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Bass Shakers

274K views 1K replies 299 participants last post by  kaelaria 
#1 ·
I have not seen too much in this forum on bass shakers. My quaestion is has anyone purchased and used the Aura Bass Shaker Pro's (50w); AST-28-04? I have seen them for a good price but don't know how well they work. I was thinking of mounting one per seat under my Lane Majestics with a plywood connection across the frame. The other way I have heard to do this is to make a plywood base the same size as the chair demensions, raise it slightly up using rubber pads, and then mount the shakers to the plywood and then the chairs to the plywood.


I was hoping to find a cheap used receiver to drive these shakers using the pre-amp output on my Yamaha 2400.


Anybody have these and use them ? How did you mount them? How many do I need to buy to get a good effect? Is one per chair okay or should I get more?


Thanks

Tom
 
#77 ·
The Shakers need to be mounted tight. With the hardwood used in a lot of furniture you should predrill the holes and then screw the shaker down. If it is solid then don't worry about it. The key is you just don't want it rattling and you want a solid connection to the frame. I would not recommend nails. If you are adding a crosspiece then use screws and angle brackets to make sure it becomes part of the furniture. I have 10 of the 25 watt units but not all are installed. I use a y connector on my Sub output and that drives the sub and the shaker amp. When I add the rest of the shakers, I will use a small 1:4 unity gain amp to split the signal and drive the separate power amps. I couldn't imagine Band of Brothers without shakers. I found myself hunkered down on the couch last week as the mortar rounds were hitting all around the room.

..Doyle
 
#78 ·
OK.... here is my "new to shakers" report for eveyone who may still be on the fence about these as I was able to get them hooked up last night and play around....


Simply....AWESOME! I wish I had more thumbs to put up for these!!


I will qualify "awesome" however to only be after proper installation and tweaking per everyones comments here. A few of my observations:


Like has been said here before, and I totally agree now, a seperate receiver to drive the shakers is ESSENTIAL, as otherwise you may wind up with wild amounts of shaking with no way to fine tune via "volume." Even with my weak, 14 year old JVC receiver with a halfway broken volume control I ressurected from the basement (which came off of one of those "mini stereo" setups) the shaking is amazing. I cannot wait to get a better - even halfway decent - receiver so I can have finer adjustment.


Doyle - I did screw mount to the wood frame - Man I dont know what wood it is but it was hard as a brick. I managed to break two drill bits and broke two screw heads off before I could fully seat the screws. Finally I got the right pre-dill hole size and screw size for a rock solid mount - although the skinny width of the board only allowed me to use two opposing mount locations versus all four.


Again I think the seperate control is the seller for these things. I tested many many scenes with these and I found meveral movies that seemed to have varying amounts of LFE levels, requiring me to adjust the "volume" as appropriate for a given movie. I may also add an fmod low pass crossover to keep out some of the "higher" low frequencies.


The weirdest thing is, when the shakers are adjusted "just right" it is next to impossible to localize the shaking - it seemed like the entire house was shaking apart with low bass. Too much and it seems like a gimmick, too little and the scene winds up "missing something." I also tried rewatching most of the scenes with the shakers off and found that I was already spoiled and missing the subtle effect the shakers provide.


Once again this forum comes through with a brilliant suggestion that pays off huge dividends. I cannot wait to test these out on some unexpecting guests.
 
#79 ·
That is the beauty of good bass, it is omnidirectional and it does feel like the house or room is shaking. Trust me, those of us in California know what that feels like. I think I would modify my suggestion for dealing with mounting the shaker to hardwoods. I would increase the drill size to the size of the shaker mounting hole and drill completely through the wood and then use bolts with lock washers to bolt the shaker to the wood. This also makes removal easier. I get really irritated when I start breaking drill bits and screws break off in holes because I know it is my own fault.


..Doyle
 
#80 ·

Quote:
Originally posted by pcrx
OK.... here is my "new to shakers" report for eveyone who may still be on the fence about these as I was able to get them hooked up last night and play around....


Simply....AWESOME! I wish I had more thumbs to put up for these!!


