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For those coming here to get details about the BOSS (Baffle Open Sub Shaker), those pictures and description start in Post 10 and there's a drawing and guidelines in Post 29 if you want to construct your own. Also, there's a few testimonials below from members who have built a BOSS and posted their impressions. Wanted to share for those who are on the fence about building one for your living room or theater and don't want to read through this entire thread to find these golden nuggets.
Also, one member asked what I thought was a great question...."what's the difference between a BOSS and other sub-in-riser platforms we've seen before."
BOSS features:
1. Open Baffle Design...no SPL to worry about integrating with your far-field subs. Set it and forget it.
2. Drivers mounted in horizontal arrangement....more efficient transfer of TR to the body than vertical arrangements
3. More excursion than buttkickers and maybe even more than tactile transducers....comparison testing coming soon.
4. More sensitive than buttkickers or tactile transducers.....only 80 watts needed per driver
5. Main volume levels can be kept low while still delivery respectable TR and the experience doesn't get lost with low MV
6. As MV approaches reference, the BOSS keeps responding in a natural way keeping in line the the far-field SPL increase
7. Low cost....it's only $90 for the 3 drivers plus a 4x8 sheet of 3/4" plywood for $35
8. The mini-riser BOSS can fit under any front row or living room chair/couch. It's only 1.75" tall!
Number 1 and 2 are the probably the biggest differences between the BOSS and more traditional subs in risers....being an open baffle design, means it's more efficient and doesn't take much power to reach max excursion. Open baffle also means the sound waves cancel and there's no SPL...perfect for integration with existing far-field subs without having to re-calibrate. The horizontal configuration means most of that excursion transfers directly to your body in an up-down motion which is how we feel ULF in the real world.
There's some videos of the BOSS's in action also in posts 72 and 73. After watching the videos, remember all that ULF and TR is in every seat and every row of our theater including our 3rd row bar...all for less than $250 and 80 watts per driver.
-----------------Testimonials ---------------
More news about my BOSS lowriser build,
This thing is one of the best things I've added to my home theater period.
This morning I still had company visiting and was asked to please demo the Rock movie "San Andreas" it's a bass filtered movie also so I loaded up the BEQ for that movie and sat off left center of the front row. Guest sat in the center. OMG this was the most amazing and realistic feeling of what an earthquake would feel like replicated in my room. From our hair moving in the air to the BOSS crushing my body as the earthquake scene was starting in the restaurant scene. I pushed the MV 2 -dB higher then my now lower main listening volume to MV-10 I was downright grinning from ear to ear yet scared of my neighbors calling me to turn it down. Yeah, that didn't happen and that made me happy I'm achieving my goals of not disturbing my neighbors and having a great experience in the process.
Totally agree, my 18 was good on the carpet but the Iso's bring a whole new level. I watched War of Worlds with just the riser on and zero bass spl, nothing but wide open TR. Low Pass at 40 HZ keeps it real. This really is a game changer in that 2k for a Crowson Package is probably not going to be on your radar after install. I realize I went bigger than needed, im in for $60 at this point because I had stuff not in use. Although this is AVS, if we weren't all trying to top the next guy we'd all have Bose systems
I could not take anymore TR, this is the shudder my house did with my IB but under my seat and not my house moaning. Anybody with a couple hundred bucks, free time, and yearning for some TR should be rolling with this.
This was a quick build to see if it would work and if I liked it. I may just carpet this and do the couch section with the other 18, considering the jbls since they are shorter but ill only be out wood if I stick with what i have.
Good looking out Tim, next level ****e.!!!!!! this really deserves a thread in the DIY section.
I was worried about the 3 sheets hurting because of the extra weight, but this thing shakes the platform and my recliner so violently and seemingly effortlessly that you would think it weighs nothing.
It just doesnt seem right that such a low level 15 inch driver powered by a receiver of all things should be able to thrash my seat around so violently, but it does it, cleanly and with authority. The effect is not like what you would experience in a 4d movie at Universal Studios, that tactile is more one noted and gets repetitive quickly. With this you actually feel each bass note as it was intended.
Using Aquaman as an example, the shark ramming the glass feels very different from the soldiers busting through the light house walls which feels very different from a trident blast which feels very different from a water bubble burst. It makes you like it more and more as opposed to growing tired of it quickly and wanting to turn it off.
Ok all my TR lovin' Brethren, finally got to check this BOSS beast out and have initial impressions so far with what little bit of time I've been able to spend with it. In a word or three .....Just Freaking WOW!!! This thing met my expectations (which were quite high), and maybe even exceeded them
Tim, this BOSS of yours is pure genius!!! And for a $150 ...dayum brah
!!
