Thanks, Joe. Looking at the specs:

Specifications: Measured power output: 45 watts RMS into 8 ohms @ 0.1% THD, 70 watts RMS into 4 ohms @ 0.2% THD.

I think I'll keep looking.

I long time ago, around the time the Indiana Jones 3 came out on video (as in vcr, as in early 90's). My friend who is a total audio nut wanted to emulate the aura bass shakers but didn't want to spring for them since he had so many raw drivers lying around.

What he ended up doing was getting 7" or 8" subs and putting them each in a shallow box, perhaps 3-4" high tops. Each box was placed under the sofa seating area and powered by a spare amp channel, he had bass shakers.

I don't think this is an economical design considering the aura's to be about $12.00 each nowadays but for those who want to experiment before they commit, and have some spare car subs or simply 8" woofers ripped from an old speaker, and has the time to make a box, this is an alternate method.

Victor

If you only have two you will need to put them in series. this will result in an 8 ohm load to the plate amplifier.

Is the amplifier rated for 70 watts into 8 ohms, or at 4 ohms?

If at 70 watts at 8 ohms, you will be fine. Otherwise, you might only have 35 to 45 watts available at 8 ohms if it was rated at 70 watts into 4 ohms.

Then if only 35 to 45 watts, it will be marginal for the "pro" units as you will only have about 20 watts available for each shaker. (Now... they will still shake plenty hard at this level, but not at the full potential of the "pro" model)

Question: My new plan is to mount the two Auro Pro shakers on separate seats that aren't necessarily next to one another. Would I still have to connect them in series?

If I got a subwoofer amp rated 100 Wats into 8 ohms at .01% THD / 150 Watts into 4 ohms at .01% THD, what is the best way to wire the shakers?

I'm really bad at this electrical engineering stuff and need all the help I can get. Thanks.

Question: My new plan is to mount the two Auro Pro shakers on separate seats that aren't necessarily next to one another. Would I still have to connect them in series?

If I got a subwoofer amp rated 100 Wats into 8 ohms at .01% THD / 150 Watts into 4 ohms at .01% THD, what is the best way to wire the shakers?

I'm really bad at this electrical engineering stuff and need all the help I can get. Thanks.

Don't take this the wrong way, but yes... you need the help...

If you only have two shakers there are only two ways to connect them to a single amplifier.

In parallel... Now, two 4 ohm shakers in parallel result in a 2 ohm load to the amplifier. Since most subwoofer plate-amplifiers are NOT rated for a 2 ohm load, this would result in its overheating, shut-down on overcurrent, or if it did not include protective circuitry, the possibility some form of self-destruction exists. To the amplifier, the 2 ohm load looks like a short circuit. It might simply blow a fuse, or the failure might be more dramatic.

The other way to wire two 4 ohm shakers is in series. It would result in an 8 ohm load and your amplifier would deliver 100 watts, or about 50 watts available for each shaker.

So... yes... you still need to wire the two shakers in series.

Now.. you can run a length of two conductor wire from each chair to the spot where the shaker amplifier will sit. Then, at the amplifier end of the wires
connect them like this..

http://tinypic.com/avk5qp.gif

With two shakers and one chanel of amplification you really only have one choice, wire them in series. The amplifier will do fine and be loafing... there's no way you will turn it all the way up, but you will be able to if you feel the need.

Joe L.

Thank you, Joe.

Just for kicks, what if there were 3 shakers?

Thank you, Joe.

Just for kicks, what if there were 3 shakers?

With a single plate-amplifier there are again only two possible ways to wire three shakers and get them to all shake the same amount.

All in parallel ( for a total resistance of 1.33 ohms ) or all in series (for a total resistance of 12 ohms)

Any other combination of wiring (two in series in parallel with the third or... two in parallel in series with the third) would result in one-half of the power being dissipated in one of the shakers and the other half of the power being split between the other two... resulting in very uneven shaking.

Same comments as above... 1.33 ohms is too low a load for any subwoofer plate-amp I've ever seen, so 12 ohms is your only choice. Expect the amplifier to output a bit less power into 12 ohms than into 8, but still plenty to get everything shaking just fine. Again, the amplifier will be loafing.

Joe L.

anyone have any pics or ways to share how they mounted there pro shakers into coaster studios?

Same comments as above... 1.33 ohms is too low a load for any subwoofer plate-amp I've ever seen, so 12 ohms is your only choice. Expect the amplifier to output a bit less power into 12 ohms than into 8, but still plenty to get everything shaking just fine. Again, the amplifier will be loafing.

Got it. Thanks again!

Guys,

Should the shakers be set up on the bottom of the couch only, or also on the back? If the couch is very wide (you can almost lay down vertically) should there be more than one per, say every 4-6 square feet?

Thanks

Guys,

Should the shakers be set up on the bottom of the couch only, or also on the back? If the couch is very wide (you can almost lay down vertically) should there be more than one per, say every 4-6 square feet?

Thanks

I read through most of the 25 pages and picked up bits and pieces of answers to my system, but being a mere Mechanical Engineer (Takes an ME to spell MEEK), I need a good Electrical Engineer (Takes a EE to spell gEEk) to help me out with the following:

I just bought Six (6) 50 watt @ 4 ohms each Aura Pro Bass Shakers, 1 for each of my new theater seats coming soon. I have a setup currently with a 5.1 system that has an LFE signal going to my 200W self-powered subwoofer. After reading all this stuff, I see that I need to use a dedicated amp or an older reciever. I happen to have my original reciever when dolby digital was just starting and called AC-3, it's a Pioneer VSX-D3S which is a 5.1 system with 100W per channel, I believe at 8 ohms. Let me see if I have this right, and please correct me if I'm wrong - which I am very sure I am - I take constructive criticism well:

I will first Y-split my LFE signal from my current reciever going to my subwoofer (I am assuming I can split this signal at the subwoofer as this was already pre-wired and I am nowhere near my reciever anymore), and take this split to the "Phono - Left Input??". I assume I then need to wire each set of pro shakers in series for my 8 ohms matching my reciever? If this is the case, I will have 3 sets of series wired speakers, but where do I connect these to? If I have 100 W per channel x 5, can I hook up to the 2 front speaker channels and the center? Am I just connecting to the Left speaker channel? Please help me!

yorkphoenix,

First situation:

If your old AC-3 receiver has an analog 5.1 channel input array (should be labelled FR, FL, C, SL, SR, SUB or similar), you can wire up the shakers as you indicated in your post. Take each pair and wire them in series so that you have 3 sets. Put one set to FL, one to C, and one to FR. Now you will have to split the LFE signal enough times so that you have an RCA jack plugged into the FL, C, and FR inputs on the 5.1 array.

Second situation:

If your receiver does not have a 5.1 channel input and just the regular stereo RCA inputs and digital audio inputs, your best bet might be to wire 3 shakers in series and hook up the two sets to FL and FR. That way you can use any stereo input on the back of the receiver, just make sure that you split the LFE channel so that both the right and left channels are getting the signal. This is the way I have my 6 shakers configured, but then again I only have a stereo receiver and not a 100x5 receiver. If you go this route each shaker will only be able to get about 25 watts of power, since your 100 watt rating is for 8 ohm and will probably be closer to 75 watts for 12 ohm, divided by the number of shakers hooked up to that channel. You're perfectly safe connecting a load greater than 8 ohms, its only when people go less than 8 ohms that the amplifier load can cause problems.

Depending on what virtual surround modes your old receiver has, you could try the 3 sets of 2 shakers on FL, C, and FR, with a regular stereo RCA connection in the back. Some people have reported good results when using a "5 channel stereo" or similar listening mode. The trick is to make sure that each seat is vibrating about the same amount, and some receivers will send a majority of the sound to the C channel shakers and not very much to the FL and FR shakers.

Conclusion:

Whichever way you go, you will need at least two splitters for your LFE channel. One splitter is so your subwoofer can continue to receive the signal as well as your spare receiver. The other splitter is to allow you to hook the mono LFE signal up to a stereo input jack on the receiver. If you have the 5.1 channel array available, buy three splitters so that you can have FL, C, and FR utilized.

Thanks jvgillow! I understood everything but the most important part. If I only have one phono input on this 5.1 reciever, how do I hook up the LFE signal to the FL, C, and FR channels? Wouldn't this input send the signal to all 5 channels? I'm confused. Thanks for the input thus far.

I'm not sure what you mean by "one phono input". If you're referring to a stereo RCA input labelled "phono" you don't want to use that for LFE because it's only designed for turntables.

If you have the 5.1 input like the one in the photo below, you will split the LFE signal three times and connect one jack to FL, one to C, and one to FR. Don't worry about the SL and SR since you won't be hooking up any speakers/shakers to those channels. Then select the input on your receiver that corresponds with the 5.1 analog array.

http://my.fit.edu/~jgillow/images/Misc/6chinput.JPG

York,

Since you have a standard stereo receiver, i.e. one with set A and B main speakers, here's another option and one that I was going to use but never go around to.

(Some soldering will be needed)
Buy two of these crossovers and plug them into speaker set B.
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=266-090

The other side of the crossover feeds into this or similar:
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=300-600
Note: if you get one with individual volume controls, you can further customize feedback.

Plug all of your shakers into each speaker port, whether individually or in paired series.

Now you can have as many as you need without taxing your amp too much since it should only see a 4 ohm load (someone correct me if I'm wrong) and the bass is cut off at 80hz.

I've tried using the sub output but I've never had the shakers outputting at what I find an acceptable level of feedback. By using the main volume instead of the sub out, I was able to acheive that level of feedback.

Update: I realize I am in error on the setup. When I was using the above configuration, it was based on Dolby Prologic or when I was using surround in Phantom mode. Feedback is still not what I want when connected to sub-output but I was getting better feedback when using the center channel. Now that makes a problem when a 4 ohm load mixed with a standard 8 ohm load won't do my center channel amp any good.

So the above setup will still work if you have the following- a main a/v receiver with preouts for main left and right. Most current receivers are designed to still provide channel power to the speakers even if you connect to the preout with outboard amps. Simply get a RCA y-splitter, connect the single point to the center out, and feed the split mono signal into either your secondary receiver or subwoofer amp (like those partsexpress specials). What now will happen is you get the full 20-20k frequency into your 2nd receiver, and the crossover low pass all frequencies from 20-80hz only, plus you still get volume control. For HTIBs and receivers without preouts, what only works will be sending main left and right high level (speaker wire) from the speaker through the sub amp and finally into the HTIB. Eliminate the in-line crossover since the sub amp already already has a built in crossover. You must wire the input to the speaker selector in series or connect the shakers on one side (i.e. right or left) and plug the single +- connections of the sub to that side.

If anyone needs a schmatic I can draw one up.

Victor

jvgillow, I don't have the RCA connectiosn yu show in your drawing. I have the standard left and right speaker connections for FL, FR, C, RL, and RR with a sub out signal also. I am still confused as to where I wire everything up. Can you take a lok at my subwoofer back panel and my reciever panel and tell me where I hook up the input signal (LFE) via RCA cable (Or if I need to change this to speaker wire using the pass-through function on the subwoofer), and then where do I hook up each set of bass shakers that are wired in series? Any help would be greatly appreciated

Can you tell me the model of your receiver? I'll take a look at this later after I get back from class.

Pioneer VSX-D3S. Thanks

50000 views and no one has pics of theres mounted to coaster theater seats?

I have the same question. I got in on the Coaster powerbuy and have 20 bass shakers sitting around. Maybe we should start a separate thread...

Separate question...

With so many splitters (2 or more) being connected to the LFE output, is there any danger of overloading the receiver or degrading the signal?

yorkphoenix,

With that Pioneer receiver I would hook up your shakers using just the left and right stereo channels. Don't connect anything to the center or surround speaker terminals.

So to the left channel you will have three shakers connected in series, and on the right channel you will have the other three shakers connected in series.

Looking at the picture of your subwoofer, it looks like it has a stereo pass-through so you don't have to split the signal there. You will want to split it once when you plug it into the Pioneer receiver; that way you will get sound out of the left and right jacks. You can use a subwoofer cable like this one which has a built-in splitter:

(URL not allowed so go to partsexpress.com, find the link on the right-hand side called Cable Buyouts, and look for the 13' subwoofer cable)

So to give an overview, you have a mono RCA subwoofer cable coming from your nice receiver to the white input jack on your subwoofer. Then you will have another mono RCA cable coming from the white output jack on your subwoofer going to a splitter (this may be built into the cable), leaving you with two male RCA jacks. Then plug those two jacks into one of the inputs on your Pioneer receiver like the CD input for example. Lastly, wire up the shakers in series and hook each set of three up to the left and right speaker output channels:

L (-) --- (-) shaker #1 (+) --- (-) shaker #2 (+) --- (-) shaker #3 (+) --- (+) L
R (-) --- (-) shaker #4 (+) --- (-) shaker #5 (+) --- (-) shaker #6 (+) --- (+) R

Now when you want to watch a movie or something with the bass shakers, turn on your main receiver and the auxiliary Pioneer receiver, set the input on the Pioneer to CD (or whichever input you decided to use) and set the volume according to taste for the amount of shaking you want. Any time your subwoofer would normally play bass is when you will feel shaking. Make sure the Pioneer receiver is set for stereo mode and not surround mode.

I finally follow you. I started experimenting while waiting for your response and just tested the Left speaker channel and it worked. One last and final question though. If I put (3) 50W shakers in series that's 150 watts of power needed from one channel. The reciever is rated at 100W at 8 ohms, so I will now have a 12 ohm load and thus won't this only have 66 watts output power at 12 ohms? Right now I have it hooked up to my old Laser Disk input, can I not set it to an older pro-logic setting and still use the center speaker channel and get my 100W at 8 ohms with 2 shakers in series? Almost there, thanks for the help.

Your receiver is actually rated at 130 watts x 2 @ 8 ohms in stereo mode. If you want to try using the center channel you can hook it up that way, I just don't know if you'll get the same amount of shaking in the seats connected to that channel. The problem with pro-logic is that is examines the left and right channel signal coming in, and whatever is common to those two channels it sends only to the center channel. Discrete sounds that occur in only the left channel or only the right channel are sent to that respective speaker. So what you'd probably end up getting is a lot of shaking in the center channel but almost no shaking in the L/R channels.

I added a single aura pro bass shaker to my racing seat. Makes me feel like I'm actually driving a car. You can see it attached at the bottom of the frame if I uploaded the picture correctly

I wonder what 2 of these things attached would feel like. :cool:

Nice seat Max. Did you build that or buy it? I was at a local garage the other day and the mechanic had build something like that around a small roll cage. He said he got the idea off the internet but I couldn't find anything when I searched. It would be a cool edition to the game room!

I bought the seat at my local Fry's electronics store and it's made by Playseats. MSRP was either $199 or $299. I can't remember, but it's a very solid setup.

Now that I've added the bass shaker to it, I use for all games. When I'm not racing the steering wheel portion just slides out and it can then be used as a regular chair. I played Brothers in Arms last night and felt like I was in the middle of WWII. You can really feel the machine guns going off and when a tank shoots, watch out. It almost knocked me out of the chair..Great stuff.

Guys,

Technical question. I have a 100 watt amp with A/B speaker switch, and I own 6, 25 watt aura shakers. My question is; Is it the same to connect 3 shakers (Left) 3 Shakers (Right) on the A speakers than connecting 2 (left), 2 (right) A speakers, and 2 (left or right) on B speakers?

If not, what would you recommend?

Thanks,

Max

Max, no it won't be the same thing. You will want to connect 3 shakers to each of the A channels. If you were to connect some to A and some to B your receiver will be anticipating a 16 ohm nominal load per output instead of an 8 ohm load. Even if your receiver could handle it, which most probably can at reasonable volumes, you would have an impedence mismatch between the left and right channels. With three per channel your receiver's maximum output should be around 67 watts on each side which still gives you 22-23 watts per shaker which will be more than enough.

Max, no it won't be the same thing. You will want to connect 3 shakers to each of the A channels. If you were to connect some to A and some to B your receiver will be anticipating a 16 ohm nominal load per output instead of an 8 ohm load. Even if your receiver could handle it, which most probably can at reasonable volumes, you would have an impedence mismatch between the left and right channels. With three per channel your receiver's maximum output should be around 67 watts on each side which still gives you 22-23 watts per shaker which will be more than enough.

Thanks, I really appreciate it! Know I know what to do.

MK

hello guys,

I just got a pair of Bass shakers pro from ebay i live in turkey so they dont really have these kinds of gadgets here actually the buttkicker is sold here but for like 2 times the price in the states and i needed something budget friendly so i got the aura shakers. I tried to read the total of the thread and i pretty much know what to do but i need some advice on the amp choice and a final confirmation from you guys if what i intend to do is just.

i have 2 chairs to which i can mount the shakers one each but i have to have a wooden platform to be screwed under the chair and then screw the shaker to them i believe i read somewhere that making a hole on the wood would be nice (a small round hole on the wood to which i will screw the shakers) is that necessary.

ı will most likely install the shakers in series.