I will qualify "awesome" however to only be after proper installation and tweaking per everyones comments here. A few of my observations:

I also got mine yesterday and hooked them up last night. My chairs didn't have a good place to mount them and I didn't have the time to attach some plywood, so I just zipped tied them to the springs to give it a quick test run. I wasn't impressed. Even at low volumes, it was obvious where the shaking was coming from. Based on all the other posts, frame mounting must be the only way to go.


I've got 2 rows of seating. The front row is right on the floor and I have to mount the shakers in this row right to the seats. But my 2nd row will be on risers. Would it be better to mount my shakers in the risers?
 
#82 ·

Quote:
Originally posted by David_Larkins
I don't think that you'll find this particular type of shakers to be adequate when mounted in a riser...unless you use a lot of them. In the chairs would be better.


pcrx,

These are the very definition of "bang for the buck"
Glad you like 'em.


Thats what I was suspecting.


Those little suckers have a lot of shake. Guess I didn't know what to expect. I first hooked it up for playing around and had the shaker on the floor. Cranked the amp up and I thought that thing was going to shake itself away
 
#84 ·
Yes, actually if there was a simple amp that had an LFE input, built in adjustable crossover and had a romote controlled "volume" and power it would be perfect.


Siropa - I can see why it would be dissapointing if they were just sitting on the floor shaking. I tried that to test them before getting out the drill and I thought they were going to bounce out of the room! Once they were firmly mounted the tactile feeling was great - but only after the shake level was adjusted properly to eliminate the "localized feeling"


Actually once adjusted it is difficult if not impossible to tell that it is not the subwoofer doing the shaking - and it sits across the room!


Im almost bummed that I have to know they are there - I am sure the effect is even better on someone who does not expect it or know that the shakers are installed or even what a shaker is


I will have to revise my mounting to go with the bolt and lock washer setup - that does seem to be a better route. After some testing last night I began to wonder if the screws would eventualy work loose if they are just wood screws
 
#85 ·

Quote:
Originally posted by pcrx



Im almost bummed that I have to know they are there - I am sure the effect is even better on someone who does not expect it or know that the shakers are installed or even what a shaker is


heh. Some of my geeky friends who have been following my construction have asked about shakers. I keep lying saying I wasn't going to go with them. I want them to get the suprise.
 
#86 ·
Man. i'm so jealous...I can't wait for mine to get here !!..In the mean time iv'e got some x-10 stuff to play with.


brickie
 
#87 ·
Unlike a speaker, the shakers have some mass mounted to the voice coil. When the frame is firmly mounted down and the energy applied to the shaker then the voice coil moves the mass and the the frame tries to respond with an equal and opposite force. The key is having the shakers firmly attached to the rigid part of your chair or riser. If you are going to mount to the riser then clearly you will need more or larger shakers to be able to make an equivalent amount of movement. I think it is necessary to do a little experimentation depending on the types of chairs you have. A rocking chair where the chair is mounted on springs is going to damp out most of the shaking coming from a riser mounted shaker. I plan to use a combination of shakers mounted to the seats and also a few mounted to the floor to make sure there is some tactile sensation coming through the wood floor. Keep in mind the direction your shakers are mounted. If you mount facing up on chairs, and down on the floor, you will need to reverse the polarity on one of the sets to ensure they are properly phased(all moving in the same direction at the same time).


..Doyle
 
#88 ·
I received my 4 Aura bass shakers (25-watt) from Parts Express a few weeks ago and finally got around to installing them. I have 3 underneath a full-size sofa and one underneath a loveseat. The loveseat doesn't get used as much, that's why it only got one. I attached a sturdy 2x6 board to the frame of the sofa using some big wood screws and premium construction adhesive. It's on there good! The loveseat already had a nice solid place on the frame to attach a shaker to so I did not add any wood to it.


I used wood screws instead of nuts & bolts to attach the shakers. I am powering them with a 14-year-old pro logic Kenwood amp/receiver - a very powerful model in its day.

Quote:
I wondered about the same thing myself..I thought i read though that the pros shook MUCH better than the regular ones..Could someone shed some light..

Brickie, I had actually heard somewhere else on AVS that the 25-watters were just about as good as the Pro's. I don't have both so I can't compare, but the 25-watt Aura's are shaking my sofa like Hell! I think the Pro's would be overkill in my setup. The loveseat (only 1 shaker) is rumbling quite a bit too.


