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ButtKicker LFE Kit
By Augie Bettencourt
Introduction
Tactile transducers have been around for years, but to be
honest, I’ve always been a bit skeptical about them.
The thought of adding something to my home theater to shake my seating
seems gimmicky and artificial. After
all, my reference system already includes two Velodyne DD-18, eighteen inch
woofers capable of creating low frequency extension and sound pressure levels,
far exceeding what any reasonable person would want.
Why would someone like me need to augment bass, when I already have bass
in abundance? Recently, Richard Lee
who is also a reviewer on the Home Entertainment Reviewer staff, purchased
Berkline Home Theater Seating with factory installed ButtKickers and convinced
me they are worth trying.
The Technology
A tactile transducer is an electro-mechanical device that
will shake almost anything. Most
tactile transducers are very similar to a loudspeaker woofer driver minus the
cone, driven by an oscillating force (the voice coil).
They can operate at higher frequencies, but people typically cross them
over at subwoofer frequencies and use them to reproduce low frequency vibration
to give the added sensation of movement. The
ButtKicker LFE is a tactile
transducer that utilizes a patented magnetic suspension, which is different from
any other speaker or shaker and can be used on couches, theater seating,
platforms, or any type of structure. Different
from other shakers or tactile transducers that use voice coil technology, the
ButtKicker LFE is more powerful and
offers infrasonic or low frequency response with their resonant frequency of 9
Hz and range of 5 - 200 Hz.
Features
I contacted the Guitammer Corporation, the manufactures of
ButtKicker products for a review sample. I
soon received the ButtKicker LFE Kit with ButtKicker-Link for review. At a
street price of $399.99 the ButtKicker LFE Kit includes the BKA1000-4 amplifier,
ButtKicker LFE shaker, mounting plate, 14AWG wire, "Y" splitter
interconnect, single l
 ead
interconnect, mounting hardware, and installation instructions.
As I unboxed the ButtKicker LFE Kit, I was pleasantly surprised by
overall build quality, amplifier construction and weight.
The ButtKicker LFE amplifier has a huge Toroidal-based power supply and
the Class D amplifier delivers an amazing 1100 watts into a 4-ohm load and 2100
watts into a 2-ohm load! I also
opted for the ButtKicker-Link with a street price of only $69.99, which allows
you to wirelessly install the amplifier in any location of your room.
The system consists of a sending unit, a DC wall-wart type power supply,
a receiver unit, and its wall-wart power supply.
I connected a RCA cable from the subwoofer output of my A/V processor to
the sending unit and a RCA cable from the receiver unit to the line-level input
of the ButtKicker amplifier. In
less-than 20 minutes, I had installed both the ButtKicker LFE Kit and ButtKicker-Link.
Settings
The ButtKicker amplifier provides adjustments that allow
you to select the upper frequency limit of vibration, low frequency cutoff, as
well as the adjustment of the amount of shaking (volume control).
After much experimentation, I found that my setting preferences were as
follows: Filters: Low Cutoff - Off,
High Cutoff – On, High Cutoff Frequency: 50, and Volume: between 9-10:00 on
the volume dial.
Movies
I couldn’t wait to put the “
Jurassic
Park
” DTS Collector’s Edition (Universal Studios Home Video) (fixed disc
version PEMC-D2R2) DVD into my Denon DVD-3910 DVD player.
The ButtKicker LFE Kit made it feel like the T-Rex was stomping in the
room, as my chair shook
violently. The combination of
hearing low frequencies from my subwoofers with the shaking of my theater
seating was incredible. It made
watching Jurassic Park the most fun ever.
One of the greatest, extremely low frequency bass demos in
movie history is the “U-571” (Universal Studios Home Video) DVD.
Chapter 15, “Depth Charge,” is the low frequency king.
The low frequency rumble never sounded strained or artificial and the
visceral impact of depth charge explosions was astounding with the Buttkicker
LFE Kit added.
Next up was the “Black Hawk Down” (Columbia Pictures)
DVD, which is a great, action packed movie with an amazing, sweeping soundtrack.
On Chapter 4, “Irene,” the whirring sound of the helicopter blades
creates incredible, low frequency sound pressure levels.
The Buttkicker LFE Kit augmented my subwoofers by shaking my theater
seating, without seeming gimmicky. By
setting the volume at moderate level, both the subwoofers and the Buttkicker LFE
Kit worked together seamlessly to enhance the movie watching experience like
never before.
I experimented with using the ButtKicker LFE Kit for music
listening. Some may prefer the
shaking sensation while listening to music, but it wasn’t something I
enjoyed.
Games
If you’re a serious gamer, let me just say that there’s
nothing like playing video games on a reference, 7.1 home theater system,
combined with a DLP projector viewed on a 120” screen.
Adding the Buttkicker LFE Kit while playing Call of Duty 2 on the Xbox
360 is the ultimate gameing experience. The
original Call of Duty won numerous awards for its sound design and Call of Duty
2 is even better. With the roar of
planes as they fly overhead. The pounding of artillery explosions, the anti-air
guns and firearms, all of them pound out realistically. Explosions were
incredibly realistic and powerful, as my seats shook with authority.
The Buttkicker LFE Kit brought me into the full feel of war.
Drawbacks
It’s difficult to fault a product as excellent as the
ButtKicker LFE Kit, but one thing I would watch-out for is that the shaker
itself can be over-driven when the volume is set too high, which results in some
undesirable sounds. This is really
the fault of the user, but is something to watch-out for.
A remote IR or RF remote on/off option would be a nice addition in case
you don’t want to use the ButtKicker LFE Kit when listening to music or just
want to adjust the volume without getting up from your seat.
Most receivers/processors have a setting that allows you to bypass the
LFE output, but I’m sure many would welcome the remote option.
A Company spokesman did tell me that they are “hoping” to have out a
new version of the ButtKicker Amplifier by the end of this year with a remote.
Conclusion
I started as a skeptic, but must say the ButtKicker LFE Kit
has made me a true believer in tactile transducers.
For only $399.99, this is a product that’s easy to install and set-up,
is feature rich and will add more fun to the movie watching or game playing
experience than anything else in its price range.
The ButtKicker accurately reproduces the "feeling" range of
many sounds, such as thunderstorms, rocket launches, tidal waves, explosions or
dinosaurs and there isn’t a consumer-level loudspeaker or subwoofer that I
know of that can send low frequency sound directly into the listener's body like
the ButtKicker LFE can.
What started as a product that I dismissed as almost ridiculous, is
actually something that adds more fun to a home theater than anything else that
comes to mind. Some people spend
hundreds or thousands of dollars to hear minute differences in speakers and
electronics, but as far as audio equipment goes, nothing else will have a
greater impact, or add more excitement and realism to a home entertainment
system than the ButtKicker LFE Kit.
Reference
Equipment List
Marantz VP-12S3 Projector
Dalite 120 HDTV, High Power Screen
Definitive Technology BP7000SC Speakers
Definitive Technology C/L/R Center Speaker
4 Definitive Technology BPVX Surround Speakers
Eminent Technology LFT-8a speakers
Eminent Technology LFT-12
2 Velodyne DD-18 Subwoofers
ButtKicker LFE Kit
ButtKicker RF Link
Denon 3910 DVD Player
Sony NS999ES DVD Player
LG LST-4200A HDTV Tuner
Sunfire Theater Grand IV A/V Processor
Sunfire 400 Seven Amplifier
Cardas Golden Reference Audio Cables
Monster Cable Monster M Silver Video Cables
Acoustic Smart Murano Electric Theater Seating
Cable Organizer.com Cable Organizing Products
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