Any D-Box X3ME owners here?

[Peter Nielsen]

I'm considering getting a pair of D-Box seats. It would be interesting to hear from other owners...

Peter

[Burke Strickland]

Peter,

Although I am not a D-Box owner, I have experienced it several times with different movies. My local dealer has a rather elaborate demo room (called "Area 51"):
and I imagine their implementation is as close to optimal as you will find. Also, in my own home theater, I have an "all Maggie" surround system (MG 3.6s L/R front, CC3 front center, MG 1.8s rear sides, CC1 rear center, plus a Velodyne FSR-18 sub) so I'd guess that our tastes in sound and set up are similar.

With that as background, I'll have to state that activating the D-Box is more like putting a carnival ride in your HT than truly enhancing the movie experience. It does move you around and up-and-down more or less in synch with the soundtrack of whatever action movie is playing. But since you are not actually in a fighter plane or race car or canoe in rapids or roller coaster, etcetera, and the movement can only crudely approximate the movements shown on screen, it doesn't really make you feel like you are "there".

As a movie "enhancement", I find it somewhat obtrusive and distracting from the movie itself. In fact, one person who sat through one of the demos with me said she felt kind of queasy afterward from being rattled around so much in her chair. I feel that it is actually more rewarding to be stirred (by the intensity of the movie), not shaken (by the D-Box). So while the D-Box was fun as a temporary "change of pace", in retrospect, I think I'd rather spend my time and money on a vacation to Six Flags or Disney World where the rides are the rides, than to supplant my movie experience at home with a ride in a chair.

Since this isn't a small investment, it would be worth spending some time actually experiencing it to decide for yourself. I'd hope that any dealer selling this kind of item could make arrangements for a demo. But if you have to travel to be able to try it out, if you were to visit Houston, the store where the D-Box is set up here is almost a travel destination in and of itself and I'm willing to bet they'd let you spend as much time with it as you would need to convince yourself of its relative worth for you.

Good luck,

Burke

[brac]

There is also a dealer in Mass. I have been trying to get to, I want to check them out myself.
Brac

[Chris D]

Yes, I've been meaning to check out my local dealer to see it for myself. Definitely taking the next BIG step from tactile transducers. With my large experience with TST's, though, I can definitely see how this could become distracting and very "gimmicky".

There is a select few types of scenes, though, where I see that it would be cool, namely flying and chase scenes.

[Peter Nielsen]

Burke,

Thanks for the input! I hear what you're saying. That's pretty much what I was worried about. I can see that all that motion might become distracting...

The closest dealer seems to be at less than 2 hours from my location, so I'll definitely check it out further before making any hasty decisions...

Chris, you have the Clarke transducers, right? Some people claim that the Buttkickers will be more effective, yada, yada.... Is this nonsense, or...? (Do you know if the Matteos will accept Buttkickers instead of Clarkes?)

Peter

[Chris D]

Peter, yes, I do have the Clark Synthesis platinum TST's. DANG, I **REALLY** need to post a comprehensive discussion on my setup and experience with TST's, I get some good questions periodically. Maybe I'll make that my project today.

My opinion and GENERALIZATION of the top 3 "shakers" brands are this:

(1) Auras are the cost-effective way to get "shakers". They're relatively more low-powered and give you a smaller feeling of the tactile sensation, but are a way to break into the "shaker" world cheaply.

(2) Buttkickers are the 5.0 liter V-8 muscle-car products of the "shaker" world. They require the MOST power, and probably give you the greatest physical "kick" for a given input. However, they really do stay in the category of a "shaker", giving you just a jolt of physical shaking during bass playing.

(3) In contrast, Clark Synthesis products truly can be called "tactile transducers", and are more like the BMW M3 of the product family. You may not get as much of a raw "punch" from the Clarks as Buttkickers, but the power's there and they are much more high-fidelity. The reason you would call Clarks transducers and not shakers is that Clarks physically impart the actual frequencies of a sonic input to the object to which they are mounted. (chair, riser, floor, etc) They can even be used FULL-RANGE, such as where they are used in chairs for hearing-impaired people to assist in HEARING sounds and speech, not just being kicked in the pants. The precision is much higher with Clarks.

I'm biased, as I have six of Clark Synthesis' high-end TST's, the platinum, one installed in each of my theater seats. But I share the opinion of many others in the industry that Clarks are the high-end of the tactile products.

As far as the Matteos accepting Buttkickers, I couldn't tell you. Very well could, but I just don't know. The fit was pretty tight with the Clarks in the Matteos, but they were designed for the Clarks. Buttkickers have a totally different shape than the Clarks, as the BK's are more box-like, and the Clarks are more like a flying saucer.

[slayer]

http://www.creativehometheater.com/ in Vegas is an incredible spot to get a demo. It's a $10 million facility. I spent about 8 straight hours there playing with all the systems. One of them has the DBox setup. My thoughts were this. Some of the DVD's we played were flagged and their was an actual written program for that movie. They rocked and it was a very cool experience. The movies that did not flag and there was no program for it, it was not as cool. It has its own DSP and made it's own but was not as fluid as when it was an actual dedicated program for the movie.
The more I played with it, the more I liked it. You do have control of how much you want it to move you around. It was kind of like a subwoofer, I was adjusting it with every movie we put in to dial it in just right. I liked it on the lower settings for most of the movies but like Burke said, it will throw you around if you want it to.
Personaly I liked it. I don't think there is a better way to impress new guest when they first experience your theater. This is all they will talk about.
But, I think the owner will quickly tire of the effects and turn them very low if not all the way off for personal viewing. With that said, I wish I had them. Even if I only used it when guests were over. But then again, the cost of them might make you rethink owning them for that reason alone. I'm going to try the Tactile route, $ is a factor for me.
Chris, still waiting for that review on you Clarks....

[David Meek]

I too have been in Area 51 (the Houston one, not the other) and wholly agree with Burke's assessment. It's not the immersive system you'd think it is. The motions are not the ones your brain expects based on the visual input from the screen. It did more to distract me from the movie than anything. It does have a high "coolness" factor, but in operation it's rather disappointing.

[Chris D]

yeah, Randy, I'm getting hit with a flight checkride right as I'm getting back home, so I'm working on my thorough TST write-up and will post them just as soon as I finish. Haven't forgotten about you!

Good scoop on the Vegas company. The next time I'm there, I'll look them up!