Now as for the amp electronics are kinda expensive in here that why i brought all my home theather and hi fi system from out of country, and its pretty hard to find a seperate subwoofer amp so the choices are either buying a new receiver which the cheapest cost around 350 usd sony str 497 or a stereo amp.

I was thinking about going with a stereo amp but your suggestions will determine the action i will take.

I am looking at something around 150 usd used or new stereo amp but i am still searching i thought i found something but later on when i called the phone line of the website they told me that the prices were for like 2 years ago and it is twice the price now. (**** happens)

I would be greatfull if you could tell me which one is better a stereo amp or a receiver and why and will a stereo amp which has 50w at 8 ohms will be ok for running 2 pairs of bas shakers in each channel and with a frequency response of 20hz 20khz

PS Note : there is also a second hand stereo receiver Onkyo 8210R which is sold around 175 usd in an internet site can this do the trick.

thanks again for taking the time to read i know it is a long question which demands a much shorter answer but i tried to give as much as info as possible

Have any of you guys had a problem with any of your shakers? I have 6 of them, but one seems to shake less than the rest. Any suggestions?

Thanks

Max

How are they wired.for even shaking you must wire for 12 ohms with 6 installed.

brickie

Can anyone point me to a thread or describe how to prewire for the Bass Shakers? I'm an electrical noob, so you will have to describe so I understand it.

thanks!

Gary

There's a thread called 'Shakers - Simple/Cheap Hookup - Visual Guide'. Sorry, I can't post URL's yet :(

That thread is an immense help. Have fun reading all 30+ pages, though.

How are they wired.for even shaking you must wire for 12 ohms with 6 installed.

brickie

Brickie,

I have 3 in series for Left Speaker, and 3 in series for Right Speaker. What is strange to me is that only one shakes less than the others. (It is not in the middle of the array)

Thanks,

Max

hello guys,

i have a very simple question for you all i have a pair of pro shakers but no way to amp them at the moment turkey is very exensive when it comes to electroncs due to 100% tax and there are practically no second hand market .

The only affordable amp i could find was a mini amp Spark 2 which is 30 watt at 8 ohns now the guy in my home theather shop which is the biggest in turkey are using a single channel of this for running a clark synthesis silver on HT chair by clark synthesis it self.

I checked the site they say the amp should be at least 100 watts but the guy is running it with a 30 watt amp single chanel one shaker, now can i use the single channel of this amp for running 2 shakers in series.

your help and opinion will be highly appreciated

thanks in advance


PLEASE NEED A HAND HERE JUST SAY IF ITS OK OR NOT

hello guys,

i have a very simple question for you all i have a pair of pro shakers but no way to amp them at the moment turkey is very exensive when it comes to electroncs due to 100% tax and there are practically no second hand market .

The only affordable amp i could find was a mini amp Spark 2 which is 30 watt at 8 ohns now the guy in my home theather shop which is the biggest in turkey are using a single channel of this for running a clark synthesis silver on HT chair by clark synthesis it self.

I checked the site they say the amp should be at least 100 watts but the guy is running it with a 30 watt amp single chanel one shaker, now can i use the single channel of this amp for running 2 shakers in series.

your help and opinion will be highly appreciated

thanks in advance


PLEASE NEED A HAND HERE JUST SAY IF ITS OK OR NOT

A two shakers in series circuit can handle 50 watts. That amp seems underpowered for that circuit, IMO, though it's been said that a lot of power is not needed to get these things rumbling. Maybe someone who's actually laid their hands on these things can shed some light on this and can tell you if 30 watts is enough.

A two shakers in series circuit can handle 50 watts. That amp seems underpowered for that circuit, IMO, though it's been said that a lot of power is not needed to get these things rumbling. Maybe someone who's actually laid their hands on these things can shed some light on this and can tell you if 30 watts is enough.


thanks a lot spaceman, others please jump in they guy who is selling them has only 3 left and just for the info they will cost me around 130 bucks and you cant buy a basic stereo amp ath twice this price in turkey i just get this price since i have very good relations with those guys and this product is no longer beeing manufactured as far as i know

I bought a used receiver on ebay for around 30 bucks that had plenty o power for some auro pros. It doesn't take a whole lotta power, but I'd hate to pay that much for a new amp when used will work just fine. Can you get ebay or other auction site over there? Local pawn shop?

I bought a used receiver on ebay for around 30 bucks that had plenty o power for some auro pros. It doesn't take a whole lotta power, but I'd hate to pay that much for a new amp when used will work just fine. Can you get ebay or other auction site over there? Local pawn shop?

thanks PAP, well i do buy stuff from ebay but unfortunatly anything electronic would cost 2 to 3 times its auction value due to customs in turkey and shipping cost therfore its not a good option in my case , and the market on electronics is very tight in Turkey finding a second hand amp in a pawn shop is practically impossible. Therfore i have to go for something new but economical, so as your opinion the 30 watt should provide enough power for the shakers right ? Would i damage the shakers or the amp going by that route .?

thanks again

I have a question...
This has probably been asked and answered already, so forgive me, but I am going to be using seven pro shakers in a seating configuration of four in the first row and three in the second.
Can anyone help me with the wiring of this configuration?

Craig

I have a question...
This has probably been asked and answered already, so forgive me, but I am going to be using seven pro shakers in a seating configuration of four in the first row and three in the second.
Can anyone help me with the wiring of this configuration?

Craig
With a single amplifier (one channel) there are only a couple of ways to get them to all shake equally. Wire them as two sets of five shakers in series. A set of 5 in series will be 20 ohms. The two sets of 5 can then be paralleled at the amplifier output for a total load of 10 ohms.

You could also make 5 sets of two in parallel (each set of two in parallel = 2 ohms) and then series connect the 5 sets... again a 10 ohm load like the first way I described, but a different way to get to the same result physically.

With two channels of amplification (and a way to individually adjust their gain ie. a L/R balance control) you can have a series/parallel set of 4 shakers for a 4 ohm load on one channel and a set of three in series as a 12 ohm load on the other. The balance control on a stereo amp will be way off center with this, but you could get all the shakers to shake equally this way. This might work for you since one channel would feed the front row and the other the rear.


Joe L.

Joe,
Thanks for your input.
I think your below advice sounds like the best scenario of the three options you gave me.



With two channels of amplification (and a way to individually adjust their gain ie. a L/R balance control) you can have a series/parallel set of 4 shakers for a 4 ohm load on one channel and a set of three in series as a 12 ohm load on the other. The balance control on a stereo amp will be way off center with this, but you could get all the shakers to shake equally this way. This might work for you since one channel would feed the front row and the other the rear.


Joe L.

I was planning on using my old receiver, but do you have any input as to what I should try to get as an amp? I would like to be able to control the front four seats separately from the back three seats. :)

Thanks so much.

Craig

Joe,
Thanks for your input.
I think your below advice sounds like the best scenario of the three options you gave me.



I was planning on using my old receiver, but do you have any input as to what I should try to get as an amp? I would like to be able to control the front four seats separately from the back three seats. :)

Thanks so much.

Craig
Can't help you much there... figure you need about 15 - 20 watts per shaker and go from there. When they are all shaking equally, they will all be getting the same amount of power.... however...

The channel with the 4 ohm load will be putting out a smaller voltage at a higher amount of current. The channel with the 12 ohm load (and the balance control off-center) will be putting out three times the voltage, and one quarter of the current. Both will result in the same voltage across and current through each individual shaker. The one channel with three shakers could end up "clipping" if the volume is turned too high if the amplifier is underpowered. The other channel with a 4 ohm load will run much hotter because it has to supply 4 times the current but at a third of the voltage.

My only advice is try it and see. You will need to experiment a bit to see how hot the channel with the 4 ohm load gets. If too cheap a receiver and no overcurrent/overheat shutdown circuitry exists, and not designed for 4 ohm loads, it could self-destruct... In order to do a decent job it must be specified for use with 4 ohm loads. I'd look for something 100 watts per channel or thereabouts.

Joe L.

Can't help you much there... figure you need about 15 - 20 watts per shaker and go from there. When they are all shaking equally, they will all be getting the same amount of power.... however...

The channel with the 4 ohm load will be putting out a smaller voltage at a higher amount of current. The channel with the 12 ohm load (and the balance control off-center) will be putting out three times the voltage, and one quarter of the current. Both will result in the same voltage across and current through each individual shaker. The one channel with three shakers could end up "clipping" if the volume is turned too high if the amplifier is underpowered. The other channel with a 4 ohm load will run much hotter because it has to supply 4 times the current but at a third of the voltage.

My only advice is try it and see. You will need to experiment a bit to see how hot the channel with the 4 ohm load gets. If too cheap a receiver and no overcurrent/overheat shutdown circuitry exists, and not designed for 4 ohm loads, it could self-destruct... In order to do a decent job it must be specified for use with 4 ohm loads. I'd look for something 100 watts per channel or thereabouts.

Joe L.

Thanks JL.

I will look around. My current receiver is 100 watts X 5 but we all know that it probably is probable not truly 100 watts per channel.

Craig

Thanks JL.

I will look around. My current receiver is 100 watts X 5 but we all know that it probably is probably not truly 100 watts per channel.

Craig
Since you are not going to be using all 5 channels it might just work out fine. Try it before going crazy with finding an alternative.

Since you are not going to be using all 5 channels it might just work out fine. Try it before going crazy with finding an alternative.


Well, I was thinking about using my old living room surround receiver for my seven pro shakers, but I have decided to just try and pick up a really cheap receiver.
I am not sure what would be a good amp so I am going to ask if either of these would be enough?

200 watts total power: 2 x 100W

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Sherwood-Stereo-Receiver-RX4105-/sem/rpsm/oid/121266/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do


200 watts total power: 2 x 100W, 40Hz - 20kHz power rating @ 8 ohms

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=6305241&type=product&productCategoryId=cat03031&id=1076628923551




Craig

I've got 8 bass shakers (4 pair from parts express) on the way, and am still confused about how to hook them up. I have this receiver in my lounge atm that I'm considering replacing http://www2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/vModelDetail?storeId=15001&catalogId=13401&itemId=63396&cacheProgram=11002&cachePartner=7000000000000005702&surfModel=SA-HE75S&catGroupId=25013&surfCategory=Receivers&displayTab=S so could use it. From that page: Output Power - Stereo Mode 100W per channel (40Hz-20kHz, 6 ohms, 0.9% THD) although the only going to 40Hz concerns me. I'd consider ordering something like this: http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshowdetl.cfm?&PartNumber=300-793&DID=7 if its not overkill. If I did how would I hook it up for 8 shakers? Other than cabling is there anything else I need? A Y splitter for the sub line out of my primary reciever, anything else? Primary receiver is a Denon 3805 if that makes a difference.

Any help appreciated, my heads spinning trying to work this out atm :p.

They will be hooked up to 8 HT recliners similar to the berkline 088s (I think they're rebadged by the Australian distributor or made under liscense or something) in 2 rows of 4.

I gather that if I ran 2 channels with 4 shakers connected in series that would be 16 Ohms each channel? So whilst thats higher than what an amp says it will still be driven fine? I understand connecting them in series, and fairly sure I understand connecting in parrallel. Its when both together are mentioned I get really confused. I presume I could connect each channel up with a mix of series/parrallel to end up with 8 ohms, but not sure how that would actually be done.

Yes higher impedence is fine but the output power will be correspondingly lower. For instance, that Panasonic receiver you have will only output around 40 watts per channel at 16 ohm load. Divide that 40 watts by 4 shakers per channel and you've got a measly 10 watts maximum continuous power available for each one. You'd be better off using (a) an amplifier that can handle 4 ohm loads (connect two in series, two in parallel to get 4 ohms per channel) or (b) two separate amplifiers that can handle an 8 ohm load (two in series per channel, four total channels).

If you buy that partsexpress amplifier, you would have 4 shakers connected in series paralleled with the other four to give a load of 8 ohms. That means each one will get 150 watts / 8 shakers = 18.75 watts. Definitely better than the Panasonic receiver but still not quite hitting the maximum 25 watts continuous for the standard Aura shakers. You could always try one of the partsexpress amps, see if it gives sufficient output, and if you need more just order a second one. That way you could operate it with a 4 ohm load instead of 8 ohm and get the full 250 watts. That would give you 62.5 watts per shaker which is overkill.

If you want to go cheaper than the partsexpress amp and don't mind using a stereo receiver instead of a subwoofer plate amp, check out the Sherwood RX4103 or RX4105. J&R sells the 4103 model and Circuit City sells the 4105 model. A bit less than $100 and that gets you 100 wpc @ 8ohm. Get two of those guys and you'd be set for 8 shakers. The one downside is that you have to set the receiver volume each time you power the system on... it defaults to half-volume if you have it cranked when the receiver is shut off. I use a RX4103 with 6 shakers (12 ohm load per channel) and it gives more than enough power. It is kinda nice to have remote control ability if you want to be able to adjust the amount of shaking on-the-fly.

From some of the recent shaker posts, it looks like partsexpress is now shipping the "naked" versions which don't have any wire leads attached. I think that means you will need to solder your speaker wire directly to the contacts inside the shaker. Not a problem for the DIY type person but you might need a soldering iron if you don't already have one. You will need the subwoofer y-adapter as you mentioned. If you end up with two of the PE plate amps you will need another y-adapter. If you get two stereo receivers you will need the extra y-adapter plus two more y-adapters to convert the mono LFE signal to stereo so you can feed it to the tape/cd/whatever input of the receiver.

Great reply, thanks :). Pictures on the parts express site would indicate you're right and no leads. I should be set to solder them on though. Found a link a few pages back with info on how to wire them up. Now its a matter of finding the right amplifier I guess. I had visions with the plate amplifier above of actually attaching the amplifier to the front of the risers and putting the control unit at the front of the room (again I'd have to extend the leads to fit). Meaning I could point the remote at the front of the room to control them, but could always just turn around or reach down to get to the amplifier easily. Very easy access below floor and havnt built my riser yet when it comes to setting all the wiring up. Guess it doesnt hurt to try one of the plate amps linked and if it doesnt do the job get a second. In the meantime I'll spend a little longer searching. Gradually making my way through this whole thread, its huge :p.

Just found this locally, looks like it should be perfect:

http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=AA0508&CATID=&keywords=subwoofer+amplifier&SPECIAL=&form=KEYWORD&ProdCodeOnly=&Keyword1=&Keyword2=&pageNumber=&priceMin=&priceMax=&SUBCATID=

240W at 8ohms gives 30 watt per shaker (yes?), and can get it cheaper than the one from parts express delivered with everything else I wanted, plus can ask them for help on setting it all up/cables/etc.

Yep that looks like a decent amp.

BjsAust, there's no where in Australia that sells the bass shakers is there?

I bought a couple ages ago from Jaycar but they seem to have stopped selling them.

I havnt found anywhere. I checked my local Jacar and nothing, and not mentioned on their website.

I got the 4 pair delivered for about $345AU from parts express. Shipping cost more than the shakers :p.

I discovered something new with my aura shakers the other day. I have probably watch Stars Wars OT about 25 times within my lifetime and always on a sub-par home theater system. Recently I upgraded and added a sub and bass shakers to my system. I decided to test out my new toys and watch A New Hope. To my surprise when Darth Vader uses his force choke I could actually hear it thru the sub and then feel it shake my couch. I never knew that effect was there. Since then I must have played that scene over about a dozen times.

No telling what else I have missed. Looks like it's time to go thru my entire dvd collection and find out.

For those that are looking to power the bass shakers, I bought two AudioSource AMP100's. I have 4 x Berkline 090's with 8 Aura BassShakers, two per chair. I ran each pair in series to give me the 50watts/8 Ohms per channel. You can controll each chair by adjusting both the balance and volume accordingly. Trust me, at 75% power, these shakers really rumble. They compliment my dual SVS subs perfectly! :p

Although I did have a problem at first and was dissapointed with the performance of the shakers. I have two LFE outputs on my receiver. First one was connected to a phase adjustment (needed it for my dual subs) and second one had a Y adapter to split the channel to left and right for the bass shaker amps. It seemed that the strength of the LFE output was faint. My subs were fine but the shakers were not really shaking. My subs were actually shaking the chairs more then the actual shakers. So I decided to just tap in to the LFE from my phase adjuster which has sort of a mini amp built-in. To my surprise, the chairs came alive! I had to lower the bass shaker amps to about 75% and even lower on some occasions. :eek: So just incase some people are getting sub-par performance, check the strength of the LFE output. Hope this helps. I've attached a pic of the two amps I use for the bass shakers. Its the bottom two on the lowest part of the rack.

Btw, I forgot to mention the amps were about $57ea at ubid.com. They are refurbished. One of my knobs were loose, on the amp that is :p

Conrad,

Where (and how) in your 90's did you mount the 2 shakers? I've tried both screwing them to a piece of wood behind the springs and twitsy tied to springs. Both give good results for shaking, but I think I can feel the shaker underneath when I first sit down. THey are mounted towards the front part of the seat. Wondering how you did this.

