Does anyone use bass shakers

[Openly Baffled]

I've never used the buttkickers, but from my experiene the bassshakers DO produce alot of distortion and unwanted noise...

but if these are hidden underneath your seat you probably will never even notice it.

How does the buttkicker compare with all the "rattling" and whatnot ???

I have never had any distortion or unwanted noise come from my shakers, and I play some of my movies pretty darn loud. I have mine dialed in to where they blend in seemlessly with the rest of the system, and even then, they sometimes seem to be just a little too much with certain movies.

If you're getting distortion and noise from these same shakers, then you must not have your system calibrated correctly. To get them to the level of distortion and making audible noise, they would be producing some awfully strong, annoying shaking that would in no way be a good or fun movie experience. Either that or you're not putting enough power to them and driving your amp into clipping. I'm only using 25 watts which is more than enough for even the loudest, deepest passages.

[Jack Gilvey]

How does the buttkicker compare with all the "rattling" and whatnot ???

I did have one LFE unit that rattled internally, but the company replaced it no-questions-asked, they even covered shipping both ways. They're powerful enough, though (they have a 3 lb. piston!) to shake everything around them, which you'd have to source and quell.

[kid320]

I hate to sound like I am hijacking a thread here, but I do have a question that is very relative to this point.

I am pretty much a noobie when it comes to anything above your standard all-in-one receivers. I have some energy speakers attached to an old yamaha receiver. I have a 500 watt JBL subwoofer. this whole setup is in my bedroom, where I have a futon as the center of the speakers. It sounds really good, although it is an older receiver, but I have everything calibrated and I am very happy with the sound. I am pretty much a plug and go kinda guy. So, when it comes to something with amps and the such, I feel as if I am in over my head and need someone to explain it to me.

My question is, if I wanted to get something like a bass shaker or one of dem fancy tactile transducer thingys, what, exactly would I need to do?

I assume an amp with volume control is the only thing I need in addition to the shakers. If this is true, what kind of an amp do I need? I don't want to end up with a car amp when I need a home theater amp (if there really is a difference). Also, how do I hook it into my receiver? Do I just use the outputs from the back of my subwoofer, or should there be additional outputs on the back of my receiver? If these few gray areas were cleared up for me, it would help me immensely. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

~Jeff

[Chris D]

Hey, Jeff, yes, all you pretty much need other than the shaker/TST is an amp and cables. Yes, the amp should ideally have volume/gain capability, with individual channels. You don't really need something with ultra-high fidelity, more an amp with lots and lots (200-500+W) of power.

There's a couple of ways to hook it up from your receiver. Easiest is just to hook up to a subwoofer output, or if you only have one sub output and are using it, use a "Y' cable. After that, it gets more complicated with more equipment.

[kid320]

Hey, Jeff, yes, all you pretty much need other than the shaker/TST is an amp and cables. Yes, the amp should ideally have volume/gain capability, with individual channels. You don't really need something with ultra-high fidelity, more an amp with lots and lots (200-500+W) of power.

There's a couple of ways to hook it up from your receiver. Easiest is just to hook up to a subwoofer output, or if you only have one sub output and are using it, use a "Y' cable. After that, it gets more complicated with more equipment.

Thanks for the reply, Chris. I would have no problem hooking it up to the subwoofer output, but would this be a mistake? When talking about the Clark Synthesis Transducers, the website says they are "full-range, full-fidelity transducers." To me, that says they produce hi's and low's. So, would hooking it up to a subwoofer output be limiting the range of this thing? I guess what I am getting at is: Do subwoofer outputs on a receiver send the full range of audio, allowing the woofer to cut it off at a certain point, or does the receiver do the job of cutting out some of the highs?

Would the 300-804 or 300-805 (for the same price) listed here (http://pleppy.blogspot.com/2007/03/s...mplifiers.html) be a good amp to get to power one of the silver CS transducers, or am I totally looking in the wrong spot?

Thanks for all of your help. As always, I appreciate the knowledge you give me.

[Chris D]

Hmmm... you certainly can use amps like that, although realize that they're designed to built into the back of subwoofer cabinets--not sure how or where you'd mount them. Also, you may need more power than the models you point out, depending on that model and brand you get.

Yes, you can get into issues of crossovers and range, but then, like I said, you're adding cost and difficulty. Most receivers, at a minimum, have a set crossover frequency, below which all frequencies are sent to the sub, and are cut out above. Typically, this is 80 Hz, and can be custom configured sometimes. (So the subwoofer output is only going to generally send frequencies below 80 Hz)

If you want to use Tactile Transducers to reproduce full range signals, then yes, it will be cut by the crossover. However, I found that even my Clarks I turned down until they were only doing 25 Hz and below.

My surround sound processor actually has dedicated outputs that can be custom configured, such as to use with tactile transducers. You can choose the crossovers, channel mixes, delays, etc. Pretty cool.

[kid320]

I can always mount it to a board or something. I think I am going to go ahead and order that amp and the silver transducer. Based on a few reviews I've seen, I should be good to go.

I am ordering it through parts express. I entered their site via the ad at the top of this page, so I guess thats all I need to do in order to credit you guys for the sale.

I'll let you guys know how it all turns out.

~Jeff

[c019740]

Cabbage makes a great bass shaker! Amplification in the unit.

[artv4]

i think i am going to use a buttkicker amp. though, i need some installation tips!!!