Buttkicker's - thoughts on implementation in my setup

EndersShadow

So I am selling off my PSW125 and just going to be using my LSi 15s as full range speakers. This mostly is a result of the fact that because I am in an apartment I cant really crank the bass the way I want without my wife nagging me that the neighbors will complain. With that said I would love it if I could find a way to still get some of that bass feeling when watching movies.

I currently run a 5 channel Carver amp for my entire setup. I have coming in a 2 channel amp to handle my LSi 15?s which leaves me with 2 un-used channels on my 5 channel Carver amp. Each channel can handle 125 watts @ 8 ohms.

I had a thought that I wanted to throw out there and get thoughts on.

What about running 2 buttkicker transducers off the un-used channels on my Carver? We have a kinda cheap couch and we didnt install the legs so I could in theory build a little platform underneath it to mount the buttkickers on as I dont think installing them inside the couch would be the best idea.?

Anyone out there using buttkickers and if do you think they would help augment my LSi 15?s bass feel down low? Am I spinning my wheels for nothing here, or is it a viable idea?

I am looking at the ButtKicker BK-mini-LFE Mini and the Aura AST-2B-4 Pro Bass Shaker as I am not trying to invest too much in this.

nhhiep

I tried it before and it's great for HT, but not for music. it just feels weird when your seat is kicking during music, very distracting. but for HT, the kicking feeling is crazy good. not many sub can give you that feeling w/o bleeding ears first.

EndersShadow

nhhiep wrote: »

I tried it before and it's great for HT, but not for music. it just feels weird when your seat is kicking during music, very distracting. but for HT, the kicking feeling is crazy good. not many sub can give you that feeling w/o bleeding ears first.

Yeah thats kinda why I think it would help me get the feeling I want for movies without as much fear of being told to turn it down from the wife.

I would probably use my double bass setting in my Integra so the LSis still get the full LFE channel as well as the sub pre-outs and then and run them off my LFE channel. That way I can turn them on for Movies and set the crossover to say 80 and off for Music simply by turning the Sub to "No".

My only concern is their low wattage rating and my amps much higher one. I wouldnt want to overload them, especially if I am only using 1 (buttkickers).... The other one is cheap enough I might be able to get two and run them in series to get a higher ohm load....

kuntasensei

If you set Buttkickers conservatively, they really aren't bad for music. In fact, one of their original intended uses was to put on drum stools so the drummer could have tactile feedback from the rest of the band.

The key is in the integration. I don't turn mine off for music, but then I don't typically feel it kick in much with music anyway since content below 40Hz isn't ridiculously prevalent. If you set the level right, it will just feel like your seat does when you're at a concert for music... but then when some sub-40Hz material kicks in with movies, it will feel like you're in the theater. I think too many people tend to crank up tactile transducers until they're gimmicky. In my room, it basically just makes it feel like the couch is on a floating wood floor when it's really carpet on concrete.

EndersShadow

kuntasensei wrote: »

If you set Buttkickers conservatively, they really aren't bad for music. In fact, one of their original intended uses was to put on drum stools so the drummer could have tactile feedback from the rest of the band.

The key is in the integration. I don't turn mine off for music, but then I don't typically feel it kick in much with music anyway since content below 40Hz isn't ridiculously prevalent. If you set the level right, it will just feel like your seat does when you're at a concert for music... but then when some sub-40Hz material kicks in with movies, it will feel like you're in the theater. I think too many people tend to crank up tactile transducers until they're gimmicky. In my room, it basically just makes it feel like the couch is on a floating wood floor when it's really carpet on concrete.

Yeah like I said my fronts are LSi 15's so they dig deep, but I really want to be able to feel the bass more viscerally yet not have it be something my neighbors experience.

I have had my sub disconnected for about a month and dont really miss it that much for movies since I never really got to crank it to begin with. My hope is that with this I could get the sub feel without the noise and keep the wife happy.

I would probably dial it in about 40-60 hz realistically and keep playing with it till I was happy, but either way I am curious if the two models I linked too would work decent with my setup, or if I need to step up to the higher models which might make it cost prohibitive.

nhhiep

the Buttkickers can take a lot of power, so don't worry about overpowering it. I think it's harder to adjust the gain to match other speakers.

EndersShadow

nhhiep wrote: »

the Buttkickers can take a lot of power, so don't worry about overpowering it. I think it's harder to adjust the gain to match other speakers.

True... ok well I will keep it open as an option. Any thoughts on if the cheaper one (Aura AST-2B-4 Pro Bass Shaker) is any good?

michael1947

I have not used any of these butt kickers but have some experience with getting my butt kicked. I was just reading in the parts express catalog about the Aura and if you buy 4 or more they are 46 bucks. However shipping must be to the same address but maybe something would work out if there is some interest from others ...I'm probably overthinking that to same 3 bucks..so
Why not rig up a little amp, something used from Goodwill to fire the buttkicker(s), maybe a 12v trigger or just turn on the amp when you need to shake and thereby leaving your existing system as is.

EndersShadow

michael1947 wrote: »

I have not used any of these butt kickers but have some experience with getting my butt kicked. I was just reading in the parts express catalog about the Aura and if you buy 4 or more they are 46 bucks. However shipping must be to the same address but maybe something would work out if there is some interest from others ...I'm probably overthinking that to same 3 bucks..so
Why not rig up a little amp, something used from Goodwill to fire the buttkicker(s), maybe a 12v trigger or just turn on the amp when you need to shake and thereby leaving your existing system as is.

Yeah I am in for maybe 2 max to start with. I could make 4 work (2 per amp channel wired in series to be 8 ohms) and put 2 in my couch and 1 in my other seats..... but I think 2 in the main LP's (one on each side of the couch) would be just fine.

Like I said I will have 2 extra amp channels so its not a biggie to deal to use one of them and I could leave them on for music but in looking at the LFE of my Integra, I can only set it at 80hz at the lowest I believe...... that might make integrating it a bit harder.....

I wonder how they would work in my car........

kuntasensei

I'm running a single Buttkicker LFE off the second channel of my Crown XLS1500, so about 525w to it. I'm using the couch kit, which made things super easy. You get a mounting platform and isolating feet for your couch, and it works quite well. I highly recommend it as far as ease of setup, 'cause I didn't want to screw it directly into my couch.