Conrad,

Where (and how) in your 90's did you mount the 2 shakers? I've tried both screwing them to a piece of wood behind the springs and twitsy tied to springs. Both give good results for shaking, but I think I can feel the shaker underneath when I first sit down. THey are mounted towards the front part of the seat. Wondering how you did this.


I used this (http://www.dvarchive.org/Shakers/) as the basis for mounting my shakers to the 090's. Its instructions on how to mount them on 088's. I just modified it to suit my taste. I used oak and thicker wood, 1" x 7" x 21". I also used nuts and bolts instead of wood screws.

Here are the items I used:
http://gallery.avsforum.com/data/507/DSC02951.jpg

- Oil to help lubricate the drill bit. (tip from the guy at the hardware store) Also helped to keep the bits of metal from flying around!

- A pretty decent metal drill bit. I used a 3/16" cobalt drill bit. As the instructions say in link above, this is a must. I couldn't even drill twith the the bit that comes along with power drill. All I did was make scratches. The good drill bit with oil made is so much easier!

- Machine screws and nuts. #8/32 x 1-3/4". I bought a box of 50

- Washers. #10. Don't know if #10 is the size. :confused:

- Wire connectors. 16AWG. I didn't want bare wire to float around.

Overall view. Notice I used alot of screws and bolts:
http://gallery.avsforum.com/data/507/DSC02941.jpg

Blue wire connectors:
http://gallery.avsforum.com/data/507/DSC02945.jpg

First shaker mounted, 7 to go:
http://gallery.avsforum.com/data/507/DSC02864.jpg

Close up of the bolts, nuts and washers
http://gallery.avsforum.com/data/507/DSC02942.jpg

Shakers in place and ready to rumble
http://gallery.avsforum.com/data/507/DSC02935.jpg

Hope this helps! Let me know if you need details!

By all means I am not good at this. If I can do it, anyone can!

BTW, I also used some Velcro to help keep the speaker wires in place.

Very nicely illustrated Conrad! This will help a lot of folks.

Thanks!

Very nicely illustrated Conrad! This will help a lot of folks.

Thanks!

Not a problem at all. This forum has provided me with so much info. I'm glad if this helps others.

I know I'll definately be coming back to check it out when my chairs arrive :). Thanks Conrad.

I noticed that the board you added is mounted to the base frame of the seats. Wouldn't they work better if they were mounted higher in the framing? Anyone try another spot higher? I have mine zip tied to the wire frame under the seat and I had to turn them down.

I'm a newbie on Bass Shakers but I have a set of 6 088's on order and will be installing them soon. A couple of questions:

1. Both of the write-ups on the previous page had two shakers per seat. Is this necessary? Would a single "Pro" do the same job as two regular shakers?

2. The 088 write-up used a power recline 088. Does anyone know how different the bottom of a manual recline 088 is? There will be no motor, obviously, but is there anything associated with the manual mechanism that will be in the way?

I noticed that the board you added is mounted to the base frame of the seats. Wouldn't they work better if they were mounted higher in the framing? Anyone try another spot higher? I have mine zip tied to the wire frame under the seat and I had to turn them down.

I'm the guy who wrote the article on modding the 088's that Conrad had a reference to in his post. I did try putting the shakers on the seat the way you suggest (attached to the wireframe) but I didn't feel it was sufficiant. I could feel rumbling at my butt, but the chair itself felt "dead" (relative to what my bottom was sensing). It felt for "artificial" (i.e. an effect, vs the chair rumbling).

Mounting them to the frame causes a much more pronouced and evenly distributed "shaker" feel throughout the chair (in my opinion). The metal frame on the Berklines is pretty strong and conducts the shaker output pretty well.

If you want to mount them to the frame, there are precious few good spots, especially if you are planning on mounting 2 of them, other than across the bottom (even that can interfere with the mechanism if you aren't careful).

Note: I have tried oak and I've tried pine and I've found that pine works well and in fact, slightly thinner pine than I wrote about in my article works better. You want the board to resonate some and as long as it's tightly coupled to the frame, this won't cause any nastiness.

I also used one channel of my Feedback destroyer to help even out the levels somewhat. You cannot get a perfectly flat response to shakers, but using a sound meter (jammed into the chair) and the feedback destroyer and spreadsheets, I was able to get a much more uniform response than I started with.

Gerry

1. Both of the write-ups on the previous page had two shakers per seat. Is this necessary? Would a single "Pro" do the same job as two regular shakers?Necessary? no. Desirable? Yes.

This is more important if you are getting the 25 watt shakers -- you might be OK with one if using the 50 watt models. I found one 25 watt really didn't move the chair enough. Worse, in the process of "turning up" the amp, I blew one shaker out (much easier than you might think -- always start with a low volume setting on your amp). Using 2 allows you to run them at lower "volume" and get good even shaking. Remember -- you can always turn them down, but you can't make them any "louder". Plus (at least at the time) they were really cheap (like $30/pair), so it wasn't a big deal financially.

I'm thoroughly convinced that you need to concentrate on getting even distribution of the shaking effect to reap the prize -- folks don't even know the chair has a shaker -- they just think it's part of the movie (and subs). Uneven distribution makes it pretty clear that there is something bolted to the chair.

2. The 088 write-up used a power recline 088. Does anyone know how different the bottom of a manual recline 088 is?Slightly different, but not very much. In fact, you'll have more room to put things in. I helped one guy out who had manual reclines and he put two boards instead of one (extra room) and put one shaker on each board. Came out nice, though I think two on a single board is pretty much the same (and 4 less toughy holes to drill per chair).

I am sorry for this question as I am sure someone has asked a similar one, but I am at work now and will be leaving early to get the room ready for a party tonight (put the shakers on) and don't have time to read threw all the post.

I have a old sub HT-S15 that has a 200w plate amp. I am going to use it (the plate amp) to run 6 of the 25w shakers. I am pretty sure this amp is fine for my situations. The question I have is what would be the best way to hook all the shakers together (series or parallel) to get the same effect? If someone has a diagram or can give me a link I would be your very best friend :-)

Sorry again for asking this question without going threw the whole thread.

It depends on what your amp is designed to drive into. Most amps have a low end ohmage and an optimal ohmage and you want to hit between those two. You also want to make sure that each shaker is presenting the same load to the amp in order to insure that they all perform the same.

I have 3 amps powering 14 shakers. That gives me 2 sets of 6 shakers each and one pair on their own amp. In my case, the plate amps I use can go down to 4 ohms. So I wired them like this


(from amp +) --+--- #1 --- #2 --- #3 ---+-> To amp (-)
| |
+--- #4 --- #5 --- #6 ---+

So two sets of three. Each set is wired in series (- from one goes to + on the next, etc). Then the two sets are paralleled. This provides a 6 ohm load (4 + 4 + 4 / 2 or 12 /2 = 6) which my amp likes. Be sure to keep the polarity in check (make sure both series are wired them same (+/- wise) and when you parallel them, hook both + sides up and both - sides up).

gduprey, Thanks and I think I understand. Just wondering it looks like you meant to post something but it did not work. Can you try again please. I am a very visual person.

Thanks

Well, it looks fine here. Sigh -- the ASCII graphics thing never works.

Hopes this helps

http://www.dvarchive.org/six_shakers.JPG

gduprey - Looking at your diagram, could you use that setup on each channel of a stereo amp and drive 12 shakers?

gduprey - Looking at your diagram, could you use that setup on each channel of a stereo amp and drive 12 shakers?


Yes. Set the amp to a mono output or have both channels get the same input.

hi, i am new to the AVS forum, but i am convinced on the bass shakers, as they are very cheap, and that is something i very much appreciate. my HT setup is in my bedroom, and the sole seating is my bed which is just across from the screen and under the projector, my question is this, has anyone here fixed bass shakers to a bed before? if yes? how did you set it up and what were the results? fixing them would not be a problem as there are plenty of nice mounting points on the frame of the box springs. I was at first only considering putting 2 of these(one on eachside of the bed somewhat 2/3 up the bed) but would you recommend putting four and adding the 2 towards the legs, would this make for a more realistic experience? thanks for all the help

Ok,

I was successful in drilling 2 out of 4 holes in the metal frame of my Berkliner's. I'm on my 3rd drill bit. What is the secret??. 2 holes went OK, but the last 2 I can not get the bit to go completely through. I am using a Cobalt metal bit (tried a few different brands) and can't seem to get more than halfway through on the last 2 holes. I have 5 more chairs...so need a differnet method.

barhoram ,

Try a little 3-in-1 oil you can get at any hardware store. Don't use WD-40 -- it just burns up (and smokes like crazy). Your problem is the bit is getting too hot. The oil keeps it cooler.

You put a few drops in the space you are drilling, drill a bit, put in a few more drops, repeat. Should help.

Steve

I'd suggest using a Titanium Nitride drill bit. It has a self lubricating coating for drilling metal. Use the oil too to keep the bit cooler. These bits usually look gold in color.

Hi, I have been using 2 25w aura's on my couch for about a year. Love them! I am driving them with cheap Aiwa 30 wpc receiver using Y cable from sub out. Receiver is rated at 6 ohm and I am running one shaker from L output and other from R, so receiver is loaded at 4 ohm.

My question is, if I get another pair and run 2 in series on each channel at 8 ohm, won't each shaker only be getting 15 watts? Which I don't believe would be enough. I run volume at 80% most of the time. Thanks Phil

Another quick question. I have read this thread but didn't see lot of responses about using receiver down to 20 HZ. My receiver for shakers is only rated down to 50 HZ. BTW my Onkyo sub and receiver are rated to 20 I believe. Does is make that big of a difference for the shakers to have receiver capable of lower response?

OK, reread some posts. If I understand math right, if my receiver is rated for 30 wpc at 6 ohm, when running 2 shakers in series at 8 ohm then each shaker would get roughly 25 watts?

i've been reading this post since September, when I got my Berks, and have been quietly reading and learning from it. I finally got my Aura's installed, (1) 25W per seat and I just had to throw me 2 cents in.

these things are GREAT! :D

They were definitely worth the cheap investment as they truely add another dimension to my viewing! I would definitely recommend them to anyone.... especially when you consider the low upfront investment and the high payback.

Hi, I am really new at this stuff, I just put my HT together 2 weeks ago and I've been reading as much as I can about bass shakers, I placed an order for 6 of them with a 240W amp and they will arrive next Tuesday. In the mean time I need to learn about Ohms, Hz, parallel, series and so much more...

Is there a webpage where I can read and learn about this stuff? I can follow instructions how to connect them but I would like to learn why they are wired the way the are. If you know of one please let me know.

I was told for 6 shakers I have to wire them 3 and 3 in series, I am expecting a diagram and that should make it easy.

Thank you.

Bear, welcome to AVS.

Look through this thread. You should find plenty of posts on wiring the shakers.

Skip

704set Thank you for the welcome.


GDUPREY, I am hooking up 6 shakers as you have in your diagram. I was under the impression that the shakers were to be plugged 3 on the left channel and 3 on the right.

BUT, I was told to wire them the same as your diagram and then the 2 leads (+ & -) from the shakers splice to the 2 leads that the Amp has in the back!! This is new for me, like I said before I was going to connect them to the front L & R channels. Can you confirm this?

The Amp I have is part # 300-804 at Parts Express

I am sorry I can't post the pictures due to my low post count.

Update.
They are installed, 4 25W in the sofa and one in each chair, 6 all together, WOW they are terrific, they should be marked "For Adults Only" or XXX lol
I have the Freq. at 40 and the Gain in the middle and I may have to lower it a bit.
I love them.

THANK YOU GUYS!!!

...they should be marked "For Adults Only" or XXX lol

My oldest friend tells his wife that she has to bring a change of underwear when they come over to watch movies.

My oldest friend tells his wife that she has to bring a change of underwear when they come over to watch movies.

That is funny. :D

Hi all. I thought I'd let you people know of my recent experience of converting my 12 year old Lazyboy twin recliner three-seater couch to feature three Clark Synthesis tactile transducers powered by three separate sub amplifiers from parts express (250 watts into 4 ohms w/remote-referred to in this thread). I had been thinking I needed to buy a new subwoofer since I rearranged my HT setup and my sub lost it's spot. It was further away from the main seating area and was suffering a loss of effect. I suspected converting my couch with Clark transducers was a possible answer for me and I am happy to say I was right---in spades. The couch was in fine structural shape with mint upholstery before converting. The recliner tracking rails were loose and worn and the seat backs were loose and sloppy as well. As I planned to remove the recliner rails anyway and to also substantially brace the whole couch I figured these weren't important factors. The basic idea came from the "Jurassic Couch" described on Clark's website. I am using a TST429 for the center seat and TST239's for the left and right seats. I'll tell you right now that the "429" is way overkill for a couch. The 239"s do a great job and would be fine to use in all three seats. I am throughly impressed with the result and performance of the Clark product. Very tight, responsive effects after you get it tweaked to your system. Better than I had hoped and I was expecting it to be good. Music heard through any source is nicely transferred through to the couch-even delicate strums or beats can be felt and certainly contributes to a much more immersive experience. I am not aware of any "sound" from the couch-just multiple feelings in the seats,armrests and backs. I was somewhat concerned about the subwoofer amps frequency topping out at 170 hz but this appears to be a very appropriate high end setting anyway. I found I was getting a small amount of voice vibrations with the frequency control maxed so I adjusted it from max to 170 and that was enough to knock off the voice vibrations. With the three separate amps I can tune each seat/transducer one at a time---lots of fun. Movie special effects are very impressive and are as strong as you want. Not just explosions---gunshots, throaty engines, door slams, etc can be felt to varying degrees. Clark says to feed the outer seats the full range signal from your mains (I use the preamp outputs on my Pioneer Elite amp) but actually I have found a crisper, cleaner response from the Clark transducers by setting a 50hz crossover and using the subwoofer "plus" setting on the amp to direct ALL sub-50 hz frequencies to the sub. This in turn sends all frequencies 50 hz and below to the TST429 in the center seat. When I had set it up with full range to the mains (and the outer seat 239's) I found the lowest frequency vibrations were a bit muddled together with the 429 in the center seat. The way I have it now keeps the lower end notes more separated between the transducers and gives a much more distinct overall effect. If I power up only the center seat all of its projected vibrations can be felt through the whole couch.
Converting this couch was not an easy task. It took me 10 days to complete on my spare time and was hard work (manual screwdrivering and ratcheting) and also fun. I was taking my time and planning every move. Not having someone else's previous experince to refer to meant I had to examine the couch innards carefully before starting. I found that when you remove the metal couch base the couch instantly becomes three separate chairs. I wanted to remove and/or disable all the hardware that involved reclining the seat-backs but wanted to retain the raiseable footrests. I planned on the couch ending up sitting several inches higher off the floor and permanently inclined back to a comfortable angle. This next bit cries out for pictures but I currently have no way to provide them,sorry. Watch for a future post.
Basically I measured, cut, and assembled the whole job and then completely disassembled it again once satisfied and reassembled it with the addition of wood bonding glue. I recommend not to glue as you go. Once that wood is glued it's glued forever. All screw and bolt holes needed to be pre-drilled so as to avoid splitting the hardwood. I sandwiched pieces of 1x5 oak between the couch chair sections and securely bolted and screwed them. The 239's in the left/right seats had to be mounted closer to the rear of the seat framing in order for the footrest linkage to clear. The center seat's 429 is able to be centrally located in the seat frame bottom as there was no recliner or footrest hardware to interfere. I used 3x3 hardwood 8 inch pieces to mount to the inboard sides of the Lazyboy's stock hardwood frame sides in order to provide nice mounts for oak 1x8 pieces to bridge across the seat frame bottoms all bolted with 3/8 bolts,washers,lockwashers and eventually glued. Clearance between the transducers and the floor in the left/right seats was close but was ultimately affected by the overall raising of the couch by beefing up the feet. I also firmly secured the seatbacks to their bases through internal and external oak bracing--pictures are needed-bear with me. External oak was sanded and stained appropriately and quite frankly the end result still doesn't look that much different than stock Lazyboy.
All in all a very satisfying and fun experience although somewhat pricier than what I had planned. By the time I was done I figure it has cost about 1400 dollars Canadian--is that about 1100 US? Anyway the result is a great HT upgrade and I'm having lots of fun showing it off. P.S. those subwoofer amps I got from Parts Express have a 3 position power switch---off,on, or auto off/on--perfect in my opinion. I'll borrow a camera to provide pictures soon.

For about $650.00 you can add the Crowson couch kit to your couch. Just place the transducers under the back legs and the isolation pads under the rest. No intensive installation. They are awesome. A little more expensive than the rest, but if you just spent about $1100, maybe not!

For about $650.00 you can add the Crowson couch kit to your couch. Just place the transducers under the back legs and the isolation pads under the rest. No intensive installation. They are awesome. A little more expensive than the rest, but if you just spent about $1100, maybe not!

