being the non-confrontational person that I am, I think we should leave a polite note pointing out the inconveniences of this and asking him to turn it down. Jason thinks we should go with the face-to-face approach. And, even if I do get brave enough to confront the guy, what do I say? Presumably, he should have the right to enjoy his home as he sees fit (e.g. blaring his music), so do I need to propose some sort of truce wherein he's entitled to blast the tunes for a certain number of minutes or hours during certain times of the day? Am I justified in a blanket request for no more loud music? What to do, what to do! I can't wait until I no longer have to deal with shared walls!

Please, please, weigh in on how we should proceed with this obnoxious guy! (Oh, and did I mention that the rocker is 50+?! Give up the glory years of your frat life buddy!!)