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Shakers - Simple/Cheap Hookup - Visual Guide

665K views 3K replies 556 participants last post by  Patrick Flaherty 
#1 ·
Since I'm not very speaker or amplifier savy I thought I post my quick/easy/cheap/basic way in which I hooked up my 4 bass shakers to 3 chairs using a old prologic receiver that needs 8 ohms per channel.


Note: I zip tied the shakers to the seat springs under my Berkline 099 HT recliners. The overall effect is not a strong on some scenes as expected, but my old receiver is not very powerful. And some movies don't have as much "LFE" as I thought.


2 Pictures to be uploaded.

I have an idea for hooking up 3 pairs on 2 receiver channels as well. If any one needs/wants that let me know I can draw that up as well.
 
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#977 ·
If you don't mind the issue I mentioned earlier about defaulting to a preset volume level every time it's power cycled, you can pick up used Sherwood RX-4103 receivers all the time off ebay for less than $50. That's what I'm using, and it works just fine. I just bump up the volume a bit when I want to really feel them.
 
#978 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by UnknownShadow /forum/post/0


Now let me say this, anyone who says the regular version does not give enough rumble/force simply needs to mess around a bit more. I have 3 mounted to a HUGE couch and 3 mounted under my back riser which weighs a freakin' ton. And it is more than enough rumble in both cases.

They may not be comparing Aura to Aura, but Aura to Buttkicker. I have two Buttkickers mounted under my floor... the floor to a very large living room and support floor to the raised floor of the kitchen, hall and dining room. All told, around 1000 sq.ft. of space, about 2/3 on a second raised floor. These two shakers move the living room intensely and can easily be felt on any of the other floors... while being dialed back from max travel (bottom out) by quite a bit!


In contrast, you have six shakers, three times as many, creating a "rumble". Costwise, you probably have the advantage, but for sheer impact it may be very hard to mount enough Bass Shakers to equal two Buttkickers.
 
#979 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by TechnoCat /forum/post/0


They may not be comparing Aura to Aura, but Aura to Buttkicker. I have two Buttkickers mounted under my floor... the floor to a very large living room and support floor to the raised floor of the kitchen, hall and dining room. All told, around 1000 sq.ft. of space, about 2/3 on a second raised floor. These two shakers move the living room intensely and can easily be felt on any of the other floors... while being dialed back from max travel (bottom out) by quite a bit!


In contrast, you have six shakers, three times as many, creating a "rumble". Costwise, you probably have the advantage, but for sheer impact it may be very hard to mount enough Bass Shakers to equal two Buttkickers.

Actually, I have seen several posts saying how the regular Aura shakers do not provide enough output and saying to go with the Pro versions. This is simply not true as my regular Aura's provide tons of rumble and shaking. Yes, they move the entire riser as well as the sofa sitting on it.


As for the buttkickers, they are meant to be mounted under extremely large areas as you describe. They are often overkill for most normal furniture and all but the biggest platforms.
 
#981 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by pestario /forum/post/0


Thanks for the tips, how do you control the LFE in the Sherwood RX-4103, so that for example the shakers don't go off while Sean Connery is talking. Im looking for it to kick in more in big explosions and that kind of thing, not to shake the whole movie long.

By default the shakers would reproduce everything that your subwoofer is currently set to reproduce (based on the LFE crossover point you selected). If you want to limit the shakers to frequencies lower than the crossover point, you can add an inline FMOD with its own passive crossover point. Partsexpress sells a 50Hz crossover that some people have used. If you want a fully adjustable low-pass crossover than you're better off sticking with a plate subwoofer amp.
 