I haven't done any big comparisons or anything yet to BKs or MAs. BUT, I can tell you that it feels like a combo of the two to me, a best of both worlds type of thing in my short experience so far, which is just bad ass in my book!! Because I love both of those in their own way and have ran them for years. Are the MAs better at singles where they really excel and as good as the BKs in that 12-27hz area that I love them for?? I don't know for sure yet, but I tell ya, its real possible ...it's damn good and this BOSS is stayin!! hehehehehe
Last night
@Archaea was over and I showed him the BOSS setup both the front row and rear row. Both are a lot of fun, the more I use the BOSS the more I don't think I will keep my VNF sub or my Crowson.
An added/unexpected benefit to the rear riser is that the bass sounds fantastic even with the front 8 18's muted, especially when sitting in the back row. I wasn't happy the day I set it all up because I wanted little to no sound out of the rear riser like I have in the front mini riser but now that I have it all dialed in I'm really happy I have that bass sound. Pretty dumb luck (after tweaking the distances of course) that everything is playing together so nicely.
Yes, I visited carp's last night, and it's the best transducer experience I've had so far. I've tested/experienced Buttkickers, Clarks, Earthquakes, Guitammer, Aura, Crowson, and nearfield subs (ported JTR captivators and various sealed subwoofers up to 24", 18" 15" 10", etc), so that covers most of them. The BOSS was really amazing.
@carp clearly has a fantastic feel down to 3Hz test tone on the front BOSS platform, and down to 4Hz on the rear riser platform. He showed me quite a bit of configurations and demo material last night in the short time we had and I walked away very impressed. He's been telling me it was good, but I had my doubts, figuring I already had three nearfield 18's, how much better could it be?
Well, it's just another level of shake all together, and does feel very natural. It's the top of the crop for tactile feedback IMO. So much so that I'm going to map out using three Infinity Kappa Perfect 10.1 d 10" subs I already have into my own BOSS platform at some point. Those squishy rubber feet you guys are using seem to help a lot too. Just carp's bodyweight getting onto and off of the riser could be felt, and made the riser bounce, with those feet.
@carp's room has so much ULF firepower, with or without the BOSS it's great - but the BOSS takes it to Plaid.
Blankets sitting on his chairs literally were bouncing off, my feet were visibly hoping up and down on his ottoman that sits on the rear riser in front of the couch. Frankly - it can easily be too much, but it's fun! Price to tactile performance is off the charts with those JBL drivers!!!
Update...I finally stopped testing and actually watched a movie. I just watched Overlord with my dad and nephew. OMG the bass in the movie...legit. The BOSS platform...wow!!!
I usually spend a lot of time turning things up and listening for anything out of place and gradually go from there. I just went for it LOL. I honestly was waiting for something to go 💥. Those little JBLs just kept truckin. Man it felt just as powerful as the Crowsons (at the level I was listening). I can't believe it.
It seemed that the platform benefited from the added weight of people sitting on it besides just me. No noises no creaks it just felt good.
After watching Overlord, I put on the Hulk. It handled the street fight scene like a champ. I'll play with timing and maybe a little EQ but I'm still in disbelief how good it is at this point right now. I’ll gradually work to finding the limits so I can bring up single digits but man what great follow up to last night’s fail.
The BOSS got fired up tonight and wow. It's almost violent, I love it. I started off playing a test tone video that starts 1hz, jumps to 5 hz and then increases by 5 every 4 seconds. I get nothing at 1hz, but 5 hz gets a nice bit of rumble, then gets strong at 10, 15, and 20, then eases back a little. The test tones were actually a bit deceptive. Playing about about -20 there was a huge amount of mechanical noise from the riser. Almost like I hadn't secured the frame fully to the plywood. I thought it was going to destroy itself so I back the gain knobs way down. It had me nervous.
I switched over to some demo clips and found them lacking. I had to turn the gains back up to about where they were before. When playing them turned back up I wasn't getting any of the mechanical noise an beating the test tones gave. So I was back to being happy.
A couple of the other scenes I was testing with:
- The Art of Flight demo scene from the AVS disc. It had a nice feel to it, nothing to strong and mixed nicely. Like when they're riding the mini-avalanches it gave a slight rumble like I was on the snow with it. The other thing that stood out was when the mics were picking up the helicopter blades. There was a nice feel that went a long with them.
- Pulse server room. I don't want you guys to bust my BOSS-sac but it was almost too much being played at -10. It was teeth chattering and bone crunching. I had the 24" turned off at the time. If I turn it on and play the scene at 0 like I've done in the past I think I might literally get ill from how violent the BOSS will be along with how much pressurization will be in the room. I might be able to torture people with it. I wish W was still president so that I could make some extra coin doing interrogations for him.
