AVS Forum banner

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.
 
See less See more
1
  • Like
Reactions: texasninja956
#127 ·
Hi Brickie,

I dun have any LD or DVD material for Star Wars, so can't comment on Vader's voice. But how do you measure the Hz frequency for Vader's voice if it's above/below 50Hz? Who knows... maybe his voice was meant for LFE output?


Other scene I can recall that comes close with his voice is maybe the creatures' voice/roar from Fifth Element.


The other sure way to check was via the AVIA LFE sweep signal.
 
#128 ·
This is just an example i gave you..The main thing is, many myself included would not want my couch to "shake" when he did speak..Yes i'm sure it probably may be routed to lfe when it comes out in sept..But it is appropriate to shake your couch in that instance.By using, a fmod of 50hz, i assure myself my shakers only go off when i feel it is necessary..It truely is a judgement call, and i'm sure there's no right or wrong..But if i were in a persons setup and the couch shook for something like that, i'd think he had his bass cranked artificially too high..


brickie
 
#130 ·
Craig, what's up..Yes, a fmod is essentially a xover.You don't need one for each shaker.It goes in line with the input on your second receiver.You can get them from Parts Express. They are about $25 a pair.And yes they must be bought in pairs.I use a 50hz right now.


brickie
 
#132 ·
Have you tried them to see if maybe you have enough power present to drive them? Not familiar with the buttkickers, but i see they need gobs of power.


brickie
 
#133 ·

Quote:
Originally posted by brickie
Have you tried them to see if maybe you have enough power present to drive them? Not familiar with the buttkickers, but i see they need gobs of power.


brickie

I don't know how how this all works yet. I have 200 watts at 8ohms in each channel so I didn't know if there was to wire them to get 400watts at 4ohms to each shaker.

??????
 
#134 ·
In the best amps, when they're presented with a 4 ohm load they should double there power..I would say find out what your amp is rated at for a 4 ohm load.IF it can handle a 4ohm load and it does increase substantially in power you may be in business.


If it's say a 5 or 7 channel amp, and you've already got 8ohm speakers hooked-up I don't know if you could put a 4 ohm load on the extra channels..hopefully the experts will chime in here.


brickie
 
#136 ·
Yeah, that's what i possibly figured..Just not sure if there would be a problem putting those 4 ohm buttkickers on those other 2 channels.


brickie
 
#137 ·

Quote:
Originally posted by brickie
Craig, what's up..Yes, a fmod is essentially a xover.You don't need one for each shaker.It goes in line with the input on your second receiver.You can get them from Parts Express. They are about $25 a pair.And yes they must be bought in pairs.I use a 50hz right now.


brickie

Another question.

So if I by a pair of them, (F-Mods) could I run as many as 8 shakers on them. Four shakers per F-mod? That would be two separate feeds off the 2nd reciever of course.

Do I just type in fmod when searching the P-Express site and I will find them that way?

Thanks for the help!!!

Craig
 
#138 ·
Craig, they will come if you do a search that way.. But you should not need to seperate feeds from amp,All you need is 1 fmod in line with the cable going to your 2nd receiver.8 is a nice #. It should be easy to come up with a ohms rating that your 2nd receiver or amp likes.


brickie
 
#139 ·

Quote:
Originally posted by bob_vdi
I posted this in Troys message.

I'm not sure if it is safe for his receiver (4ohm at 250 w or 8ohm at 150w).

Total Ohms was 4.67 as drawn.

Comments?

Bob,


First, I think you got the math wrong.


Three 4 ohm shakers in parallel = 1/(1/4 + 1/4 + 1/4 ) ohms

That results in a load of 1.33 ohms.

Putting that in series with one 4 ohm shaker results in 5.33 ohms load.


Putting that combination in parallel with another like combination is

1/(1/5.33 + 1/5.33) ohms.


Doing the math, your wiring diagram results in a resistance of 2.665 ohms to the amplifier. I doubt that is any good for the amplifier.


Compounding the problem, as I said in an earlier post, the wiring you illustrated does not equally shake each "shaker" Most of the power is delivered to the two shakers you have in series with the others. The remaining power is shared by those in parallel.


So, not only will it result in a load that is bad for your amplifier, but equal distribution of power is not even close. In my opinion, the power should be distributed equally to all the shakers. Not 1/4 of the power to two (those in series with the others) , and 1/12th of the power to the others (those in your diagram wired in parallel).


I might suggest that you use the PE suggested drawing and present an 8 ohm load to the amplifier (don't get hung up on trying to get a 4 ohm load)


Joe L.
 
#140 ·
I'd listen to Joe..He corrected my setup and i'm still getting a TREMENDOUS effect from a 12 ohm load!! And i feel safer that all shakers are getting equal power.


The one thing i think some people should realize is that it DOESN"T take alot of power to get these things going!!I'm using what i believe to be a 50 watt per channel receiver(OLD Onkyo), with 6 shakers and I can't get volume near halfway point..The shaking becomes to much.. Yeah maybe a 4 ohm load would be better, i don't know. But man any modest receiver will blow or should i say shake the hell out of these things.


brickie
 
#141 ·
You guys made me buy the Aura Bass shakers...shame on you all.