#982 ·
YYou need to us a low pass filter before the line input on the receiver to filter out the higher frequencies. The simplest way to do that would be with a 50hz f-mod. The cheapest place I found one was at Crutchfield , by the time you factor in a free shipping coupon which you should be able to find with some quick googling. Personally, I wanted to filter even lower than 50hz, and I had a spare channel on my BFD. So I'm boosting the frequencies below 20hz, and rolling off to the point where there's basically nothing left above about 35hz. with these settings, the shaking is VERY occasional, and pretty much restricted to explosions, etc. There are some exceptions... "The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy", for example, has a lot of infrasonic bass throughout the movie. So you're at the whim of the sound engineer. But restricting their activity above 30hz does a pretty good job.
 
#983 ·
Am I missing something, or if you want to add an fmod to control the level of bass for when the shakers kick in are you better off with one of the Plate amps, becuase it has the ability build in?


Assuming you pay $80 to $100 for a cheap reciever then another $30 for the Fmods the price ends up being the same as a plate amp that has enough watts to run 4 Bass shaker pros.



On another not in the wiring diagrams I assume its a single wire as apposed to a pair of wires goint between the shakers.
 
#984 ·
As I mentioned earlier, the problem with the plate amps I've seen is they generally have a subsonic filter that rolls off the response below 20hz. Below 20hz is where I wanted their output to be the strongest, so using a plate amp is counterproductive to what I wanted.
 
#985 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Darin /forum/post/0


As I mentioned earlier, the problem with the plate amps I've seen is they generally have a subsonic filter that rolls off the response below 20hz. Below 20hz is where I wanted their output to be the strongest, so using a plate amp is counterproductive to what I wanted.

Ahh Now I get ya, I am slow sometimes
I should check out some local goodwills might even be able to find a suitable reciver there.


My main reciever has the option of setting the bass xover as well, if the shaking becomes to much I will lower the subwoofer xover on my reciever and let my fronts handle some more base until I get an Fmod.


Thanks again for all the help, my shakers will be arriving today
 
#986 ·
Thanks for all the tips, I wired up and installed the Shakers yesterday and am VERY happy with the effect. I like the way it vibrates with the Bass and not just a random shake.


Now I just have to find a better place to mount them as the inside of the middle box on my reclining sofa dosent seem to do the trick. Also have to find a permenant reciver to run them, I am just borrowing an insignia 200W stero reciver to drive them right now.
 
#987 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by UnknownShadow /forum/post/0


As for the buttkickers, they are meant to be mounted under extremely large areas as you describe. They are often overkill for most normal furniture and all but the biggest platforms.

Hmmm.... Let me say that the effect is incredible when you watch movies with content below 15hz in the LFE channel. I have one buttkicker in each end recliner section of the 3 section couch - and WOW - what a ride!!!
 
#988 ·
Semi-OT for anybody who decides to use a Sherwood RX-4103/RX-4105 to drive their shakers:


The new 4105 looks very similar to the older 4103 (especially the internal components--couldn't tell a difference there at all) and has the same power rating. However, the remote control is different and so are the infrared codes. Therefore, if you already own a 4103 and decide to add a 4105 you can't use the same remote (or universal remote programming) for both at the same time. I'm going to have to return the 4105 I bought today because of this problem.


BTW, the 4105 is on sale at Circuit City this week which is why I bought one.
 
#989 ·
Yes, I did the same thing... I ordered a 4105 (it was on sale for $70 before they actually had it in stock), and while I was waiting I picked up a 4103 off ebay for something like $40. The 4105's frequency response specs make it appear that it goes lower, so I figured I'd end up using that one. But then I hooked it all up, and discovered that it reset to a fixed volume setting every time it was power cycled. I could have just used the remote to adjust the volume every time, but that presented a problem: I also use a Sherwood PLII receiver (RD-6108) to break the RL and RR channels from my main receiver into more rear channels (effectively a 9.1 system
), and it shares the same IR commands as the 4105. So changing the shake level with the remote would have also screwed up the balance of my rear channels (thankfully the 6108 does NOT reset the volume with a power cycle). So I hooked up the 4103 to see if by chance it would retain the volume setting on a power cycle. It didn't, but then I realized the remote commands were different than the 6108. So I'm able to use the 4103 in conjunction with the 6108 without the IR commands interfering with each other. It's really odd... I bought the 6108 a several years ago, so it's definitely older than the 4105. Yet they share IR codes, and the 4103 (which is just the older version of the 4105) is different.