Yes, I am aware there are numerous shaker products on the market and some or maybe all would have been an easier conversion but I wanted more than just a bass shaker. From researching through forums and different websites it appeared that the Clark product would provide a greater range of sensations with a finer degree of accuracy or "finesse". Although I have certainly not tried the other products I can certainly vouch for the Clark product not only meeting but exceeding my expectations. I have not owned a high line expensive sub but I would be very surprised if any could match the accuracy and range of subtle to heavy responses I am experiencing with this converted couch. It really is quite a new experience when you try it out.

krazyboy, way to go. I also use the Clarks and love them. Have fun.

Yes, there are many shakers out there. Whatever budget. I highly recommend any shaker, it adds so much to a movie watching experience. It's also nice when watching a movie and you want to be a little more quiet, you can turn down the sub and turn up the shakers and get a great effect.

I you have a buget that will allow you to spend 1k+ on tactile transducers, I'd receommend you try the Aura product first, and see if it meets your needs. I know that the products are different, but all perform essentially the same function, so why spend an order of magnitude more if you don't need to?
One of the main reasons that I have been such an avid proponent of bass shakers is that it's a great 'bang for the buck' product. I really enjoy the shakers, but I don't know if I'd spend 1k+ on them.

Just think how many of the Aura shakers you could buy with $1K. You could cover every chair in the room with them. That would be like 50+ shakers.

Yeah, OK guys I knew I was "going over the top" when I started that project but that Jurassic couch article at Clark's website was one of those things that really caught my attention and hey--if you're going to attempt something like that I think you should try to do it properly and not cut corners. I've always chuckled at the saying "Go big or go home" because I have fallen victim to it in my past but sometimes You Just Gotta Do It! I have never experienced the other shaker products so I can't compare performance just like you guys haven't "roadtested" my couch but like I said before--the result of the conversion exceeded my expectations and my expectations were high. After all I was spending the money on a gamble that it would be good enough to justify the cost. In my opinion the result has justified the cost and the fun I had doing it is worth something too. After all , everything talked about on this board is really strictly about enjoyment of a hobby.

I'm glad that you are enjoying your investment Krazyboy. As long as you are happy with it, that's all that counts. The point I was making is that with the bass shakers, many folks here have gotten lots of enjoyment out of a minimal investment. That's less common in the HT community than getting a lot of enjoyment out of a substantial investment like the one you made.

I wasn't trying to rain on your parade - just trying to clarify where many of the folks in this thread are coming from when they rave about the 'cheap' Aura shakers.

Just ordered two bass shaker pros from parts express and some cabling to go along with it. Eyeballing a second Harman Kardon receiver to power them... Can't wait.. off to lowes to modify the bottom of the couch to mount them on.

Hi,


You can get a subwoofer plate amp at Parts Express for $50. Connect the 2 together in series and you get 8 ohms and this amp puts out 45 watts RMS and that is plenty for them. Plus you also have a crossover built-in.

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=300-784




Enjoy!

Dennis

Hi,


You can get a subwoofer plate amp at Parts Express for $50. Connect the 2 together in series and you get 8 ohms and this amp puts out 45 watts RMS and that is plenty for them. Plus you also have a crossover built-in.





Enjoy!

Dennis

Dennis thanks for the input I was a little confused by how much power they needed. I believe on guy on this forum is running a 400 watt DJ amp and states it could still use a little more because they're power hungry. So I figured I better play it safe and get something with more power. If you have personally tried that amplifer out and it works great I have no problem purchasing that one on partsexpress, however i kept getting the impression from these forums that 100watts + it what was needed.

Update: I think I found the amp im going to use. Is anyone on here using the AudioSource AMP1A amp? This amp is rated at 80w per channel and can be bridged to 200w in mono and is 2ohm stable. Ubid has them pretty cheap under 100bux.

Thanks

Just placed the order for the AudioSource AMP1A amp which should deliver 100 watts to each of my bass shakers. I got the cables ordered from bluejeancables, I just modified the couch and installed the 63" board to the bottom and mounted it with sheet metal screws to all the braces underneath. I ordered 16ga speaker cable to go with the bass shakers as well. I think im all set? Can't wait till everything comes in next week. I'll post pictures of my setup when its all said and done.

Just placed the order for the AudioSource AMP1A amp which should deliver 100 watts to each of my bass shakers. I got the cables ordered from bluejeancables, I just modified the couch and installed the 63" board to the bottom and mounted it with sheet metal screws to all the braces underneath. I ordered 16ga speaker cable to go with the bass shakers as well. I think im all set? Can't wait till everything comes in next week. I'll post pictures of my setup when its all said and done.

You are going to burn up those Aura shakers if you feed them with 100 watts each. They are only rated for 35 watts peak (for the smaller shakers). I feed mine about 30 watts watts each and I had to turn it down a little cause it was too much. Sure they are cheap, but you don't want to blow them the first day. Be sure to turn that amp way down and slowly increase it to a desired level that won't burn up the shakers.

You are going to burn up those Aura shakers if you feed them with 100 watts each. They are only rated for 35 watts peak (for the smaller shakers). I feed mine about 30 watts watts each and I had to turn it down a little cause it was too much. Sure they are cheap, but you don't want to blow them the first day. Be sure to turn that amp way down and slowly increase it to a desired level that won't burn up the shakers.

I have the bass shaker pros. Obviously im not an idiot and will dial it in to the correct level. From the impression on this forum everyone with pros was saying I needed at least 100watts. Can always turn it down if its an issue..

just hooked up 4 last week....1 for each seat.....love 'em.....kids think they're a blast.....just trying to watch things that'll "make 'em shake!!".....Any favorite movies/scenes out there?

WAR of the Worlds is incredible bass. I had to turn my shakers DOWN it was so intense.

Just wondered how many people use their shakers while playing music. I have 2 Auras hooked up to couch and find for some music it adds and others it is best to have them off.

Would this reciever work to power 5 or possibly 6 standard aura shakers?

http://pictures.kyozou.com/pictures/850000/849907.jpg

ONKYO TX-8011 STEREO RECEIVER

-50 watts per channel

-High-current, low impedance amplifier: With an oversized, shielded transformer, high-quality filter capacitors, a massive extruded heat sink and discrete output stage circuits

-Four audio inputs

-A+B speaker switching

- 8 ohm, 20 Hz-20kHz, FTC


Any comments on the suitability (or dollar value) of the receiver are greatly appreciated.

edit: After plowing though more of the thread I think the answer is yes. I should be able to connect 3 shakers per channel in serise (12 ohm load) correct? Would the 50WPC be enough at 12 ohms?



Matt

hi guys...

First post on this forum

I'm going to be buying Aura bass shakers next week, and they will be powered by my old yamaha receiver (RX-v396), which puts out about 60wpc...

I'd ideally like to go with the Aura Bass Shaker PRO's but i'm afraid the receiver has not got enough grunt to power them.

Now as the receiver is 5.1, and i will be running the shakers only through the main outputs, would this mean all the power would be relocated to the two main channels?? ie (60 watt into 5 channels, into 300watt to two channels??)

So do you think that at these power levels i'd be able to run 4 Aura Bass Shaker Pro's ( 2 for each channel, wired in series)???

Warm Regards

Arushan

arushan,

Unfortunately, the power does not all go the the front channels when you only use 2 of the 5.

According to page 48 of the manual I found at this link (http://www.yamaha.com/yec/customer/manuals/PDFs/02RX-V40.PDF) you should be able to get about 60 watts per channel in 2 channel mode when connected to an 8 ohm load. That is probably more then enough to drive 4 shakers wired as you proposed.

Since you already have the receiver, try it. You might find it has plenty enough power.

Joe L.

Definitely get the pros if possible. They take more power, but you don't have to use it. I bought an old receiver very similar to the one above off ebay a couple years ago for a few bucks and ran 2 Pros and ran it about 40% volume usually. I think it would run 6 though you'd be pushing the amp somewhat, but distortion doesn't really matter anyway...

The big thing is to wire so you've got a 8 ohm load. You run a cheap receiver at 4 or 2 ohms and you'll fry it.

wow thanks alot for the great reply J.L. i think i'll first try 4 pro's wired in series ( 2 on L channel and 2 on Right channel), thanks for all the help....

also i live in australia and i think the only way i can get my hands on bass shakers is through ebay, is this safe way to pick them up or another scam??

WOW!
I Love these things! Didn't take much to get them dialed in with my setup and I'm actually running them with 80w to each shaker which seems to be just about enough so I didn't need to bridge the amp. Jurassic Park is simply awesome every time those dinosaurs move the whole couch vibrates making you feel like the dinosaurs are right outside your house. It’s so realistic it’s scary!! I actually got up a few times and peaked out the window to make sure nothing was blowing up or to make sure there wasn’t a earthquake going on!! Probably the best $200 I have every spent on my system the return I got on this investment out ranks any cable, cd player, or speaker purchase I have made.

I'm in the process of upgrading my HT system.

Before: 10yr old system!! Pioneer ProLogic amp (surround channels are busted), cheap yamaha front speakers, and a pretty good Kenwood SW200 powered sub (that I recently had to replace the sub because the surround foam tore).

After: Polk Monitor 105 5.1 system - Monitor 40, CS1, monitor 30 surrounds, PSW10 sub. I'm still using the Kenwood powered sub to help out the front bass, getting a really good deal on a used Denon AVR-4800 THX Ultra certified receiver, I just ordered 6 bass shakers for each seat in my living room, and I also ordered 70Hz FMod x-overs.

I used to think that I loved bass, but after reading this thread I thought about what I liked about it: I like to FEEL it shaking everything. Right now I still have the Pioneer ProLogic amp for my main receiver, and I've been trying to adjust the subwoofers the best I can. For each adjustment I make, I keep thinking "it's shaking the couch pretty good now" but I'm also getting too much of the higher bass frequencies. I have a feeling that I'm going to like the teeth-rattling shaking these bass shakers will give! That's OK though, I'll be able to have the rest of the soundfield for my ears instead of drowning in the side-effects of turning my subs up!! I'll definitely post again once everything is installed.

I have the Bass Shaker Pros on my Klausner Motion Hollywood seats. I love 'em! powered in series from my cheap-o Sherwood receiver and a 14guage radio shack flat speaker wire (snaked under the wall and beneath my carpet and pad). No one has any idea that the seats themselves are rumbling, and just think that the sound is just that great. With my 7.1 B&W/Hsu setup it is, but who am I to tell them differently?

Upshot is, that's the best $130 I spent on my HT.

well my pair of aura shakers were installed last night. they are installed on my bed, very easy to install, just added some 2X4 in the box spring frame and screwed them on. right now ive them wired in series and connected to an old stereo amp. i had considered this amp useless until reading about this, because there is a loud hight pitch noise from the speakers when the amp is on. but since the amp is only at about 10% power to have the shakers at a more than reasonable level, it works perfect. the amp is a kenwood KR-A5070, the shakers are connected to the right input of the speaker B inputs. is there a way for me to increase the power by bridging the left and right outputs or the "speaker A" and "speaker B" inputs? there is an impedance switch on the back of the amp that has 2 positions.

one says: A or B 8Ohms or more

the other says: A or B less than 8Ohms, A and B 8Ohms or more

i do not know if this amp is bridgeable, and the manual does not mention it.
thanks for any help. i love the shakers!

Nope unfortunately you can't bridge your amp unless it was originally designed to do so. Not only does the impedence per side cut in half (hence the amp would see 4 ohms x 2 instead of 8 ohms x 2), but it also must have the ability to invert the waveform for one of the channels. Your best bet is to leave both shakers connected in series to just one of the channels.

hi guys...

First post on this forum

I'm going to be buying Aura bass shakers next week, and they will be powered by my old yamaha receiver (RX-v396), which puts out about 60wpc...

I'd ideally like to go with the Aura Bass Shaker PRO's but i'm afraid the receiver has not got enough grunt to power them.

Now as the receiver is 5.1, and i will be running the shakers only through the main outputs, would this mean all the power would be relocated to the two main channels?? ie (60 watt into 5 channels, into 300watt to two channels??)

So do you think that at these power levels i'd be able to run 4 Aura Bass Shaker Pro's ( 2 for each channel, wired in series)???

Warm Regards

Arushan


If you're concerned about driving 4 of them, then go with the regular Aura's. The only real difference between the two is the heat disapation, where the Pro's can be run harder as they can disapate heat better than the regular's. I remember someone in the Speakers forum was told by Aura that at low levels, there is practically no difference between the 2 makes.

I myself drive a total of 8. 4 on one channel, 4 on the other. And never have my old Pioneer receiver over 45%.

I'm pretty sure that someone mentioned once that the regular Auras can go below 20Hz and the Pro Auras can not.

Hey everyone,

I actually found this forum and this thread AFTER I purchased my bass shakers, but it is helping me figure out the best way for me to hook them up...although I have not gotten them yet. I bought a pair of auras on ebay, there were some address issues, and sadly, it will be a little while before I get them. Keep in mind that I am a poor college student, so most of you would probably laugh at my setup, but I'll tell you anyway. Keep in mind that I know quite a bit, but I just don't have the resources to get a high quality home theater system. I live in the dorms anyway...my neighbors probably wouldn't appreciate 2 12" subs anyway...

This is what I have right now:
-Sherwood 7500 6.1 reciever (100 wattsx6)
-KLH 3 way full range fronts with 12" woofers. They are suprisingly clear, and have very good imaging, as well as decent bass down to about 35 hz
-Audiosource 300s center channel
-Pioneer right and left surrounds
-Energy Take2 rear surrounds (I have two hooked up in series so the soundfield is spread better)
-8" subwoofer in a 4th order bandpass enclosure with a 100watt cerwin vega amp. My dad and I built the box. It is very good for how much it costs, about $50 including amp

Okay, now that you have read what I have set up you can stop laughing :) I have spent countless hours setting it all up many times, I even measured the distances for the delays and put them into the receiver, as well as used an spl meter to set the volume levels for every channel. I think it is a decent setup for how much I payed for everything (about $300, 4 of the speakers I got for free, they were in my house). The soundfield and imaging is quite good, I can pinpoint where sounds are coming from, but not from which speaker, which is the way it should be, if I'm not mistaken.

Okay, sorry for all the off-topic stuff, I just wanted you all to know where I'm standing right now...

So, I bought my shakers. And I have a receiver for them, a Sherwood RX4103. It is a stereo receiver, and is rated down to 20 hz at +-3db, so it should have plenty of low frequency power with little distortion for the shakers. It is my old receiver, I almost sold it until I suddenly realized, in the middle of class, that I could use it to power some bass shakers. The bass in my room is okay with my dual 12" woofers and 8" sub, but it doesn't have enough slam for my taste. I have moved my sub countless times, trying to get it to make the clearest sound waves at decent volumes...it is finally in a decent spot where it doesn't create too many standing waves, which are a big problem in my small dorm room.

So here is what I'm going to do once I get the shakers:
-split my subwoofer out from my surround receiver and connect a second rca cable to the left input on my stereo receiver.
-connect the two shakers in series onto the left speaker channel of my stereo receiver
-play with the bass and treble controls to remove as much high frequencies as possible in the shakers

I have my surround receiver cross over set at 80 hz, and all my speakers set on "small", since my fronts and sides can easily handle anything above 80 hz, and my rear surrounds have bass limiters built in in the form of capacitors to prevent damaging low frequencies from playing on them. I figure I'm not missing too much in the range of 80-100hz from the rear surround channels...I hope not.

So I have all sound < 80hz going to both the sub and the shakers.

I just want to make sure I'm doing everything right...and if anyone has any suggestions. I do have a couple questions:
-Would it be better to split the sub pre-amp from the receiver to go to the shaker receiver, or would it be better to go to the sub, then use the line-out on the sub amp to go to the shaker receiver? I'm not sure if it would even make a difference. Except that I have it split going into the sub amp because it gives it a gain, so I would need to use both line outs...more cables
-Would it be better to split the signal going to the shaker receiver, then turn the balance all to one side, or would it be better to just use one of the inputs...not sure if this matters either.

Alright, this post is waaay too long, so I'll see what you guys think and ask about attaching the shakers in my next post. I have a few ideas....still thinking

Thanks

After lurking about on this thread for many months I am here to report that I have taken the advice of so many of you and installed Aura Pro Bass Shakers in my theater room. I have 8 seats and put one under each seat. I started out using a 100 watt amp to power them with moderate success. I told my wife that it might be nice to have a little more power to drive them but that I thought it could cut into our budget for a big screen TV. Much to my surprise she said she would rather have the amp than the TV. (The TV was for another room in the house, but a TV she was wanting.) If that isn't a testimonial to how great bass shakers are, then I don't know what is. So, last night I installed a Parasound A23 amp set up in mono mode (purchased from e-bay) to power the 8 bass shakers. WOW, it really made a difference. It now has the right amount of shake but not overpowering.

For those of you who haven't made the jump to bass shakers, you might want to put them on your Christmas list.

I also want to thank all of you who have contributed to this thread. It has been a wealth of information and inspiration.

I'm in the process of upgrading my HT system.

Before: 10yr old system!! Pioneer ProLogic amp (surround channels are busted), cheap yamaha front speakers, and a pretty good Kenwood SW200 powered sub (that I recently had to replace the sub because the surround foam tore).

