Aura Bass Shakers ... finally... (1 Viewer)

[Checkmate1996]

Folks,

Finally installed my ABS in my wrap around couch after having them sit around in my crawl space for a year. WOW! Best HT upgrade I've done. Forget about buying 15" subwoofers, etc. I don't wake up the kids, I keep my hearing AND I get the enhanced feeling of things really blowing up. It's awesome. Here's a few tips from my little experience:

- Equipment: 4-4 ohm 25x2 ABS.
- Tools/parts: drill, Bits, nuts/bolts, speaker wire, terminals, stapler gun, basic assorment of flat blades.

1) Make sure you mount the bass shakers "firmly". Use either nuts and bolt combo or long wood screws.
2) Use a good stapler gun(craftsman, etc) if necessary when re-installing any seams or fabric.
3) I used an older 50x2 sony receiver for my power source. However, for the sake of simplicity, bulkiness and more power, I will probably upgrade to a standard 100x2 amp. I have the 25 watt bass shakers. However, when ran in series at 8ohmms, they can easily handle the wattage. In my experience, I prefer to run my amps low and have plenty of headroom than cranking them all the way up into distortion land.
4) Tweak the bass level you prefer with several different reference DVD's until you are pretty satisfied with the correct level. Start low and then work up.
5) Finally, make sure you have it tweaked before you show it off to your friends!

Regards,

 

[John H]

- May the tactile force be with you -

 

[WilliamM]

Brad,

I just recently purchased two 25 watt bass shakers. I plan on mounting them to my Berkline recliners and use a 50 watt Subwoofer plate amp I found for cheap. (gives me crossover control as well as ouput). What frequency are you using to crossover the Bass shakers? What have you found to be the most pleasing effect? and have you listened to music with the shakers? Do they have a good transient response with the music?

Sorry for all the questions but definitely curious if it is worth all the work to mount and adjust

 

[Checkmate1996]

WilliamM,

Personally, I have the shakers at the lowest frequency possible. I think it's 42hz. I have not used them for music. At that frequency, unless you listen to alot of rap or techno, you might not get a lot of effect. However, for DVD's it's great. It only kicks in with action movies at the necessary points. That way your not vibrating while watching Kate and Leopold. To date, best movie for testing was scene 15 in U571. It's got constant low submarine bass and then all the explosions from the gunship and barrels. It's awesome. Again, this is something that is going to be relative to each individual's taste and overall objective. My only thought about your setup is your amp. If it's 4 OHM stable amp then stereo should be fine. If it's 8OHM amp, you MAY not have enough watts.

Good Luck and take your time.

 

[WilliamM]

Thanks for the info. The plate amplifier I have is rated @ 4ohms. We will see shortly!

 

[dan scorpio]

i also have 2 50 watts pro's attached to my couch and simply love them...the thing is i also only have a 50 watt at 8 ohms amp plate,i have to run it at about 90% to get a good effect,i will eventually buy a new 6.1 receiver,and then i will use my old 5.1 receiver to run the shakers.....

my question is running my amp plate at 90% going to hurt the shakers? because i guess i am sending distortion to the shakers if running at full? but then again they say you do not need much pwer to run these and does not have to be clean power....thanks for the answer in advance.....

 

[Checkmate1996]

...given the specs of your amp and speakers,it'll probably hurt the amp more than the speakers. Check your THD% and sensitity of your amp and respond. Depending on those specs, you could be sending more distortion that thought which definately could lead to speaker damage. Bass shakers are still speakers that can be blown through distortion or to much power.

Regards

 

[DonnyD]

I've been running some Aura Pro shakers for a couple of years with a cheap 150w subwoofer plate amp. I split the sub signal from my receiver and this setup works wonderfully. While you have overall control of the sub signal out of the receiver, you'll still have individual control of the sub and the shakers. Some dynamic source material and you'll get it all set up just fine.

When I first installed my shakers,I wouldn't say anything about it when demoing my system. The look on peoples faces was just hilarious and most just have to have some of them! I will have to agree with an above post, that it was one of the best things I've ever done involving my HT upgrades and is pretty cheap too....

 

[John H]

I will have to agree with an above post, that it was one of the best things I've ever done involving my HT upgrades

I also agree. I highly recommend them.

I have been utilizing tactile transducers in my HT for 4-5 years. I have used RBH FX80's (high performance Aura's), Clark Synthesis 329F and Platinum models and currently a pair of original Buttkickers.

I started with an array of 8 RBH units. Moved up to a pair of Clark 329F's and then onto a pair of Platinums. Once I installed the Buttkickers I took it to the extreme. I now drive each BK with a bridged Crown K2. I use a pair of subharmonic synthesizers on their signal for deficient low frequency effect titles.

I bypass the synthesizers completely and use a 24dB per octave 20 Hz lowpass most of the time.

John