FWIW, I've not found that the low frequency performance is any different between the 4103 and the 4105: both seem to work equally well.
 
#990 ·
Yes the distortion specs on the 4105 are lower than the 4103 so it looks like Sherwood did make some small improvements to the 4103. However, they did cheapen the display a little bit with a 1-color fluoroluminescent screen instead of 2-color.
 
#991 ·
I mounted my Aura shakers on my platforms this past weekend and they are being carpeted today. I Have my Coaster theater seats on the lower platform and standard theater chairs on the upper platform. My question is padding?? How much if any on the platforms??


Right now with the Coaster chairs directly on the plywood it feels great. I don't want to diminish the effect. Since the theater style chairs are mounted directly to the plywood I figure no problem there accept where you put your feet.


Do I need any padding on the platform?
 
#992 ·
I am running 2 sets of 9 aura pros. I have them paralled/Series together to achieve approx 5 ohms per channel. I am powering these with an audiosource amp 300 rated at 235 watts per channel at 4 ohms.



Can I assume each channel now has the capacity to handle 450 watts?
 
#993 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by tomr /forum/post/0


I am running 2 sets of 9 aura pros. I have them paralled/Series together to achieve approx 5 ohms per channel.

I can see how you wire three parallel strings of three in series to get a total of 4 ohms (three in series=12 ohms, three 12 ohm strings in parallel=4 ohms), or... to connect in series three sets of three in parallel for a load of 4 ohms (three shakers in parallel=1.3333 ohms, three of the 1.3333 ohms sets in series=4 ohms), but can't visualize how you would wire them to shake equally and end up with 5 ohms.


Can you elaborate on how the 9 are being wired to get approx 5 ohms?

Quote:
Originally Posted by tomr /forum/post/0


I am powering these with an audiosource amp 300 rated at 235 watts per channel at 4 ohms. Can I assume each channel now has the capacity to handle 450 watts?

If the power is being divided equally to each of the shakers and they each can handle 50 watts, then you are correct. Each set of 9 shakers can handle 450 watts. You could use a bigger amplifier and get more shaking.


Joe L.
 
#994 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by J. L. /forum/post/0


I can see how you wire three parallel strings of three in series to get a total of 4 ohms (three in series=12 ohms, three 12 ohm strings in parallel=4 ohms), or... to connect in series three sets of three in parallel for a load of 4 ohms (three shakers in parallel=1.3333 ohms, three of the 1.3333 ohms sets in series=4 ohms), but can't visualize how you would wire them to shake equally and end up with 5 ohms.


Can you elaborate on how the 9 are being wired to get approx 5 ohms?


If the power is being divided equally to each of the shakers and they each can handle 50 watts, then you are correct. Each set of 9 shakers can handle 450 watts. You could use a bigger amplifier and get more shaking.


Joe L.


When I checked each individual speaker with my ohm meter it read 4.9. So when they were all connected it read 4.9 ((4.9 / 3) * 3). So yes, I really only have 4 ohm, using the rated ohm of 4.0 per speaker.


In hindsight, I should have ohmed them to 8 so I could have bridged my amp to 470 watts mono and picked up another AS amp 300 to maximize the shakers.
 
#995 ·
Personally, I don't think you need another amp. They really don't need that much power. Currently I'm feeding a total of 12 shakers with a 105wpc (x 2) amp, and I'm bottoming out the shakers long before I run out of amp power. I'm equalizing mine to focus their output into the infrasonic range, which of course is going to cause me to be excursion limited. But still, I can't imagine needing THAT much power. You should be fine as your are.
 