After: Polk Monitor 105 5.1 system - Monitor 40, CS1, monitor 30 surrounds, PSW10 sub. I'm still using the Kenwood powered sub to help out the front bass, getting a really good deal on a used Denon AVR-4800 THX Ultra certified receiver, I just ordered 6 bass shakers for each seat in my living room, and I also ordered 70Hz FMod x-overs.

I used to think that I loved bass, but after reading this thread I thought about what I liked about it: I like to FEEL it shaking everything. Right now I still have the Pioneer ProLogic amp for my main receiver, and I've been trying to adjust the subwoofers the best I can. For each adjustment I make, I keep thinking "it's shaking the couch pretty good now" but I'm also getting too much of the higher bass frequencies. I have a feeling that I'm going to like the teeth-rattling shaking these bass shakers will give! That's OK though, I'll be able to have the rest of the soundfield for my ears instead of drowning in the side-effects of turning my subs up!! I'll definitely post again once everything is installed.

This thread is about the bass shakers, so I'll keep it focused on that. But I do want to say that going from a $100 10yr old Pioneer amp to a Denon AVR-4800 THX ultra certified amp is completely amazing!! :cool:

I have a bass test CD that has a 20Hz sustained freq, a 100Hz to 20Hz drop, and several other tracks ranging from 43Hz to 65hz. I wanted to find out how much of a difference my Pioneer receiver that's rated at 40Hz compares to my Denon which is rated at 20Hz. (There was some questions about how much of a difference a 20Hz response compares a 40hz response when powering the bass shakers.) I tested this out with my powered subwoofers in order to take any amplification out of the equation. In short, the Denon sent a full 20Hz to the subs. The Pioneer receiver sent 20Hz to them, but it was reduced several Db compared to the Denon. This was obvious when I played a 43Hz track through the Pioneer because then the subs responded equal to the Denon (well it wasn't as clean but you get the picture). So to sum it up, yes getting a receiver that has a 20Hz frequency response makes a big difference. I will definitely find an amp with a 20Hz low-end response for my bass shakers soon (Onkyo makes a really good one). But in the meantime, I will power them with my Pioneer rated at 40Hz.

I installed two Aura Bass Shakers in my love seat since it's in the sweet spot. They are wired in series to one channel on my Pioneer amp; so they are getting about 40watts RMS. To tune them, I used the Godzilla scene "Fire at Will" and the opening scene from Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. I had "super bass" and the bass gain control turned all the way up on my Pioneer receiver. But I found it to blend much better with my subwoofers if I set everything to normal levels. I decided not to use the FMod crossovers since my Denon does such a great job by itself. I'm missing frequencies below 40Hz with my bass shakers since my Pioneer doesn't respond below that. It doesn't sound like much, but my main powered sub keeps responding under 40Hz which creates an odd situation that I need to remedy to feel the true effect the bass shakers were intended for!

So now that I have some seat-time with them, I will say that when I turn them off I notice a big difference. I definitely think they were worth the cost and time invested. They are cool because their response to low frequencies is dynamic like a subwoofer. Low frequencies make them vibrate slower, while upper low frequencies make them vibrate faster; it's not an on/off switch. What I don't like about them is, well, it's fake bass. I prefer the effect that a real subwoofer has versus the bass shaker effect which is pushing some serious air and shaking everything. But I, much like many people reading this thread, don't want to (or can't) spend ~$700-$1500 for a powered subwoofer capable of reproducing 20Hz with ease. Hell, the powered subwoofers I have right now constantly suffer from port chuffing! So my final thoughts are this: Bass shakers are a low cost alternative in providing a similar effect of more expensive subwoofers. They should be used in conjunction with some type of powered subwoofer, since they do not replace true low frequency sound. For the cost/benefit or WAF factor they are great. I would definitely recommend them to someone else that's on a budget and looking to add a little bit more rumble to their home theater experience.

EDIT: I had to come back and update a little bit more! I did more adjusting since I posted, and I was able to crank the volume to get some really awesome rumbling going without any localization. I must say that now the effect is VERY close to what I've felt in car audio sub systems, but without the listening fatigue. Man that opening sequence on LOTR: The Two Towers is breathtaking now! The gorge sequence on the Lion King makes you feel like you're really getting trampeled. And of course, Godzilla feels like he's tearing my love seat apart. It's awesome!

Sorry about my first post...it was kind of long and off topic. I've got a simple question here:

Has anyone installed these on a futon? I will be recieving my pair of bass shakers in about 5 days, and am thinking about installation. I have a couple ideas:
1-ziptie boards to the bars underneath the cushion and screw the shakers into the boards
2-ziptie a board to the frame of the futon and screw the shakers to that board
3-ziptie a board to the back of the futon, behind the cushion, and screw the shakers onto the board

The only thing I am worried about options 1 and 3 is that you might be able to pin point where the shaking is coming from, because they will be so close to the cushion. That is why I think option 2 is better, because they will shake the entire frame. What do you guys think?

Sorry about my first post...it was kind of long and off topic. I've got a simple question here:

Has anyone installed these on a futon? I will be recieving my pair of bass shakers in about 5 days, and am thinking about installation. I have a couple ideas:
1-ziptie boards to the bars underneath the cushion and screw the shakers into the boards
2-ziptie a board to the frame of the futon and screw the shakers to that board
3-ziptie a board to the back of the futon, behind the cushion, and screw the shakers onto the board

The only thing I am worried about options 1 and 3 is that you might be able to pin point where the shaking is coming from, because they will be so close to the cushion. That is why I think option 2 is better, because they will shake the entire frame. What do you guys think?
I'd say #2, but I don't like the idea of zipties. I adjusted my shakers even more in my love seat since my last post, and I found that the more secure they were to the frame the less localized it became. The love seat has dual kick-outs, so I had to mount a board in the middle bottom of the frame. The more I spread out the shakers on the board, the less localized it became. Since I mounted it to the frame, I was getting shake throughout the entire seat even when the seats were in the kick-out position!

I understand that the zipties don't seem like a good idea, but I was really eager to figure out some setup stuff, so I ziptied a board to the frame. I can't even budge it. I tightened the zipties with pliers, it is like the board is practically bolted to the frame. And the board is touching more than one part of the frame securely, so I should get good shaking effects throughout the futon.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, it is a metal frame futon, and it is my roommates...so I can't really drill holes in it :rolleyes:

Thanks for the tips, I appreciate it

I've got one more question...I don't think anyone has mentioned this yet. Is there a difference in bass shaker performance if you mount them horizontally or vertically? By horizontal I mean the travel of the voice coil is up and down, and by vertical I mean the travel of the voice coil is side to side. I just read on one site that they should be mounted vertically to avoid wear on them...

What orientation are most of you installing your bass shakers in?

Mine are vertical because that's the only orientation I could use without modifying my two couches. I hadn't heard about additional wear in the horizontal orientation.

Here's the site I was looking at, the section on mounting orientation is about halfway down:

http://www.practical-home-theater-guide.com/bass-shakers.html

Parts Express is having a sale on Aura bass shakers now along with a 250 watt sub amp with remote control. the shakers are $39 and the amp is $139. Total for three shakers for my couch and the amp with shipping was under $280. Can't beat that....

DOH!. just missed that, i ordered 3 pairs of shakers too!. missed the sale with the amp

Alright, I figured out a way to attach them to my futon without using zipties in any way. I will be "clamping" part of the futon frame between two pieces of wood with bolts, and screw the shakers to the wood. I should be getting my shakers by ups tomorrow, I am so excited. I can't wait to watch some movies or play need for speed with these things...I'll take some pics on my setup once I get it done.

I have a small problem though: My futon is a little out of wack, so it "reclines" quite a bit...so we have it leaning against our loft in our dorm room, and the loft is touching the wall. I am worried that the shakers will send vibrations through the loft and wall and annoy the neighbors, does anyone have any suggestions for getting something to isolate the vibrations to the futon itself?

Yes.. don't let the futon touch the wall!

I think I need to do some work on the futon then...if it doesn't lean on the wall then the back of it is leaned back waaay too far. Oh well, I'll figure something out, thanks anyway

Anybody have any ideas on how to mount the shakers to some coaster studio seats. I have seen people mount them to the steel frame but I don't want to drill a whole into the frame of new seats.

Any pics or help would be great.


Shano

Shano,
Why not drill the holes in the frame, mount the shakers (I have standard Auras) to boards and then the boards to the bottom frame? I did this on my new Showtimes and it turned out great. I have a few pictures if you are interested. I have a friend who used tiewraps and just zip tied them to the bottom of the cushions. This gives a very localized buzz in the but, not a whole chair shake and I do not recommend it.

I know zipties aren't the best thing in any situation, and I figured out a way to not use them, but you could ziptie the board to the metal frame and fasten the shaker to the board. You can get zipties pretty darn tight...use a pliers to pull them

If anyone can send me pics of the ziptie method that would be great....

Shano

srender@insightbb.com

or
cdvrparasite@gmail.com

I have 10 shakers that I pulled out of aura interactor vests. I was hoping to use them for a project but it's not going to happen. If anyone wants them for a good deal pm me. Just google tactile transducer and interactor and you can read about others that have used these (also some old threads around here about them).

Alright, I finally got my pair of shakers last night, had to wait until 7pm for the ups truck to come! Oh well, I'm just happy I finally got them...my friend and I spent all day preparing for them, then spent all night fixing up the futon for them. We added multiple bracings on the futon...it is now as solid as a brick.

I got one pair of the regular shakers, and they are amazing. We tried it first with less rigidity in the frame of the futon, and started out watching the highway scene of The Matrix. It was pretty cool, but they shook every time the music hit a heavy beat...my crossover is set at 80 hz on the surround receiver, and set them up in series running off of one channel of a stereo amp. I just split my sub-out, one to the subamp and one to the shaker amp... I didn't especially like how often you could feel the shakers...

We decided to add some extra rigidity to the futon with some more 2x4's. I think our futon is the most solid futon you are going to ever find...however, it is no longer possible to fold it out :) The amazing thing is, once we added the extra support, the frequency response magically fixed itself!! The only time that I can feel it is during a heavy bass scene, like an explosion or a big hit or stomp, I never feel it during deep voices and rarely during music. I can't believe how perfect it turned out! I think my setup is quite unique, I'll take some pictures and put them up when I get back to my room.

One thing though...I ran some frequency tests, and found that I couldn't feel anything under about 30 hz. I checked both of my receivers' specs, and found that the power output rating is 40-20,000hz on the surround and 50-20,000 on the stereo one (Both Sherwoods...never had a problem with them, but this is a little annoying). They still give a good shaking at 30 hz...but drop of extremely fast from there. I'm just wondering how much low frequency I am missing, do the shakers do much under 30 hz with a higher quality receiver? I am seriously thinking about selling both of my receivers and buying new ones, with 20-20,000hz power output ratings, it would be simply amazing I think

I posted a couple of times before this about my experiences with the bass shakers. I have a Pioneer amp that has "boomy" bass, 40Hz freq response, 80w x2 in stereo, and THD is up there, too.

So I got a great deal on an Onkyo TX-8011 stereo receiver: 50w x2 channels, 20Hz freq response, and .08% THD. The idea here is to get the extra 20Hz frequency response and cleaner power to the bass shakers.

The Onkyo is a simple piece of equipment. It has a few stereo inputs, AM/FM tuner, speaker a/b selection, and tone/fade controls. So after I got a good feel for what my Pioneer is capable of, I switched to the Onkyo. I used the bass test CD for 20Hz, and to be completely honest I didn't notice a bit of difference with my hand on top of the shaker. Immediately I was thinking about saving my money and using my Pioneer, but I went ahead and tested the shakers with my Godzilla DVD. The main menu has Godzilla coming around the corner and it has some decent bass; I've been told that it goes down to 20Hz. I tested this while seated, and I noticed shaking where it wasn't doing it before. So I went ahead and played the "Fire at Will" sequence, and I immediately noticed that the rumbling felt way more precise. His stomps seemed more defined rather than being "boomy". So I popped in the Star Wars I pod race scene. Again, the main thing that I noticed was the shaking seemed more sophisticated rather than just shaking. I also noticed some shaking in certian parts where I didn't notice it before. After adjusting the shakers to the Onkyo, the gain is set to a lower volume vs. the Pioneer that had a higher wattage output rating.

I just did some more testing with other movies. I put in Lord of the Rings 1 to check out the scene at the end when they are crossing the bridge with the devil thing chasing them. If you ever wonder how good your subwoofer setup is, I suggest trying this scene. I thought I had my subs set on the edge of bottoming out, but I had to adjust them again after playing this scene. It's interesting because I have a powered 8" and a powered 10". You'd think that the 8" would distort before the 10", but what happened was the natural freq rolloff of the 8" made it OK while the 10" was bottoming out due to being able to reproduce the LOW freq in this scene. The rumbling from the bass shakers is just insane, but it blends well because of how much the subs are working. There are a couple of sine wave drops in that scene, and I could tell that when the subs stopped responding the shakers kept going.

So to sum everything up, I think that when I upgraded to the Onkyo the biggest improvement would be the accuracy of the bass. It didn't make as big of a difference that I thought it would, but then again I don't want to use my Pioneer anymore either. It's a good upgrade to a shaker system, but don't expect it to be a miracle worker. The main benefit that I've seen with upgrading to a 20Hz amp is the cleaner signal coming from an amp that is high enough quality to reproduce 20Hz.

Anybody have any ideas on how to mount the shakers to some coaster studio seats. I have seen people mount them to the steel frame but I don't want to drill a whole into the frame of new seats.

Any pics or help would be great.


Shano

Hi Shano,
I just installed some bass shakers on my own coaster studios which I received a few ago. I did not go with the Zip tie method because I personally feel that it will impede with the structure of the seat chair. If you get a chance, have a look at the underside of the seat when someone is sitting in one of your reclined chairs, you will see that the underseat sinks quite a bit. I think that poking holes through the material to attach the shakers will weaken the material, and hence the seat of the chair. I have opted to attach a 5 1/2 inch wide pine board on the base of the chair, from front to back, on which I have attached the bass shakers. All you have to do is get a good metal drill bit, and drill two holes in the front and back steel beams. It takes about 30 seconds to drill each hole. Its very easy, and works well. Good luck

Peter Jackson just uses mother nature as his bass shakers:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20051213/ennew_afp/afpentertainmentfilm_051213155437

Peter Jackson just uses mother nature as his bass shakers:



lol - that was pretty good.

Great thread everyone, thanks for all the info! I received my Aura bass shakers the other day and plan on installing them this weekend. Can't wait to test 'em out!

-David
(Long time avsforum lurker, 1st time poster)

I don't know if anyone mentioned it, but there is a powerbuy for the Buttkicker system. The Buttkicker is the ultimate shaker.

The Buttkicker is the ultimate shaker.

I bet an earthquake is better.

It is a bit more expensive, but THIS (http://ww2.onecall.com/PID_18163.htm) H&K receiver is still not a bad price and frequency response down to 10hz. Plus not too bad to look at. I have been having a hard time finding decent receivers with a 20hz frequency response for the lower price point. At least new that is....


Onecall has this Onkyo receiver for $128. It's frequency response is 20Hz-30KHz.

http://ww2.onecall.com/ProductDetails.aspx?FromURLMapper=1&sHist=12-126&didRedirect=true&id=25866

Parts Express sub amps are the least expensive route, but don't have provision for remote control.

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=300-784





Happy Holidays!


Dennis :)

Onecall has this Onkyo receiver for $128. It's frequency response is 20Hz-30KHz.

http://ww2.onecall.com/ProductDetails.aspx?FromURLMapper=1&sHist=12-126&didRedirect=true&id=25866

Parts Express sub amps are the least expensive route, but don't have provision for remote control.

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=300-784





Happy Holidays!


Dennis :)

Not true, remote control sub amp.
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?DID=7&PartNumber=300-793

Not true, remote control sub amp.
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?DID=7&PartNumber=300-793



True, I should have clarified that I meant that particular model doesn't have one. My bad for not being specific.




Happy Holidays,


Dennis

I don't want it to seem like I'm taking over this thread, but I have one more update on my shaker experience!

Yesterday I had the family over to watch The Incredibles, and the shakers were a HUGE hit! The last action sequence was playing and my sister says, "it feels like it's going to shake the house down!!" Several times during the movie my family was looking at each other with the :cool: face.

Anyway, I don't know if this was said before but I have a tip for anyone who has the shakers. You should set your delay time (or speaker distance) on your LFE channel to zero!! My subs are about 6ft away, so I had it set for that until today. The explosions seemed a little delayed, and Godzilla's stops weren't spot on. So, after changing it everything came together better with more impact. If you think about it, the shakers are strapped to your butt so there shouldn't be any delays.

