Bass Shakers. Gadget or Must Have? (1 Viewer)

[Tom Boucher]

I finally got my "home theater" seats on order, and I've been nosing around again and saw the Aura Bass Shakers.
Are these things just gadgets, or do they really add something to the experience?
Thanks
Tom
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My DVD Collection

 

[BryanZ]

If you do a lot of late night movie watching and live in an apartment, then you may want to get them. If your nieghbors don't really mind your cranking up the bass with a SVS or the like, then you may not need them. If you think you will use them eventually, get them.

 

[Gruson]

I love mine. I think they really add to the movie and are fairly cheap.
However, I will be upgrading to the Buttkicker II soon, as it is a true tactile transducer. It also requires a 1000 + watt amp. Cost will be around $700 total so it might not be in your budget.
For $60 I would try out those bass shakers. If you don't like them, sell them on ebay.

 

[Doug_H]

These are a must have. I couldn't imagine living without them now. They take the bass way beyond what you can get from a sub unless you plan on sitting on it.
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The Mischievous Rogue Strikes Again! The Humble Hanson Theater

 

[JimHal]

Maybe it's a gadget you must have.
I have some and they are pretty cool. They will not replace a good sub though, jsut add to the experience.

 

[Joe Greca]

I've been looking for the Aura Bass Shakers and still can't find them. You can find a few on ebay, but none of them come with the amp...

 

[Ron Hanson]

I think it falls in the gadget category.
Most of my guests agree that it adds a little to the experience. I cant have them turned up too much without the couches feeling kinky. I already get a lot of bass 'feel' from my subs and it only compliments it. I bought (4) Aura shakers from parts express when they had a clearence on them so it didnt cost me much. I wouldn't invest heavily into them if I had to do it again.
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Ron Hanson
http://www.flippedbit.net

 

[John H]

In my opinion properly installed and calibrated tactile transducers will add to the HT experience.
John
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[Guy Kuo]

I used the bass shakers to great effect. They were essential to get the LF motion effect I desired while not going too boomy and loud with my sub. That was a spousal limitation. She has since relented and I switched to a pair of SVS 16-46 subs which produce MUCH deeper extension than my old sub. Now I've turned the shakers off because they interfere with the motion sensation produced by the subs. The amount of palpable motion I now get acoustically equals or exceeds what I could do with a pair of bass shakers. The pressure waves in the room are amazing - even closing an ajar door. That was a scarey moment.
So I'd definitely use bass shakers if powerful acoustic waves are not an option. The can add a lot to the experience. If a high output sub is possible, then I'd call the shakers are more of an option than necessity.
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Guy Kuo
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Ovation Software, the Home of AVIA DVD

 

[Russell _T]

I think they are a fun gadget for occasional use. For $60.00 you can't really go wrong.
Russ

 

[Nick_Scott]

The Bass Shakers that you find on ebay can be powered by any old amp (even that dusty stereo in the basement).
I actually bought 8 Interactor vests that have a 20w bass shaker inside them from Ebay. Some guy has been selling them for $5 a peice for some time now, and they even come with amps. I extracted the transducers from the Vests, and run 2 transducers per amp, and have them spread around my furniture.
Instead of drilling another hole in the floor, I bought a Jensen Matrix wireless transmitter to send the signal to the amps behind my couch. Works pretty well, but not nearly as good as a Buttkicker. The "Guy Kuo" mod helps performance, as well as a EQ/filter between the LFE-out and the amp.
Must have? Probobly not, but it does make a low-mid end subwoofer feel better then it really is.
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Nick Scott

 

[Joe Greca]

Yeah I think they'd be perfect for me just because I live in an apartment. The problem is I'm only 18 so I don't really have any old stereos laying around...

 

[DonnyD]

I've been using shakers for about 6 months now and I must say they do add a new sensation when calibrated properly. I started with the "regular" Aura shakers, then changed out to the Pro Aura shakers and drive them with a 120wpc amp. They are a great addition to HT. Recently I upgraded my sub to a SVS 20-39PC which has its own "sensation" but I am still using the Pro shakers for that extra shake in the couch while the SVS shakes the rest of the house.

 

[Wes]

I have not played with these yet, so has any one tried different mounting positions? Is there a different feel if you have it in a horizontal compared to a vertical mounting. I would imagine vertical would be better for music and also and I'm guessing here that if you put it facing forward it would be out of phase running it with a front facing sub that is on the front wall pointing into the room?
Wes

 

[Dre J]

Since I don't have an SVS sub. Only the Paradigm PW-2200, which is a very good commercial Sub BTW. I've taken the liberty of adding Bass Shakers to my setup. I've been living with them in my setup for over a year and I enjoy them very much. So do my guests and fellow HT members that come to our local meets.
I'm probably one of the few who don't have them mounted to the couch. I didn't like the effect they produced when mounted to the couch. I took a different approach. I mounted 4 Bass Shakers to my FLOOR! I put them in the center of the floor in a concentrated spot. Not only was I surprised and happy with the results, but the combination of my Shakers and the PW-2200 puts a smile on my face every time I get a bass heavy movie.
Titan AE shakes my floor 40 ft away from the sub! My shakers produce sound! They are calibrated using AVIA the same way I calibrate my Sub. The effect is natural and not over done. No vibrating voices or humming rear ends after a movie. Just clean natural sound and good floor shaking punch.
When/If I ever get My SVS sub ordered, the Shakers will stay, unless you can pry them from my cold dead fingers.
When mounted and setup properly they add to the HT experience.
Hope this helps
Dre
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My little corner of the world
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[MickB]

For $60 I would like to try the Bass Shakers. I have a spare amp 65wpc. Do they provide instructions for hooking these up to a home system? I have a Denon AVR 3300 and HSU sub.

 

[David Lawson]

Joe -
I'm also in an apartment and didn't have a spare receiver laying around, but I picked up an older Kenwood KR-A4060 stereo receiver on eBay for $15 that works just fine (and is especially nice since it has an impedance switch that lets me connect each shaker to its own channel at 4 ohms, rather than connecting them in series to one channel at 8 ohms).
I was out of audio outs on my main receiver, so I just connected the "shaker receiver" to the DVD player's composite audio out (I'm using an optical cable to connect the player to the main receiver). This works well on the whole, but for some reason, the shaker receiver is disabled when I attempt to watch/listen to a disc in DTS mode. Switching to Dolby Digital fixes the problem, which is fine with me...I don't need to be making that much noise, anyway.
[Edited last by David Lawson on October 31, 2001 at 09:56 PM]

 

[Guy Kuo]

David, you typically hook the shaker amplifier to your main receiver's subwoofer output. One may need a Y adapter to connect both a sub and the shaker amp to that same output.
Your DVD player appear to not have a DTS decoder, but does have a DD decoder. During playback of the DTS track, the player then doesn't know how to decode the DTS track and subsequently produce an analog output for your connection. I'd recommend swithching the shaker amp to the main receiver subwoofer output. Not only will this gain you operation of the shakers on all types of tracks, it should low pass the frequencies so you don't get as much of a "voice in the seats" effect.
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Guy Kuo
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Ovation Software, the Home of AVIA DVD

 

[David Lawson]

Guy -
I was concerned whether or not the subwoofer out on my main receiver (a Kenwood VR-517) could handle both the subwoofer and the bass shakers in terms of wattage. I asked about this in a previous thread, which can be found here . If there's a better way to do this (which I'm sure there is), I'd appreciate any suggestions.
My DVD player is a Pioneer DV-343, which has DTS Digital Out.