Vintage HiFi Audio Forum

The Home Theater Corner => Home Theater Audio => Topic started by: OldiesButGoodies on April 25, 2016, 07:12:58 PM

Title: Bass Shakers
Post by: OldiesButGoodies on April 25, 2016, 07:12:58 PM
Installed one of these yesterday and watched the new Star Wars movie in bluray,  listened to the DTS master audio 7.1 track.  The shaker's effect is very cool - kind of surprised that these things are not more popular in the HT world:

http://www.parts-express.com/buttkicker-bk-lfekit-lfe-kit-with-bk-lfe-transducer-1900w-amp-and-chair-couch-mounting-kit--300-9440
 (http://www.parts-express.com/buttkicker-bk-lfekit-lfe-kit-with-bk-lfe-transducer-1900w-amp-and-chair-couch-mounting-kit--300-9440)

Thinking of getting a pair of smaller drivers and mounting them straight into the sofa's wood frame (this one vibrates a pad on which one of the sofa leg's rest),  driven by the same 1000w amp.  The version I bought comes with wireless option for the LFE signal to get to the BASH amp, but that proved less than useful as the signal was distorted so replaced it with a straight RCA and that works great. 

If you have a spare amp there are drivers for as low as $40 buck on partexpress:

http://www.parts-express.com/aurasound-ast-2b-4-pro-bass-shaker-tactile-transducer--299-028 (http://www.parts-express.com/aurasound-ast-2b-4-pro-bass-shaker-tactile-transducer--299-028)

A side benefit is that the sub does not need to be turned as high so the rest of the house does not complain if you are watching bass-heavy content.

Something to try.

Pepe

PS -I did not pay anywhere near that much for the kit- JimP had a neighbor selling one used so I sourced mine that way (thanks!).
Title: Re: Bass Shakers
Post by: bearjew on April 27, 2016, 07:48:57 AM
I always thought they would be super cool for video games, but I never splurged to get one.
Title: Re: Bass Shakers
Post by: AdamG on April 27, 2016, 09:24:41 PM
I've got one of the Aura Bass Shakers that you linked ($40) and a 70w subwoofer plate amplifier. I mounted a board onto the frame of my couch and screwed the shaker to that board. I then put my couch on rubber insulators (IMPORTANT!). It's a blast for movies and video games both! Mine is low-passed at 80hz and high-passed at 20hz for protection. The immersion of these in combination with a subwoofer is really great, you get absorbed in the action, and you definitely don't need to crank the sub as high for the same effect.
Title: Re: Bass Shakers
Post by: OldiesButGoodies on May 01, 2016, 09:37:53 PM
I am addicted to this for movies (maybe to some degree for low-volume) music.  Sold the original amp and am in the hunt for this:

http://www.fullcompass.com/prod/192169-ButtKicker-BKA1000-N?utm_source=googleps&utm_medium=shopping&utm_campaign=googleps&gclid=CP7u196fuswCFUZbhgodHCYNMg (http://www.fullcompass.com/prod/192169-ButtKicker-BKA1000-N?utm_source=googleps&utm_medium=shopping&utm_campaign=googleps&gclid=CP7u196fuswCFUZbhgodHCYNMg)

Twice the power, able to drive two LFE drivers in parallel.  Has a more tunable low pass and high pass filter and continuous volume control - all controllable from my drinks table (it has a fairly small footprint).   

Already have the sofa mounted on buttkicker rubber isolators - they do make a difference!

 >:D

Pepe
Title: Re: Bass Shakers
Post by: Sir Thrift-a-Lot on May 01, 2016, 10:07:12 PM
Maybe you should try sitting on the washing machine during the spin cycle.
Title: Re: Bass Shakers
Post by: AdamG on May 01, 2016, 10:47:55 PM
I use a minidsp for my crossover to my shaker, it does a great job, a high-pass and low-pass the shaker, although I don't EQ the signal at all for that. The other channel of the dsp is for my subwoofer which gets all kinds of doctoring. I just run it off of a plate amp I had laying around, 70w for a 40w shaker.