I ripped apart a brand new $5000 Leather-Couch and installed them.( Wife was not Home)

I bought a 2 Channel 200 Watt KLH Amp just for the Shakers on Ebay for $49 and am planning to hook it up, the way you suggested.


Problem is, i already split the Subwoofer-outlet to go to two identical Subs in the Room, can i split it one more time to get the LFE signal into the Shaker-Amp???
 
#142 ·
I don't see any reason why you couldn't split the LFE signal once more.


Worse case, you might have to tweak the gain controls on the subs to compensate for slightly less drive to them. (since the signal is being split three ways)


Best case, you will have a low enough output impedance on your LFE output from your receiver and you will not have to adjust any levels (other than on the shakers amp) because the LFE output will not get loaded down any by the additional input to the new shaker amplifier.


Joe L.
 
#143 ·
Boy, those things rock!!!


I spent about $250.00 on the entire project,(6 hours labor, including running new wires) carefully cut a nice piece of Hardwood that fits snug and tight under the Couch. The Shakers are attached with Carriage Bolts and self-locking Nuts, because i have seen too many wood-screws come loose.

The Covers under my (brand new) Couch was carefully removed and later stapled back on.

I used 10X3.5" Woodscrews to attach my Hardwood plate to the existing Frame on all four Corners. On top of that i used Liquid Nail to get things tight enough.

(i hope, i don't ever have to remove that plate again.)

Well, i pop in my Home-made Demo-DVD (with about 15 of the most awesome DVD-tracks on them) and wooohooo!!!, does this feel nice.

It isn't some annoying vibration, that comes from the Aura's, which i was afraid of.

No, it is a clean, warm THUMP in your behind or back. (somehow i must have managed to attach the wood-plate solid to the Back support on the Couch. lucky shot.


Anyways, i encourage everyone to try it out, it is some work, ok....but the Fun-Factor is 10+.
 
#146 ·
Very nice!!That is one hell-uv-a wall unit!!!!!!! EXTREMELY polished and pro look..I'm going to check my shakers since I installed them with wood screws.I really don't think they'll come loose,but I do like the wingnut idea.


brickie
 
#147 ·
Okay, going to make this thread a little longer. There's another topic that isn't addressed all that thoroughly, at least not that I noticed. How many, and where to mount them? I bought two pros, planning to mount one on each couch. Then I started second guessing myself, and I'm wondering if that will be enough. I think what I'll do is zip tie one of them to a couch and if that's good, then great. If it's not enough I'll put them both on one couch and order two more for the other. Now, as for location. Here's a picture of the bottom of my couch if it helps any http://gallery.avsforum.com/showphot...at=all&page=1. I'm not sure how well you can see, the perimeter is framed by four 1X6's, and the three pieces of wood in the middle are 1X2 (although this didn't look like standard sized lumber, that's about the size). So my options for mounting are anywhere along the perimeter, diagonaly (cuz I don't think they will fit straight) on the any of the three pieces in the middle, screw a piece of wood to the three pieces in the middle (perpendicular to them) and mount to that, or zip tie to the spings like I've seen in some pictures of recliners. So many options, so little idea?! If I just use one, I'd imagine it would make the most sense to put it either on the center piece of wood, zip tied to the springs in the middle or on the 1X6 in the rear of it. If I do two of them I'm thinking on the two outside 1X6's. But I don't know. Two more things to mention. First if it goes on one of the 1X6's it will be vertical, is that okay? Second, this couch has one big cushion on top instead of three normal cushions, so that might make a difference as well. Any help would be greatly apprciated.
 
#148 ·
Joey, did you look at my install at all?

(scroll down)

one Shaker per seat seems to be the best setup, so in your case about three...

I would not at all recommend Zip-ties, as they will most likely dampen some of the vibrations.

Do it right the first time.

You want to use the hardest wood possible, and install the Shakers most rigid to the Frame of the Couch to experience the best vibrations.

(at least, this is what I learned on my project)

Note that I used Carriage-bolts to prevent the Shakers from coming loose.

Just my 2 cents and best of luck to you.

 
#149 ·
hope this works..If not it's posted in the other "big" shaker discussion going.Here is how i mounted mine.


brickie
 
#150 ·
This from my other post in the other discussion thread on these.Explains what I did.



Iv'e attached a picture of how i mounted mine..perhaps you could do it this way instead of cutting into couch.This is my loveseat,and i did the couch the same way..I had slats of wood running in the direction of the screws, as you'll notice in picture.I just screwed a piece of wood to these "slats" and then mounted shakers firmly to board..Rock solid, and works fabulous.I too did mine while the wife was away..Just makes for less headaches, til she feels them and agrees what a great idea!


brickie
 
#151 ·
Okay, another mounting question. I'm going to mount two (for now anyways) pros to my couch. They are going to be mounted on the left and right part of the frame, vertically and 'facing' each other. If I'm thinking about this correctly, that will effectively make them out of phase, so the question is: When mounting two bass shakers in such a way that one is one way and the other is the opposte way (that is tops or bottoms facing each other) should they be wired out of phase?
 
Top