Peter Jackson just uses mother nature as his bass shakers:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20051213/ennew_afp/afpentertainmentfilm_051213155437

That is funny [lol]

So after reading this forum I finally broke down and bought 3 of the Aura Pro bass shakers. I also bought a Sherwood RX-4105 which is rated at 100W per channel RMS at 8 ohms (or so it states). I wired 2 shakers to provide the 8 ohm load. I got a 3/16" thick piece of steel from work and mounted the shaker directly on that and then mounted the plate to the steel frame of my movie theater seat. I split the sub out and was ready to test it out.
The first thing I noticed was that I had to crank the amp all the way up to get an effect. With it set to 55 out of a possible 62 on the volume control. The effect was about right however I am concerned I am running the Sherwood too high and I am concerned about the lifespan. I would also like to see if I can get the shakers to be more aggressive.
I was thinking the problem may be that my main reciever doesnt need to go very high to get the rest of the system going and that it is not sending enough info to the sub out. However my powered sub works great not even 1/4 turned up.
It may also be that my run of RCA after the split is too long. 40' so I could mounted away from the main rack.
Has anyone experienced this seemingly low output? any suggestions?

Has anyone experienced this seemingly low output? any suggestions?

I wouldn't worry about overworking the Sherwood amp. I run my RX-4103 from 55 to 60 depending on the movie, because my subwoofer output from the 7.1 receiver is calibrated on the low side (because of BFD equalizer which can clip near reference volume).

hey I have seen on the internet that it is posible to use old sub amps to create a sort of "poor man's" shakers. and seeing as how I am poor and I have a bunch of old subs does anyone know how to do this?

would it be posible to remove the cone and strap in some weight say a pound or two to the voice coil.

if not why not? and what are the basic diferences between subs and shakers besides no cone and a shaker moves a mass.

SteveO

Most subwoofer voice coils are in the base of the cone and supported by the cone. If you remove the cone, then you have nothing. The Aura shakers are very very very inexpensive. Why not just buy some of those? Seriously, look up the price. It would probably be cheaper to buy a pair of those than to get all the parts and spend the time to build your own that might not work. Just use one of your old amps to drive them.

hey guys, I have a blaupunkt san jose pm4 head unit. I just got new speakers and a 60x4 amp so i wont be using the internal ampo of the head unit, just the preamp outs. the head unit is 20 watts x 4 output. could I wire 2 bass shakers straight to the amp output on the head unit? if the impendance matches it should be ok, right? also, if i get the bass shaker pro's at 50rms, would it be possibly to bridge the output on the head unit for 50x2 or are head unit amps not bridgable?

Has anyone experienced this seemingly low output? any suggestions?

I initially used my carver amp spliced off the sub out of my pioneer receiver (one to powered subwoofer, the other to the carver) using a rca splitter and I too noticed that at regular volume I constantly had to crank the carver to near full just to get any effect. And usually I could barely feel it at that point.

Then I received my brother's old kenwood dpl receiver. I hooked that up as well and the results were still the same. Finally, I used the PHONO input some here opted instead of the usual TAPE/CD/AUX input and the results totally changed 100% :eek:

Now I'm actually tuning down to nearly silent on the kenwood since the auras are now completely go crazy any higher than 1/10 volume!

Victor

I'm planning on building a racing chair for my Xbox 360. I just built a 135" screen and really enjoy racing on it. I felt that the ultimate next step would be to build a racing seat and make it a full fledged similuator. Basically I'm looking at...

Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel (http://www.xbox.com/en-US/hardware/x/xbox360wirelessracingwheel/)

Probably a used car seat

Several 2x4s etc. for framing everything

And of course...a good Bass shaker!


My question is, I see the shakers come in pairs. Do I need to install both on the seat? Also, what should I look at to drive it? I have an Onkyo HTS-770 6.1 1000w running my main system right now. And what if I want to add more shakers to my couches that I have for seating right now? Is there a limit to how many shakers a reciever should drive?

Thanks for the input.

Parts Express sold out of the Aura Bass Shakers that come in pairs. They offer the pro version for about $40 a piece.

As far was how many your receiver will drive, it will depend on a few different things. Most people prefer to purchase a separate amp or receiver to drive the shakers. It depends on your current set up. Again, it depends on the Ohms the receive can handle etc.. If you read the first few pages of this thread you'll find some good information regarding these types of questions.

How many of the pros would I need for 2 rows of 3 Coaster Studios? Could I get away with 1 for each row or would I need 1 per seat?

How many of the pros would I need for 2 rows of 3 Coaster Studios? Could I get away with 1 for each row or would I need 1 per seat?

Depends on how much shake you want. I have one per seat (Berkline) and my amp is up 75% and I think it's just right. I don't know what Coaster studio seats are, but if they are connected like a love seat, you might get away with one. If you are mounting to a platform, I don't think you would feel much.

I don't want it to be too crazy, just a little something extra. I will probably mount them to the chairs, and not the riser.

I am about half way through the pages of this post and have not yet tackled the threads in the speaker section on Bass shakers, but I wondered if anyone has used them on cinema style seats, you know actual movie theater seats, which is what I have and if so where did you mount them on the seat and how are they working?

I know they can be mounted to the seats but have not yet found anyone who has done this or ordered them that way to give opinions.
Thanks.

I initially used my carver amp spliced off the sub out of my pioneer receiver (one to powered subwoofer, the other to the carver) using a rca splitter and I too noticed that at regular volume I constantly had to crank the carver to near full just to get any effect. And usually I could barely feel it at that point.

Then I received my brother's old kenwood dpl receiver. I hooked that up as well and the results were still the same. Finally, I used the PHONO input some here opted instead of the usual TAPE/CD/AUX input and the results totally changed 100% :eek:

Now I'm actually tuning down to nearly silent on the kenwood since the auras are now completely go crazy any higher than 1/10 volume!

Victor


I tried the phono input and WOW - I agree - much more output!!!! It is not even close. Definitely the way to go! I can now control output even more. I had the receiver maxed before and now it is way down and much more motion and response. I definitely recommend the phono input over any other.

THANK FOR THE TIP!


Dennis

An input preamp will accomplish the same benefit as the Phono input for those who don't have that option on their receiver. You don't gain any extra real power from the amplifier, you just feed it a greater input voltage which allows it to attain maximum levels with a lower volume setting. It's also possible to clip the receiver's input stage if you have too hot of an input signal.

Do you think I can use the center rear channel on my Onkyo reciever to drive the bass shakers? All I'm looking for is a good kick in the seat for crashes and a rumble when the car accelerates. The center rear channel caries that sound.

Here's my specs for that channel:

8 Ohms
up to 130 watts
And obviously channel level controllable

What I'm thinking is when I slide the racing cockpit over, I can swap the center channel with the bass shakers with the bannana plugs I've got. Do you guys think that would work, or will it not drive the bass shakers right?

You want the bass shakers hooked to the sub output. If you can set that channel to be the sub output then sure, otherwise unless you're using another preamp you'll be mising out on most of the low frequency info, especially on 5.1 material.

Could any of you email me and let me know where you got your shakers?????
berg94@comcast.net

Ebay or Partsexpress.com (http://www.partsexpress.com/webpage.cfm?webpage_id=3&SO=2&DID=7&CATID=30&ObjectGroup_ID=634)

thanks a bunch

Has anyone tried the new IBeam shaker, that Parts Express now carries? Or even seen one yet?

Looks very interesting.

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshowdetl.cfm?Partnumber=300-920

Yes, it's a very nice shaker- very precise and a nicely made product.

-Ken

Yes, it's a very nice shaker- very precise and a nicely made product.

-Ken

Ken how would the I beam be to mount beneath a row of regular theater seats? we currently have four Bass Pros mounted there and they are OK but wondered if this would be better and would we need more than one? Row is five seats on the Riser, bass shakers mounted under on vertical surface right under the leg mounts of the seats.

If Im running 2 Pro's will a 70 watt amp give them full power? If they take 50 watts each wouldnt I need at least a 100 watt amp to fully power both? And what if I want to do three?

Should I just buy a reciever instead of an amp? I want full power!!! :)

I have one per/ front movie theater seat and 4 in the wall to wall sofa(in the seats) I placed them directly to the ply under the recliners because the mechanims were rattling. It make a theatre room a whole new world. The dino stampede in king Kong was INCREDIBLE !! I have them hooked up to a separate 500 watt car amp from Amazon, along w/ my subwoofer. (parralell) These are a must have!!

I want to hook up 3 aura pro bass shakers... one for each seat in my front row. Should I connect 3 in series? Would this amp be sufficient to drive them?

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshowdetl.cfm?&Partnumber=300-793&CFID=11817203&CFTOKEN=75610735

I want to hook up 3 aura pro bass shakers... one for each seat in my front row. Should I connect 3 in series? Would this amp be sufficient to drive them?

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshowdetl.cfm?&Partnumber=300-793&CFID=11817203&CFTOKEN=75610735

Reaper,
this website helped me a lot in hooking up my 6 bass shakers...
4seating.com Buttshaker Info (http://4seating.com/audio_buttshaker_info.htm#Pro_Butt_Shaker)

Interesting... this website showed this as the wiring diagram:

http://4seating.com/images/wiring-diagram-B.jpg

But if I remember my basic circuits, this would allow 2x the current to flow through one shaker as is flowing through the other two shakers. Is that right? Wouldn't one be really strong and the other two half as strong? Sure it'd make for a more friendly 6Ohm total load. But I was hoping to keep the shake the same on all shakers. Thoughts?

Interesting... this website showed this as the wiring diagram:

http://4seating.com/images/wiring-diagram-B.jpg

But if I remember my basic circuits, this would allow 2x the current to flow through one shaker as is flowing through the other two shakers. Is that right? Wouldn't one be really strong and the other two half as strong? Sure it'd make for a more friendly 6Ohm total load. But I was hoping to keep the shake the same on all shakers. Thoughts?

dunno but 6 of my bass shakers (one for each seat) are shaking my butts off equally for each chair. :)

Interesting... this website showed this as the wiring diagram:

http://4seating.com/images/wiring-diagram-B.jpg

But if I remember my basic circuits, this would allow 2x the current to flow through one shaker as is flowing through the other two shakers. Is that right? Wouldn't one be really strong and the other two half as strong? Sure it'd make for a more friendly 6Ohm total load. But I was hoping to keep the shake the same on all shakers. Thoughts?You are exactly correct. One of the shakers is getting half of the power, the other half is divided equally between the other two... so they each get 1/4 of the power. Wired as illustrated it is a 2.66 ohm load, way lower than most amplifiers are rated for. It is not a 6 ohm load as you stated.

Worse yet, you might be overpowering the one shaker to get the others to shake to your liking.

The web-site with that suggested wiring knows they want a good load to the amp but does not have a clue about wiring shakers to shake equally. Their wiring diagram is a good example of WHAT NOT TO DO. in fact, I've posted previously that the diagrams on that site are mostly bad with only one or two correct.
(I don't remember which and don't feel like checking them all again, but trust me, they are selling chairs, and I don't have a clue how much they know about seating other than they want to make a sale :eek: )

That site wants to sell theater seating... Do NOT use them for shaker wiring examples.

Joe L.

I found my old post about that set of drawings on 4seating's web-site.

Only the 4 shaker and 6 shaker wiring guides on that site are able to present a proper load to an amplifier AND have all the shakers shake evenly. Only one other, the 8 shaker drawing will evenly shake all the shakers, but it is a 2 ohm load to the amplifier, way too low for most amplifiers.

The other drawings for 3,5,7, and 10 shakers, however nicely they are drawn, are NOT good illustrations of how to wire shakers in a home theater.

Details below....

This Site http://4seating.com/audio_buttshaker_info.htm has diagrams for 3,4,5,6,8,10 shakers. It would be interesting to know how many ohm's each diagram equals and what size amp would be needed for each diagram. The answer to this would keep this 41 page thread to a KISS method. ( if only it could be that easy) My cookie isn't sharp enough in this area. I'm sure there are other ways to go than the above diagrams. It sure would be nice to have one sticky with one post with the most common applications. Please accept my apology if this has been brought up already.Although it looks great on the surface, the wiring diagrams on that site are NOT all good for most people.

The 3 shakers diagram has 1/2 of the power delivered to one of the three shakers, and the other half of the power split between the other two shakers. (they each get 1/4 of the power) If you want all your seats to shake equally, that wiring scheme is not for you. Also, wired as illustrated it is a 2.66 ohm load, lower than most amplifiers are rated for.

The 4 shaker diagram is fine, all shakers will shake equally and they will be a 4 ohm load to the amplifier.

The 5 shaker wiring example also has the power unevenly split amount the shakers and the string of three in series will shake much less than the string of two in series. Two posts earlier in this thread I described how unevenly power would be distributed with a set of 5 connected in that way. If you adjusted your amplifier to put out roughly 80 watts of power connected to a string of three in parallel with a string of two shakers, each of the string of two would get 25 watts of power, and each of the string of three would get 11.1 watts of power. Not exactly an even distribution of the power. The string of three would shake much less than the string of two.

the 6 shaker wiring drawing is fine, all shakers will shake the same amount, and the impedance presented to the amplifier will be 6 ohms. (The amplifier will be able to supply power roughly mid-way between its 8 ohm and 4 ohm ratings)

The 7 shaker drawing is really bad.. just under half of the power will be delivered to one of the shakers (4/10ths of the power), the balance (Just over half - 6/10ths of the power) will be evenly split remaining 6 shakers. In other words, they each get one tenth of the power. Nope... that is not likely to get things evenly shaking. Oh, it is a 10 ohm load to the amplifier, but does that matter when the seats are shaking so unevenly.

The 8 shaker drawing is wired as a 2 ohm load to the amplifier. If your amplifier is capable of powering a 2 ohm load, it will work, and all shakers will shake evenly. If your amplifier cannot handle a 2 ohm load it will either shut down (if it has good short-circuit protection or overheat circuitry) or self destruct (if it does not).

The 10 shaker drawing has 1/4 of the power being delivered to each of two of the shakers, and the remaining half of the power split evenly among the other 8 shakers. (Yup, they each get 1/16th of the power) It is also a 16 ohm load to the amplifier, so expect it to produce about half of the power it is rated for at 8 ohms.

Now... with all this in mind, the company is trying to sell chairs. They know very little about shakers other than people want to add them to their theaters. Their idea of presenting sample wiring diagrams is great, but their knowledge of electronics not up to it.

Only the 4 shaker and 6 shaker wiring guides on that site are able to present a proper load to an amplifier AND have all the shakers shake evenly. Only one other, the 8 shaker drawing will evenly shake all the shakers, but it is a 2 ohm load to the amplifier, way too low for most amplifiers.

The other drawings for 3,5,7, and 10 shakers, however nicely they are drawn, are NOT good illustrations of how to wire shakers in a home theater.

Joe L.

Hey Joe. I agree with your thoughts on the 3 shaker diagram. It is not correct and sends more current to one shaker than the other two. Do you know if it is OK to put 3 in series for even shake? Would I get enough power from that 250W amp I linked to? Another thought is to buy a 4th and just leave it sitting on the floor but that seems a waste just to get a 4ohm load.

the 6 shaker wiring drawing is fine, all shakers will shake the same amount, and the impedance presented to the amplifier will be 6 ohms. (The amplifier will be able to supply power roughly mid-way between its 8 ohm and 4 ohm ratings)
Joe L.

:eek: whew... you got me worried there for a second! They (4seating) should really take those illustrations down if that's the case. Sorry 'bout that reaper...

Hey Joe. I agree with your thoughts on the 3 shaker diagram. It is not correct and sends more current to one shaker than the other two. Do you know if it is OK to put 3 in series for even shake? Would I get enough power from that 250W amp I linked to? Another thought is to buy a 4th and just leave it sitting on the floor but that seems a waste just to get a 4ohm load.reaper,

Three shakers in series would be a 12 ohm load to the amplifier.

The amplifier you linked to will produce 250 watts into 4 ohms, 150 watts into 8 ohms, and probably 100 watts into 12 ohms. That 100 watts will be divided equally between the three shakers, so they will each get about 33 watts at max output of the amp.

That is probably a perfect amount of power for pro shakers. you will not be running the amplifier at max anyway as most folks want a more subtle effect, and do not fund their theater expenses with the loose change shaken out of their guests pants pockets. :D :D

So... wire your three shakers in series and get the amplifier you linked to... it will work perfectly for the 3 shakers.

Joe L.

:eek: whew... you got me worried there for a second! They (4seating) should really take those illustrations down if that's the case. Sorry 'bout that reaper...If you wired your shakers as their 6 shaker drawing shows you are OK, but if you wired two sets of their 3 shaker drawing to a stereo amplifier you are in trouble as it is really bad. uneven shaking AND a load impedance too low for most amplifiers.

Yes, they should take the incorrect drawings down...

Joe L.

Interesting... this website showed this as the wiring diagram:

http://4seating.com/images/wiring-diagram-B.jpg

But if I remember my basic circuits, this would allow 2x the current to flow through one shaker as is flowing through the other two shakers. Is that right? Wouldn't one be really strong and the other two half as strong? Sure it'd make for a more friendly 6Ohm total load. But I was hoping to keep the shake the same on all shakers. Thoughts?reaper,
As I already said, you are correct about the unequal shakinng... but I initially made the same error as you when mentally calculating the load impedance of three shakers wired as illustrated... It is NOT a 6 ohm load as you said, but a 2.66 ohm load... too low for most amplifiers. As wired it is a 4 ohm load in parallel with an 8 ohm load.... the resulting impedance MUST be less than 4 ohms... :D

1 / (( 1 / 4 ) + ( 1 / 8 ) ) = 1 / ( .25 + .125 ) = 1 / .375 = 2.66 ohms.