#996 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Darin /forum/post/0


Personally, I don't think you need another amp. They really don't need that much power. Currently I'm feeding a total of 12 shakers with a 105wpc (x 2) amp, and I'm bottoming out the shakers long before I run out of amp power. I'm equalizing mine to focus their output into the infrasonic range, which of course is going to cause me to be excursion limited. But still, I can't imagine needing THAT much power. You should be fine as your are.

It "feels" good now, I prefer not to purchase another amp at this time. I can't imagine what another 270 watts could do.


Any thoughts on the carpet padding for the risers?
 
#997 ·
I don't think padding will make a HUGE difference... obviously if you have theater style seats that mount directly to the plywood underneath, it won't make any difference. But even if you have furniture that would sit on top of the padding, most furniture concentrates the weight load into small areas that mostly compress the carpeting and padding down pretty far, so the isolation wouldn't be all that huge.


Even so, if it were me, I still probably wouldn't use padding. It's just not a high enough traffic area to really need it, and you could argue that padding could make the footing slightly less secure for people making the steps.
 
#998 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by tomr /forum/post/0


When I checked each individual speaker with my ohm meter it read 4.9. So when they were all connected it read 4.9 ((4.9 / 3) * 3). So yes, I really only have 4 ohm, using the rated ohm of 4.0 per speaker

tomr,

Interesting...

Usually, the DC resistance of a loudspeaker/driver is lower than the AC impedance, not higher. (And the "ohms" rating for speakers/shakers is the average AC impedance over its operating frequency range, not the DC resistance)


In any case, it could be the shaker voicecoil is of higher resistance than advertised(and probably higher impedance too), or the test-leads of your meter added their own resistance, or the meter calibration itself is slightly off and is the cause of my confusion. It sure sounds to me like you know what you are doing with the wiring and basic parallel/series calculations.


Before you put hundreds of watts into your shakers I just wanted to verify they all got an equal amount of the power and that you didn't smoke one or two by overdriving them while under-driving the others. From what you have said, you are fine and they will all shake equally.


Happy shaking. Before you buy a more powerful amp check it out at your current power level. Many of us are using much less power and have plenty enough shaking. You might find the current amplifier is fine.


Joe L.
 
#999 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by J. L. /forum/post/0


tomr,

Interesting...

Usually, the DC resistance of a loudspeaker/driver is lower than the AC impedance, not higher. (And the "ohms" rating for speakers/shakers is the average AC impedance over its operating frequency range, not the DC resistance)


In any case, it could be the shaker voicecoil is of higher resistance than advertised(and probably higher impedance too), or the test-leads of your meter added their own resistance, or the meter calibration itself is slightly off and is the cause of my confusion. It sure sounds to me like you know what you are doing with the wiring and basic parallel/series calculations.


Before you put hundreds of watts into your shakers I just wanted to verify they all got an equal amount of the power and that you didn't smoke one or two by overdriving them while under-driving the others. From what you have said, you are fine and they will all shake equally.


Happy shaking. Before you buy a more powerful amp check it out at your current power level. Many of us are using much less power and have plenty enough shaking. You might find the current amplifier is fine.


Joe L.

I ran a test last night playing U571. "shook me all night long" came to mind! I was leary of cranking the amp to max until I verified I indeed would not over power the Aura's. I am very satisfied. Think I'll crank it up a notch tonight.
 
#1,000 ·
I just purchased another Buttkicker amp and two more LFE units. I will be installing a second shaker unit to my recliner section of the couch. Does anyone else have experience in installing multiple LFE's on a single chair or recliner? With sound, doubling the speakers does not double the sound level. But what happens with tactile transducers? Is the shaking displacement doubled? Increased by 3 decibels?


I guess I will find out....
 
#1,001 ·
You are installing multiple buttkickers in the same couch???? Good lord, are you a glutton for punishment? Seriously, if 1 buttkicker isn't doing it for you then you've got some sort of issue with the mounting.
 
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