My riser is 9-1/2' wide x 6-1/2' deep x 9" tall and will be attached to the back wall and one side wall after drywall goes up.


Is it better to have the buttkickers or bass shakers fixed inside of the riser or inside of the recliner/sofa on top of the riser?

What kind of "future-proofing" do I need to do inside of the riser? I plan on running wires through the riser to the front for electricity, buttshakers for the front row and maybe have an open conduit to run other stuff later on.

We have a rope light going under the lip of the riser...

Anything else you can think of?

Do NOT attach it to the wall! especially if you plan to use buttkickers....wow that will activate your entire house structure.

Are you being facetious, or is that a serious comment? I've never felt a buttkicker or bass shaker so I'm just going off of what I read here. Are they really powerful enough to make the walls shake?

Ive had my butt kickers for about a month, Temporarily attatched to a couch. I think they will definately make your walls vibrate. I would strongly reccomend detaching your riser from the walls if possible.
As far attatching to the furniture or riser, after trying them in my couch I'm going put them in the riser platform. Just for the fact that when the couch "moves" and my feet are on solid floor it doesnt seem natural. But when my feet arent grounded Its great. Good luck.

Thanks, good points. I wouldn't need electricity inside of the riser for buttkickers/bass shakers, would I?

You will definitely need electricity for the rope light. I also ran some conduit to my riser from the equipment closet in case I wanted to add something wires later (CAT5, RG-6, etc).

I would suggest running power and at least a conduit into your riser. The power can be used for power recline, small light near the seating, game console, video camera, whatever. The conduit will let you run low voltage cables to the riser seating in the future. You can plug in a game console at the seating, video camera for home movies, laptop, whatever. Better to put it in now than wish you had it later.

Do NOT attach it to the wall! especially if you plan to use buttkickers....wow that will activate your entire house structure.


Texas Aggie is correct. While it may not shake your ENTIRE house structure, it won't do much to help your drywall or structural stability. You definately do NOT want to attach the riser to the walls - it should be free-floating. I would suggest an air gap of at least 3/4" between the walls and the riser.

That's my suggestion anyway...

I'll definitely put power in the riser. We had it planned for one side and the plan was to put an outlet inside of the riser, but I don't think that makes sense. I think I'll run the other outlet to the face of the riser to do all that fun stuff you guys are talking about.

I'll take your advice and put in a conduit in it as well. My equipment closet is just behind the riser so it will be a short run.

Thanks again.

My framer initially built a riser that was 5-1/2' deep x 8-1/2' wide but I just thought it was a tad small once you fully reclined and try to move around, etc. So I decided to try to add onto it. What would take a normal person probably 1/2 hour takes me about a week, so this has not been easy. For starters, can I freaking even drill in a screw that doesn't split the wood!? And how about learning how to cut straight with a hand saw? That'd be nice.

I'm sure if I had a table saw and a nail gun, I would have been done a long time ago.

Anyway, since the riser will be at the back of the room, I thought it might be easiest to add onto the riser by just screwing 2x4s onto the joists at the height of the riser and then putting the platform on those.

BUT ... you guys have talked me out of that. I'll just build it and attach the old to the new somehow. I'll not attach it to the wall, either, so the drywall can go to the floor. And I'll leave that air gap.

With a bathroom directly above the home theater, there will be enough buttshaking going on up there with extra bass!

I'll just build it and attach the old to the new somehow. I'll not attach it to the wall, either, so the drywall can go to the floor. And I'll leave that air gap.


Drywall first then build riser.

Is that to make it easier for drywall?

That's to keep the sound from going out of the room. Plus, if the riser is ever removed, then they don't need to patch the hole in the drywall.

I have attached my Bass Shakers to all of the chairs. Upside, great added effect, and you "MAY" be able to lower your sub output to avoid neighbor issues. Never tried the walls, but I would say stay away from that. Too many unknowns.

The downside is they are TOO SLOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWW for music in most cases. If you are sitting there listening to a bass laden track, the thumps from the sub and the bass shaker are off just enough to be distracting.

No power other than the amp needed to drive the shakers.

Does anyone have any good ideas on how to place the butt kickers in the risers?
I am building MY risers this weekend, and am kind of up in the air on how I will install the Buttkickers AFTER I have built the risers.
I will "retrofit" the buttkickers.

Any ideas?
Tom
Best,
Chinaclipper

The downside is they are TOO SLOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWW for music in most cases. If you are sitting there listening to a bass laden track, the thumps from the sub and the bass shaker are off just enough to be distracting.

Have you tried putting in a delay for the rest of your speakers? Most head units have this option available in the speaker calibration. You just delay the signal to the other speakers to slow them down so that they react the same time the kicker does.

As stated your riser should be isloated from all walls and floor if possible. I have my bass shakers mounted inside my 15" riser they mount to a vertical HARDWOOD board that is fastened to the upright supports of the riser. we left an access panel to get to the Bass shakers. We also have electric running through the riser to outlets and stair lights. You drywall all your room before you build the riser and are you double drywalling with greenglue or how are you handling your sound reduction? Also you will want to fill your riser other then around the shakers with insulation.

As stated your riser should be isloated from all walls and floor if possible..

I will isolate it by about a half-inch or so...

I have my bass shakers mounted inside my 15" riser they mount to a vertical HARDWOOD board that is fastened to the upright supports of the riser. we left an access panel to get to the Bass shakers..

Are you pleased with the bass shakers in the riser? How many do you have in there? And how big is your riser again?

You drywall all your room before you build the riser and are you double drywalling with greenglue or how are you handling your sound reduction? Also you will want to fill your riser other then around the shakers with insulation.

Part of the riser is already built but just sitting in the middle of the room. It can be removed for drywalling.

As for the sound reduction ... I built one wall -- the only one that shares space with other rooms -- as a staggered stud wall. For the ceiling, I plan on using resilient channel and maybe 5/8 sheetrock with soundboard. I just can't afford to do the whole room in double drywall and green glue at this point.

My riser is 15" high by 68" deep by 116" long and we currently have four Pro bass shakers mounted vertically as I say. I have been happy with them, however after reading another post here on the forum I decided to try a second subwoofer ON the riser itself, so last week we tried a REVEL Concerta B12 in addition to the shakers and WOW.
Funny thing is this week we tried the REVEL Performa B 15 and did not like it as well. even though it is more money.
I was afraid that adding it might cause other bass problems but it didn't it just made the bass overall sound much fuller and better in addtion to the kick on the riser. However had I never read that idea I would have lived happily with the Bass shakers though I have two more that I am using on two of my front seats that I might have added to the riser as well other wise.

So you put your second subwoofer on top of your riser? Wow, that's cool. I ran an extra wire up front for a second one, but maybe I should run one to the back instead or in addition.

I wonder if a subwoofer on a riser would have the same effect as bass shakers?

It does if it is setting right on the riser, no feet. As a matter of fact you might try hooking up your current one there for a test. Of course it is important to have your seats there to test for sure. But such an experiment can give you an idea.
Now I have no idea whether in your room a Sub placed there would give you other acoustic problems, but in mine it did not and I am glad.

In fact for a test a good choice is Master and Commander the scene near the beginning when the Archeron first fires and hits the ship. You can feel it rip right under your seat.