Joe L.

Oh man, you're right. That's embarrassing.

reaper,

Three shakers in series would be a 12 ohm load to the amplifier.

The amplifier you linked to will produce 250 watts into 4 ohms, 150 watts into 8 ohms, and probably 100 watts into 12 ohms. That 100 watts will be divided equally between the three shakers, so they will each get about 33 watts at max output of the amp.

That is probably a perfect amount of power for pro shakers. you will not be running the amplifier at max anyway as most folks want a more subtle effect, and do not fund their theater expenses with the loose change shaken out of their guests pants pockets. :D :D

So... wire your three shakers in series and get the amplifier you linked to... it will work perfectly for the 3 shakers.

Joe L.

Very helpful...

Can you check my math here... if I were to add a shaker and either use it or leave it sitting on the floor, then I could have a total of 4. I could then wire each pair in series and then the 2 pairs in parallel. If I were to do that, I would end up with 2 8 ohm loads in parallel which would give me an effective load of 4 ohms. So, that would me I'd be getting the full 250W out of the amp. Half of that power would be dissipated in each series load. So, two shakers would get 125W. That means each shaker could get 62.5W. So, if I do buy this amp and find that I do not have enough shake, I could add a shaker and then nearly double the power dissipation... sound right?

I went ahead and ordered the amp. If I find that there is not enough shake, I think I could add another shaker and get more power to each...

Very helpful...

Can you check my math here... if I were to add a shaker and either use it or leave it sitting on the floor, then I could have a total of 4. I could then wire each pair in series and then the 2 pairs in parallel. If I were to do that, I would end up with 2 8 ohm loads in parallel which would give me an effective load of 4 ohms. So, that would me I'd be getting the full 250W out of the amp. Half of that power would be dissipated in each series load. So, two shakers would get 125W. That means each shaker could get 62.5W. So, if I do buy this amp and find that I do not have enough shake, I could add a shaker and then nearly double the power dissipation... sound right?

I went ahead and ordered the amp. If I find that there is not enough shake, I think I could add another shaker and get more power to each...Your math is correct but trust me, you will not need 60+ watts per shaker.

The "pro" and 'non-pro' bass-shakers sold by Parts-Express are identical internally. The difference is that the pro version has heatsink fins on the external surface and can better dissipate heat. They can therefore be driven with more power than the non-pro versions and survive. driven with the same power, the pro and non-pro versions shake exactly the same amount. (you probably have the pro models, as the non-pro models have been sold out for a while now)

At resonance the shaker needs very little power to reach its physical excursions limits... this is going to determine the max power you can use, not the max heat it can dissipate. I'm using a 75 watt amplifier and driving 4 shakers and the amp is not turned up to its max gain. I'll bet I'm actually feeding my shakers somewhere between 10 and 15 watts each, as the amplifier is barely warm after a movie.

Try three in series first with the amplifier you linked to, and you will be able to rattle the fillings in your teeth. I'll bet you will not need more power for shaking.

Joe L.

OK. Thanks Joe. I'll let you know how it works out. I used the free shipping but since the warehouse is so close to me, the estimated delivery date is tomorrow. :) My concern stems from the fact that I initiall had 3 in series hooked up to a 100W/ch pro logic receiver and felt very little shaking. So, we'll see what happens here... stay tuned for a couple more days...

reaper,

If you have a Phono input run your LFE into that. Should accentuate the shake.

The receiver is no longer available to drive the shakers... wife commandeered it.

I came across another amp that should work good for people who are doing a Aura bass shaker install that are looking for power on the cheaper end but don't want to use a plate amp for power: http://www.audiosource.net/2005/amp100.html. I'm going to be pairing it with 2x Aura shakers for the HT room (to start :)). was able to pick up both shakers and amp for around 210$ or so shipped...

I came across another amp that should work good for people who are doing a Aura bass shaker install that are looking for power on the cheaper end but don't want to use a plate amp for power: http://www.audiosource.net/2005/amp100.html. I'm going to be pairing it with 2x Aura shakers for the HT room (to start :)). was able to pick up both shakers and amp for around 210$ or so shipped...

That should be a nice amp. I picked up the Amp300 recently (really cheap) for my Crowson TES Stereo setup. The 150W RMS amp (8 ohms) works great and adds that tactile feel to my movies :)

I received my amp from Parts Express today. Next day shipping for me... free. It's cool to live close to PE. :) I'll let you guys know how it goes once I find time to try hooking it up...

Got it hooked up for a trial tonight. I had to turn it down to less than half because the shaking was too much... even with 3 in parallel! Looks like Joe steered me the right way :) Now I just have to figure out how to mount these things...

Got it hooked up for a trial tonight. I had to turn it down to less than half because the shaking was too much... even with 3 in parallel! Looks like Joe steered me the right way :) Now I just have to figure out how to mount these things...Very happy the shakers are working as I predicted. Now you just need to adjust them to where their effect adds to the movie experience and does not rattle the fillings in your teeth.

Joe L.

PS.
I hope you intended to type "even with 3 in series".

3 inn series is a 12 ohm load and perfect for that amplifier.
3 in parallel would be a 1.3 ohm load and odds are way too low a load impedance.

Yeah, I meant to say 3 in series. As you can see from my post, it was quite late when I posted that. My mind wasn't working quite right :)

It was a bit of an adventure getting those things to shake. I finally determined two things that fixed my problems:

1. Switching to content in DD rather than streamed stereo MP3s made a big difference.

2. If I am going to grab the LFE signal from the other output of my X-30 crossover, I cannot have the crossover volume turned WaaaaaAAaaaY down. I had to turn that up to max and then go turn the volume at the sub down. That way, my shaker amp was getting the full LFE signal.

Once I did those two things, JetPac Refueled was rocking the theater room :) Wow, I can't wait to mount these things to the chairs... hopefully this weekend. I'll be all ready when Forza 2 comes out and in the meantime, I'll be playing all my games and watching movies again just to enjoy the experience :)

Wow, I can't wait to mount these things to the chairs... hopefully this weekend. I'll be all ready when Forza 2 comes out and in the meantime, I'll be playing all my games and watching movies again just to enjoy the experience :)If you have the movie 'The Italian Job' (2003 version) give it a try... about 10-15 minutes into the movie, the bad guys steal a safe. When that event occurs you might just be inclined to jump out of your chair...

The effect is so real I jumped the first time I experienced it and grabbed for the arms of the chair, and jumped instinctively again the same way the next night when I watched the movie a second time.

Good luck with your new amplifier...

Joe L.

Thanks for the recc... I have yet to check out The Italian Job. Sounds like now is a good time.

Here are two images showing how I connected the bass shaker to a Coaster Studio chairs. I found there there were some metal pieces near the bottom with holes. The piece ran depth-wise with the chair. The holes were not used to mount anything else. I bought some 1.5" angle iron 12" in length from Lowes. No cutting was required. I also got some bolts, nuts and lock washers. Finally, I cut some MDF to about 15.5"x8" (let me know if you need exact measurement... not 100% sure). Then everything could be mounted up with only a few holes in the wood to mount the shaker and the angle iron.

The shaker sits underneath the chair and is connected very well to the metal frame. There are no bulges in the leather as with other installation methods and the shaker is not touching the floor. The shaking translates very well and you don't see anything unless you get on the floor and look under the chair. Very happy!

http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/1109/img5990uz3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/4550/img5991vo0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

I just got done playing some Condemned with the shakers... Oh my!

(When I said "I" earlier in this post, what I really meant it "My wife". I am an electrical engineer and she is a mechanical. As such, she usually will not let me touch anything remotely mechanically related. Hahaha)

I've got 4 of the Aura bass shakers that I had underneath my recliner back in the day. I've got a Coaster Promenade setup now (2 end recliners, connect love seat in between), and was wondering if anyone has mounted these under the Promenades?

I just purchased 2 Aura ast 1b-4 bass shakers (specs: impedance: 4 ohms RMS 50W, max 100W w/ both), and 2 VWS-100 (made by dot2 SR) bass shakers (specs: imendence: 2ohms, RMS 40W, 80W w/ 2, max power 100W, 200W w/ both, frequency: 20-80hz), (currently on ebay), I have a 7.1 onkyo reciever as my main amp, and have an old JVC 5.1 DD reciever, which is 85Wx5, I believe. How would i hook this up so that I can get 8ohms output? Will it be a problem hooking them up to the JVC reciever? basically, I think I would split the LFE from main reciever, into the DVD input of the JVC reciever, and from there, I don't know what I should do. Can anyone give me a detailed explaination to hooking up the bass shakers? Any help would be appreciated. I am very new to the technobabble of the ohms, ect. DETAILED explanation would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time!!

Lol...I can't believe that after like 3 years of this thread being in existance there are still people asking about impedance and if their amp will work. That was all covered like 1000 days ago over and over and over again.

At any rate... I just installed two bass shaker pro's in my Natuzzi leather couch powered by a used sony str-de197. I have the sony powered out of the cross overed pre-out of my main receiver - onkyo 504. The shakers were mounted to some existing MDF that made up the bottom frame of the arm rests. I think I may add an additional two shakers either zip tied to the center of the seat cushion support or mounted to the rear part of the frame. There is not a lot of room down there because the couch sits so low. The only reason would be to spread some of the effect out of the arm rests. The whole couch shakes, but the arm rests REALLY shake.

I was also worried a little bit about the heat in the receivers. I found a 5V DC wall wort, cut off the barrel plug, and wired up three 12V PC fans. Because they are underdriven they are not audible - especially over the projector. I placed two in between the onkyo and the sony and one up top. Its not a lot of air but helps move some air up through the onkyo into the bottom vent of the sony.

You are exactly correct. One of the shakers is getting half of the power, the other half is divided equally between the other two... so they each get 1/4 of the power.

Worse yet, you might be overpowering the one shaker to get the others to shake to your liking.

The web-site with that suggested wiring knows they want a good load to the amp but does not have a clue about wiring shakers to shake equally. Their wiring diagram is a good example of WHAT NOT TO DO. in fact, I've posted previously that the diagrams on that site are mostly bad with only one or two correct.
(I don't remember which and don't feel like checking them all again, but trust me, they are selling chairs, and I don't have a clue how much they know about seating other than they want to make a sale :eek: )

That site wants to sell theater seating... Do NOT use them for shaker wiring examples.

Joe L.

I am interested in why you feel this is not a good option for people with 3 seats. I have the buttkicker amp and (3) LFE units. Three connected in series provided pathetic performance that I was in no way happy with. I am fully aware of how to calculate power and resistance loads and your calculations are correct. In my setup the center seat actually has approximately 1000 Watts available, however the outside two seats have only 250 watts each, as you have pointed out, due to the series connection of those two seats. The effective load in this design is 2.67 Ohms, which is within the capability of that amplifier. In actuality however, the actual input signal determines how much of of that available power is used. So far using this configuration while watching movies and video games there is very little noticible difference in the shaking of the center vs. the two outside seats and since they are not connected physically together there appears to be little if any resonance issues. The center seat also does not seam to be physically reaching the end of its travel (knocking) at all either. I believe this is mostly due to some threshold power requirement to feel the shaking properly as well as some efficiency curve with regards to the physical transmission of the vibrations vs. energy usage. I disagree that this is not a good setup if your only other choice is to go with a series 12 ohm connection. I did not want to buy another buttkicker just to add the 4th unit as a dummy load.

Reaper,
only thing about your pictures is that Aura bass shakers are not recommended to be mounted horizontally.

Currently I am spliitting the LFE from Receiver and then splitting one leg again to provide a L & R feed into the CD input of a Sherwood RX-4105 receiver.

I'm then using the Left speaker output to drive two standard 25W Aura's in series, and then the Right speaker output to drive another two standard 25W Aura's in series. Each Aura is in a Berkline 088.

I do get a very subtle shake but does seem lacking. So far I've not pushed the receiver volume past 35 (goes to 60).

Based on Reapers post I'm wonder if in splitting the LFE I should push up the LFE level (currently at 0Db) and then adjust the Sub using its adjustment.

Is that the right thing to do? Is the CD input the best one to use (it also has Aux/TV, Tape & VCR)? Or should I be brave and turn volume up?

Cheers,
Mark

wow.. these things are awesome! I have just two of them for my row of 3 berkline 45003's and man these things vibrate the seats almost as much as my 500w JLw6v2 sub does in my car.. I can't believe it! The install worked out great in the angled wedge arms in between the seats.. and provide more than enough 'shake' for the 3 seats. Playing Gears of war with these things is just insane!

Does anyone have any links to buy the Aura Shakers (pro or non-pro) that isn't Partsexpress or Ebay? I'm not having any luck. Are these carried in b&m stores?

Does anyone have any links to buy the Aura Shakers (pro or non-pro) that isn't Partsexpress or Ebay? I'm not having any luck. Are these carried in b&m stores?

sent you a PM on the guy i got them through.

I just recieved/purchased 4 VWS-100 by .2sr, found on ebay http://cgi.*********/BASS-SHAKERS-like-Aura-Pro-100-watt-each-NIB-subwoofer_W0QQitemZ190112035893QQihZ009QQcategoryZ3275QQssPa geNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem for $70/pair. Anyway, I didn't realize that thease bass shakers are rated at 2ohms. I have a Pio Elite TSX82 amp, which I will use the pre-amp output to connect my old JVC 887 (110w/channel)? Dolby digital amp to run the shakers. I have a question on connecting these shakers. I believe that the JVC is rated at 8ohms, but believe that it is switchable to 4ohm capability for front speakers, I may be wrong though. This is how I plan to connect them for 4ohms: I will split the LFE cable out of the Pio Elite, then input them into the JVC DVD terminal w/ another split. I will then connect JVC + to + in 1st shaker, then - from shaker to + in OTHER shaker, then - from shaker to - in JVC, do this w/ R/L channels. Is this correct? will this then output at 4ohms? If I decided to do 8 ohms, would I do this same thing, but w/ all 4 of the shakers into just 1 speaker terminal? What would be the most effecient way? thanks for the help!!
-sorry, I posted this in the shaker connection thread also, but didn't recieve a response. Any help would be appreciated. Also, what settings do I use on the JVC reciever, I think it has a built in crossover, but not sure, haven't used the reciever in 6 years.

Reaper,
only thing about your pictures is that Aura bass shakers are not recommended to be mounted horizontally.

I don't buy this line for two reasons:

1. I mounted mine that way and they work great. Nor problems at all.
2. This image from the manufacturer talks about mounting them underneath a car seat. I'd like to see someone do that without mounting them horizontally.

http://www.aurasound.com/public/bassshaker/images/spec/ast_2b_4_a.jpg

They can be mounted vertically under a car seat and yes they work mounted horizontally but they also wear out quicker that way and it is not recommended. But like so many things you can do it. and yes they are cheap so I guess you don't care if they konk out sooner.

OK.. I'll take your word for it and expect to spend $120 replacing my shakers a little sooner. Thanks for the heads up.

OK.. I'll take your word for it and expect to spend $120 replacing my shakers a little sooner. Thanks for the heads up.unless the internal construction has changed I can't think of anything that would wear differently depending on the orientation of the shaker as it is mounted. There is a fairly stiff plastic "spider" that holds the voicecoil assembly. It won't care horiz vs. vert mounting.

So... you can save for when the shakers need replacing, but odds are they fail far more frequently from too much power (and inadequate cooling) than anything else when used in a car to replace/supplement a subwoofer and fed bass heavy music for hours at a time.

You will probably never need to replace them in normal home theater use as they are hardly stressed at all by movies. (even with the worst special effects the duty cycle time is brief).

I build an isolator system for my couch to prevent vibration from getting into the apartment building structure. I snapped a few pics for you guys showing what I did...

I took some scrap MDF and cut two pieces to the same size as my couch feet. I cut up some aluminum angle iron into 6" pieces and screwed it on to each side of isolator foot to hold the MDF square on the couch foot. I drilled a 3/8" hole in each side of the isolator foot to mount the metal plug. I used fender washers to prevent the mdf from blowing out, and lock washer to keep the bolt from backing out. The isolator plug fits in the rubber piece, and the rubber piece fits in the polyethylene shoe.

http://www.jdhaesloop.com/IMG_5487.JPG

http://www.jdhaesloop.com/IMG_5490.JPG

http://www.jdhaesloop.com/IMG_5492.JPG

http://www.jdhaesloop.com/IMG_5494.JPG

While I was painting I had some music playing at moderate levels. Without the isolators on there the entire room shakes, and the deck outside shakes. If I turn it up the lights in the room begin to vibrate. Once the couch is suspended up on these rubber mounts the vibration felt in the room is almost non-existant. You can sit on the floor right next to the couch and not realize that the shakers are on. If you put your hand on the couch, the thing is ROCKIN! Not bad... cost me 30 bucks for the isolators, about 10 in hardware and aluminum, and .99 in paint ;) I also picked up a small skillsaw circular handsaw for 30 bucks on sale. I love power tools!

isolators were sourced on e- bay auction 140116111572 - but are also available on amazon for just under 50 bucks for 4- search for "KNC Homeshop HSCB-125/4"


Keep in mind these are virtually the same thing clark synthesis sells as their top of the line isolator for $60 EACH!!! (down to the "kinetics" wording on the rubber). The only thing that is missing is a stupid piece of angle iron with two holes drilled in it.