Enjoy the project everyone - This is a fun one!



Here is a pic:
http://gallery.avsforum.com/showphot...sort=1&cat=507
 
#89 ·
The difference in the shakers is the mainly the mass that is being shaken. That determines how much force it is capable of delivering to the chair. Some of the larger shakers like Butt Kickers handle 400 watts and weigh 11 pounds. Typically the frequency response goes down lower also. But, it is one of those 80% rules. With multiple 25 watt shakers you get 80% of the result. With 50 watt shakers you get a bit more and with 400 watt shakers you have a 95% effect. I am winging these numbers so don't hold me to them. There are a number of articles on the Aura Shakers in the AVS archives. Several people have modified the spiders to decrease the resonant frequency of the shakers and achieve lower response frequencies. (lower meaning 30Hz instead of 40 Hz as opposed to lower meaning poorer frequency response)

..Doyle
 
#90 ·
Like i said, i'm expecting some major things from this project..


brickie
 
#91 ·
Quick question..does anybody remember someone mentioning being able to put a resistor in line with the + terminal on the shaker to filter out higher frequencies? I know about the f-mods, but obviously a resistor would be MUCH cheaper considering it seems i got to but the f-mod thru the net..vs ratshack.


brickie
 
#92 ·

Quote:
Quick question..does anybody remember someone mentioning being able to put a resistor in line with the + terminal on the shaker to filter out higher frequencies? I know about the f-mods, but obviously a resistor would be MUCH cheaper considering it seems i got to but the f-mod thru the net..vs ratshack.

I don't remember someone mentioning a resistor but I think I'm going to buy one of the Low Pass FMOD's. It seems like the shakers are shaking for more than they should. I just got this project finished so I definitely have some tweaking to do.


Also, someone mentioned that they do not, or cannot, produce sound. Not true. When I completed the installation I inadvertently left the old pro logic receiver set to Tuner and I heard static coming from underneath my sofa. It was static because that receiver does not have an antenna connected nor does it have any speakers connected since its sole purpose is to power shakers. My sub wasn't connected to the Y splitter either, not yet anyway.
 
#93 ·
I thought i read it in another thread..I'll have to see if ratshack sells the fmods.


brickie
 
#95 ·
Yeah i know..Ijust was hoping to have this done by the weekend..Actually i haven't bought a receiver yet,so i guess i have time.I just got home and there was my bass shakers..These things really are HEAVY!!!!!Can't wait to give them a try..May just wait til i get the fmods though..Come on guys, any other way to filter out the "higher" lows?


Also any opinions on a receiver that goes down only to 40hz instead of 20hz.Does it really matter ?..I'm looking at the same one mentioned earlier..It's new and CC has a sweet deal on them.


brickie
 
#97 ·
Nah, not yet...I'm still waiting for someone to say wether or not being able to go down to 20hz (rated) makes a difference. The receiver at CC that i like is the one mentioned in the ad..Very attractive price but rated for only 40hz, does this matter?If i can get a answer i'll pick it up in the morning.


brickie


p.s. I'm going to ask over in the audio forum to see if i get an answer.
 
#99 ·

Quote:
Originally posted by Tom_Kini
Brickie,


Did you finally decide on your receiver? I am looking for the best for the money - there's a CC close by but I haven't gone in yet.

Over in the audio forum, a few guys said that receiver probably doesn't low enough..I'm headed to CC and BB right now to see what i can find..Maybe a open box deal is there and waiting for me.


brickie
 
#100 ·

Quote:
Originally posted by brickie
Over in the audio forum, a few guys said that receiver probably doesn't low enough..I'm headed to CC and BB right now to see what i can find..Maybe a open box deal is there and waiting for me.


brickie

I am thinking that going down to 20 will make a difference so I am doing the same as you in my area. Fortunately I've got some time before my Lane's arrive.
 
#101 ·
Well nothing in the price range i was hoping to pay..All the cheap receivers seem to go down only to 40hz..I will probably just end up buying a used one..I'm trying to keep this in the real "bang for the buck" realm..


brickie
 
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