Hey guys.. I just got my two coaster chairs, and ordered by bass shakers from PExpress. I still need an amp to wire these in serial.... Can someone recommend the best bang for the buck for an amp?
Tnx,
Tex

I build an isolator system for my couch to prevent vibration from getting into the apartment building structure. I snapped a few pics for you guys showing what I did...

I took some scrap MDF and cut two pieces to the same size as my couch feet. I cut up some aluminum angle iron into 6" pieces and screwed it on to each side of isolator foot to hold the MDF square on the couch foot. I drilled a 3/8" hole in each side of the isolator foot to mount the metal plug. I used fender washers to prevent the mdf from blowing out, and lock washer to keep the bolt from backing out. The isolator plug fits in the rubber piece, and the rubber piece fits in the polyethylene shoe.

http://www.jdhaesloop.com/IMG_5487.JPG

http://www.jdhaesloop.com/IMG_5490.JPG

http://www.jdhaesloop.com/IMG_5492.JPG

http://www.jdhaesloop.com/IMG_5494.JPG

While I was painting I had some music playing at moderate levels. Without the isolators on there the entire room shakes, and the deck outside shakes. If I turn it up the lights in the room begin to vibrate. Once the couch is suspended up on these rubber mounts the vibration felt in the room is almost non-existant. You can sit on the floor right next to the couch and not realize that the shakers are on. If you put your hand on the couch, the thing is ROCKIN! Not bad... cost me 30 bucks for the isolators, about 10 in hardware and aluminum, and .99 in paint ;) I also picked up a small skillsaw circular handsaw for 30 bucks on sale. I love power tools!

isolators were sourced on e- bay auction 140116111572 - but are also available on amazon for just under 50 bucks for 4- search for "KNC Homeshop HSCB-125/4"


Keep in mind these are virtually the same thing clark synthesis sells as their top of the line isolator for $60 EACH!!! (down to the "kinetics" wording on the rubber). The only thing that is missing is a stupid piece of angle iron with two holes drilled in it.

this is EXACTLY what i've been looking for. thanks for posting this. Do you have a picture of your couch with these installed?

look it up

I just got 2 and gonna power them from a KLH plate amp 100w. Could somebody show me how to wire these 2 speakers to one lead on the amp? I'm not real familiar on parallel/series wiring. Thanks for any help

Jason

look it up

I just got 2 and gonna power them from a KLH plate amp 100w. Could somebody show me how to wire these 2 speakers to one lead on the amp? I'm not real familiar on parallel/series wiring. Thanks for any help

Jason

You would want them wired parallel. Basically connect all +'s together and all -'s together. Series is more or less like batteries in a flashlight, + to -. HTH

Travis

You would want them wired parallel. Basically connect all +'s together and all -'s together. Series is more or less like batteries in a flashlight, + to -. HTH

TravisI think that is bad advice. Since the shakers are a 4 ohm load putting them in parallel will result in a 2 ohm load to the amplifier.

If your amplifier can handle a 2 ohm load, you will be fine.

If your amplifier is not rated for a 2 ohm load it will either:

overheat and shut down if it has overheat protection
shut itself down if it has overcurrent (short circuit) protection
self destruct quietly if it does not have overheat or overcurrent protection
self destruct in a dramatic way (smoke and/or flames) if it does not have overheat or overcurrent protection
work until you have guests over and turn up the volume a bit more than normal, then... overheat or self-destruct.


Since I know of no plate amplifier that is ok with a 2 ohm load, I would strongly suggest connecting the two shakers in series. It will be an 8 ohm load and safe for any amplifier.

Joe L.

look it up

I just got 2 and gonna power them from a KLH plate amp 100w. Could somebody show me how to wire these 2 speakers to one lead on the amp? I'm not real familiar on parallel/series wiring. Thanks for any help

Jason

Ok so I have been debating these for a while now. Question though, well a few actually. ;) First, did you get those shakes for 25 each, if so can you PLEASE PM me. Also I have an old 5.1 reciever that I started out with in college before this became an addiction. Could I use that to power 2 shakers? If not whats a nice, but cost effective amp (still in college so money is tight). Thanks for all the help!

I think that is bad advice. Since the shakers are a 4 ohm load putting them in parallel will result in a 2 ohm load to the amplifier.

If your amplifier can handle a 2 ohm load, you will be fine.



Thanks for the clarification. I was assuming the amp could handle a 2 ohm load. There are amps that will, I have used some in the past. Keep in mind the buttkickers can handle a ton of power, and through different setups I have found they operate more efficiently running at a higher wattage.

After reading all these posts and 3 days later I can now say I am a little closer to knowing how I am going to do my setup

Now if I can adjust my output level to the 2nd receiver down to 40-50 hz would I still benefit by adding an fmod? Or would my primary receiver take care of all that?

Thanks

quick question all... after I finished the setup... whenever everything is connected there is an anoyying hum...buzz from each sub. I am not experianced with this, and might have messed something up. I ran the speaker wire from the bass shakers parallel to all of them... is this right? Also do I have to use two audio jack to the amp or just the one subwoofer cable... I have the dayton 240watt amp from parts express.

Thanks!

sounds like you have a ground loop. Try plugging in the amp into another outlet on a different circuit to see if the problem goes away.

Could also be some cables too close to each other behind your receiver.

. I ran the speaker wire from the bass shakers parallel to all of them... is this right? Thanks!
If you have two or more bass-shakers connected, all in parallel, to that amplifier, it is wrong.

That amplifier is rated for a 4 ohm load. A single bass-shaker is a 4 ohm load.
Two in parallel would be a 2 ohm load. 4 in parallel would be a 1 ohm load.

Both will eventually cause one of the following to occur:

The amplifier will overheat and shut down.

The amplifier will draw more current than it is designed for and blow a fuse

The amplifier will self destruct.

There are drawings in this thread for many different configurations of shakers. Choose one that is between 4 and 16 ohms load and you will be fine.

The hum is caused by a ground loop. Do a search and you will find solutions.

Joe L.

Thanks for the replies! I changed my wiring pattern to series vs parallel... still the hum..so I need to go try a different outlet and make sure my cables are too close.. (fingures crossed) thanks again.. i'll check back in, in a bit!

ok... just tested on three different outlets... still getting the hum. The only time it stops is when I unplug the a/v cables out from the dayton sub amp. Or the opposite end from the y splitter to the powered sub.

I tried using a mono sub connector, as well as splitting to the a/v cable red and white, still if it was connected from the powered sub to the sub amp, i'd get a hum.

Any other suggestions on what I should try? If you need additional info I can get it to ya.

Thanks!

Luke

where the 3 outlets on a different circuit? 3 outlets in the same room may be on the same circuit (I.e. breaker in your breaker box).

There are 3rd party devices that can eliminate it.

one was in the same room... living room, other was in an adjacent bedroom. I have been reading about a loop isolator, and a cheater plug, to eliminate the use of the ground pin. You think I should try those?

one was in the same room... living room, other was in an adjacent bedroom. I have been reading about a loop isolator, and a cheater plug, to eliminate the use of the ground pin. You think I should try those?
A cheater plug would confirm if it is a ground loop. If you use one you lose the safety it provided in case of an electrical malfunction or short in the shaker amplifier.

To get back some of the safety, use one of these in combination with the cheater plug. You can get one at your local big-box hardware store.
http://www.trci.net/products/shock_shield/pdf/14650wht.pdf

Plug the GFCI into a grounded outlet, the cheater plug into it, and the amplifier into the cheater plug. Now, any flow of current through your body should trip the GFCI and save you from possible electrocution.

The other possible solution would be a ground loop isolation transformer. These are made for audio use and available from radio-shack and other places...
http://www.radioshack.com/sm-buy-the-ground-loop-isolator-on-http-wwwradioshackcom--pi-2062214.html
I've not tested the RadioShack isolator, it is made for car audio, where ground loops are comon, but I have no idea of how low its low frequency response goes. Odds are good it will work fine in series with the shaker amplifier.

Joe L.

Can someone post a diagram of wiring 6 shakers to a stereo amp with 3 on each channel? I want to make sure I have it right.

J.L. Thank you much for the information... I'll test some of these ways out and see what works best. I think i'll give the isolater a shot first then if that doesnt work go the other route... also thanks for the additional safety measure tips!

I'll let you know what works out!

Luke

Can someone post a diagram of wiring 6 shakers to a stereo amp with 3 on each channel? I want to make sure I have it right.There is only one way to get them to all shake evenly and be a good load for the stereo receiver... three in series on each channel.

It will be a 12 ohm load, so you will get about 2/3rds the power you would available at 8 ohms.

Joe L.

There is only one way to get them to all shake evenly and be a good load for the stereo receiver... three in series on each channel.

Is there a basic wiring diagram that illustrates the series wiring online somewhere?

Is there a basic wiring diagram that illustrates the series wiring online somewhere?Each set of three should be wired like this:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=27487&d=1096674709
The big rectangle on top is one channel of your receiver.

Joe L.

Thanks again for all your help... the ground loop isolator worked! Wow... these bass shakers are a lot of fun...

Now i'm off to research correct speaker calibration techniques!

Thanks again!

Thanks Joe L. - that's how I thought it should go.

Next question - is MDF the best "wood" to use for mounting the shakers? Would a hardwood work better?

You can also use one of the low cost subwoofer amps (designed with a mounting plate for attaching to the back of DIY subwoofer cabinet but can be used free-standing). Parts Express also sells these in various watt output ratings.

will I get any response out of the shakers if I run just 1 coax to the left or right input from the y adapter on my preout to the old reciever im using to power the shakers?

will I get any response out of the shakers if I run just 1 coax to the left or right input from the y adapter on my preout to the old reciever im using to power the shakers?That would depend on whether the bass management occurs before or after those pre-out jacks. I would guess there is a good chance the signals on those jacks have already had the bass frequencies filtered out and routed to the LFE out.

Quick test, plug your subwoofer into one of the pre-outs instead of the LFE out and see if it still has any deep bass. (don't be fooled by mid-bass. You should expect that to be there, but not much down at 40-50 Hz should be. Might even use a test-tone DVD if you have one to verify)

Joe L.

goods question.

I was cleaning out my equipment closet and found this small heavy box. To my surprise, it was 6 sets of 50w bass shakers I bought when I was building my HT 3 years ago. I completely forgot about them.

Now I just have to find an amp and find a good how-to. Anyone have some quick steps? I'd be interested in publishing it on my site as well.

hmm - it is kind of interesting to run into this thread.

i was looking to "enhance" the bass experience in my ht and i just finished rewiring my room and putting my subwoofer under my couch - saved me a bunch of space in my smaller sized ht room at the same time.

but it is interesting to see that there are specialized product for doing just this in the market

Hello Everyone,

Would it be correct to wire 5 Bass shakers using a 200w (4 ohm) subwoofer amp like in the below picture? I found this picture here and thought it may work with 5 shakers as well. Instead using 3 Aura pros in each row I am planning to have 2 in the first row and 3 in the second row.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=65484&d=1160013280

Thanks,
Burak

Hello Everyone,

Would it be correct to wire 5 Bass shakers using a 200w (4 ohm) subwoofer amp like in the below picture? I found this picture here and thought it may work with 5 shakers as well. Instead using 3 Aura pros in each row I am planning to have 2 in the first row and 3 in the second row.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=65484&d=1160013280

Thanks,
Burak


Try this link. It has setups for may different configurations of shakers.

http://4seating.com/audio_buttshaker_info.htm#Pro_Butt_Shaker

Bob

Try this link. It has setups for may different configurations of shakers.

http://4seating.com/audio_buttshaker_info.htm#Pro_Butt_Shaker

BobThe wiring diagrams on that site are mostly incorrect. A full analysis is at this thread http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=10327114&highlight=4seating#post10327114

Only the 4 shaker and 6 shaker wiring guides on that site are able to present a proper load to an amplifier AND have all the shakers shake evenly. Only one other, the 8 shaker drawing will evenly shake all the shakers, but it is a 2 ohm load to the amplifier, way too low for most amplifiers.

The other drawings for 3,5,7, and 10 shakers, however nicely they are drawn, are NOT good illustrations of how to wire shakers in a home theater.

Clearly they want to sell chairs and do not have a clue about ohms law and power formulas. As much as they would prefer, physics works the same with series /parallel combinations of shakers in their chairs as everywhere else. The drawings are nicely drawn, but most are just wrong.

Joe L.

The wiring diagrams on that site are mostly incorrect. A full analysis is at this thread http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=10327114&highlight=4seating#post10327114

Only the 4 shaker and 6 shaker wiring guides on that site are able to present a proper load to an amplifier AND have all the shakers shake evenly. Only one other, the 8 shaker drawing will evenly shake all the shakers, but it is a 2 ohm load to the amplifier, way too low for most amplifiers.

The other drawings for 3,5,7, and 10 shakers, however nicely they are drawn, are NOT good illustrations of how to wire shakers in a home theater.

Clearly they want to sell chairs and do not have a clue about ohms law and power formulas. As much as they would prefer, physics works the same with series /parallel combinations of shakers in their chairs as everywhere else. The drawings are nicely drawn, but most are just wrong.

Joe L.

Ouch, you made me get out my calculator...and yes you are correct (took me a bit to get around the fancy drawings to get the right answer tho..). Wow, does this bring back memories from my electronis days and using ohms law.

JL,

You seem to be the current authority on how to wire these shakers up, so let me ask. I will have 7 HT seats in my setup when completed. I am looking to get a shaker for each seat. I have already run 2 seperate wires, one for the rear row of 4 and one for the front row of 3 from my equipment closet.

Do you recommend a 2 channel amplifier one for each row, or single channel amp and wire accordingly which I can do in the closet? Also would I be better off, for wiring purposes on getting 8 shakers vs 7 and simply install 2 in the center seat of the front row?

I tried looking for diagrams through this and the other shaker thread which I found through google, but there is simply to many pages. I did get some useful info but I wanna be certain. We need an index or a sticky for diagrams only. Thanks for any help you can offer.

JL,

You seem to be the current authority on how to wire these shakers up, so let me ask. I will have 7 HT seats in my setup when completed. I am looking to get a shaker for each seat. I have already run 2 seperate wires, one for the rear row of 4 and one for the front row of 3 from my equipment closet.

Do you recommend a 2 channel amplifier one for each row, or single channel amp and wire accordingly which I can do in the closet? Also would I be better off, for wiring purposes on getting 8 shakers vs 7 and simply install 2 in the center seat of the front row?

I tried looking for diagrams through this and the other shaker thread which I found through google, but there is simply to many pages. I did get some useful info but I wanna be certain. We need an index or a sticky for diagrams only. Thanks for any help you can offer.First, as you probably already know, there is no way with a single channel amplifier to power 7 shakers and have them all shake the same amount... You can add a 4 ohm resistor in place of an 8th shaker, or as you are considering, an 8th shaker to get then to all shake the same amount...

Unfortunately to get even shaking, a series/parallel combination of 8 shakers can be wired as an 8 ohm load (series/parallel), or as a .5 ohm load (all in parallel) The .5 is too low for almost any amplifier, that leaves the 8 ohm wiring. Most of the subwoofer amplifiers only out out about 150 watts or so into 8 ohms, so each shaker would get about 1/8th of that. Depending on how much shaking you desire, it would probably be enough. My own theater is wired exactly that way with 8 shakers.

You can use a two channel amplifier, with the set of three in series on one channel, and two paralleled sets of two-in-series on the front. The three shakers set would be a 12 ohm load, and the 4 shaker set a 4 ohm load. You could then feed both channels with a "Y" splitter from the subwoofer out of your receiver, and then turn the balance control off-center to equalize the shaking between the back row and the front. This is probably what I would do in your situation. You would need a pretty good amplifier though... probably something around 100 watts per channel, or more.

If you can deal with uneven shaking, you can wire three shakers in series in the front row, and four in series in the rear row, and then parallel those two sets to a single amplifier.

The total resistance is then
1/ (1/(4+4+4+4)) + (1/(4+4+4)) ) or
1/ ((1/16) + (1/12)) or
1/ (.0625 + .08333) or
1/ .145833 or 6.8 ohms. ( a good load for am amplifier)

Using my same 30 volts output from a typical amplifier, it would result in 10 volts across each shaker in the front row, and 7.5 volts across each in the rear row.

Power = (voltage squared / resistance) so
(10 * 10 ) / 4 = 25 watts per shaker in the row of three
(7.5 * 7.5) / 4 = 14 watts per shaker in the rear row of four shakers.

Joe L.