- Both the Dolby Amaze and Leafless demos had nice rumble to them where they should.
Then a gave a quick spin with a few songs to try it out. I grabbed NiN Down In It, Glass Animals Gooey, and Anthrax Bring the Noise. All of them had a nice texture going to them that was missing before in my system. It made for a nice enhancement. I might play around with making a separate config on the miniDSP for music with the cross point slightly higher and tailored more for the 40-60 hz range.
Over all it's been a good first night and I think it'll get better as I dial it in more with everything else.
Yesterday and this morning have me sold the mini riser is the better experience as well. There's audible spl as opposed to the full riser I had, not interfering with the FR or experience but when running with REW sweeps it is there. 70db at -15 so its nothing when running in the pack. Its not as intense as the 18's in some scenes, but it's isn't enough for me to go to a full riser again. If I put a back row in that will be ok since I won't be sitting there for the most part anyway.
Running with no lpf is growing on me quickly, reminds me of sitting in a car when listening to music. Spotify has the JW soundtrack with different mixes that all sound great. Think, The Drowning, In My Mind all sound epic.
Overall great experience across the board, probably paint it next weekend and close the chapter on the build and enjoy.
Yep I’ve only got 3 JBLs in the full riser (1 per seat) and MAs on top of platform.
@Sekosche – yep they combine well on top of the riser.
I gotta say though, the more time I spend with this BOSS the more I love it. I messed with it quite a bit today and it’s just so good. In fact, I may completely do away with all other TR components, except the VNF subs. Between the BOSS and VNFs combined (I love my VNFs too), I don’t know that I’ve ever felt more natural, realistic and intense (when needed) TR on these movie tracks. The BOSS is very, very, very good!!!!!!!!! Actually, I can’t hardly believe just how good it is. After todays sessions, I think if I use my MAs at all, it’ll only be in the 10hz and under range. I need to mess with them some more in the mix down real low only and see. The MAs are great too and have serious power (I’ve got 6 of them and love them) and they feel really similar, but the BOSS just feels so right in so many ways on these movie tracks, almost to the point of being pretty freaky/uncanny that it’s so real feeling. I’m seriously impressed with this thing, especially in combo with my VNFs (for me, I think it may just be a match made in heaven
)
Thanks, Tim, for sharing your ‘baby’ with us!!! It really is pretty crazy just how realistic this thing feels once you get it dialed in well to work with your seating type.
Since I’ve got room for 3 more JBLs in my full riser (6’' x 40” x 8’) I may put in 3 more JBLs for 6. I don’t even know if I need them though. At least it didn't seem like it today.
I applied the recommended filters on the iNuke, and bumped up my Crowson limiter to their max handling (always ran them 100 watts lower per MA for safety), and I lowered the BOSS to 345 watts total, or 115w per driver, because they’re seriously powerful with more than 150w each and I have yet to hear a bad sound from them.
I remember being pretty darn excited when I got the Crowsons, as my large room on hard floors had zero TR down low, and this was long before I had all soft isolators that really help out, but the BOSS has taken TR to “a whole nother level.”
I continue to be impressed by the BOSS. Able to get TR down to 3-4hz for the amount of money spent on this is insane. It feels like an extension of the main subs and seems so natural and integrated it’s fantastic. I have been playing with the crossover and LS filters and finally finding what I like. Had never known what 4hz feels like. It’s a strange wobble and me likes it. [emoji16]
I agree. If I hadn’t experience the BOSS for myself, I‘m not sure I’d believe most people if they told me I’d get this kind of performance from what’s essentially a sheet of plywood on isos and a few cheap $29 drivers. We’re lucky to get such low pricing in the states!
For BOSS-curious people, if the design will work with your seating and room, I strongly suggest you try it. [emoji3]
As you said, being an extension of the subs and feeling so natural is why it’s ridiculous to me how cheap one can build it for versus the alternatives. I really love my Crowsons for what they are capable of and ease of use, but the BOSS application puts them to shame in price/performance.
The BOSS is also way more visceral than even my near field subs could hope to provide into most of my body. I get good chest/kidney punch from nearfields, but it almost feels like my pants are going to rip off with the BOSS. [emoji33]
Also, I forgot if I mentioned I actually turned off one of my 18” marty subs to run the BOSS, because I ran out of amp channels for now; and it’s still vastly superior to the previous setup in TR throughput.
I thought Hacksaw Ridge was a great workout for my BOSS. Until I saw this movie I really questioned what all the hype was about when it came to all this TR everyone was talking about. When the navy bombarded the island to soften up the Japanese positions my wine glass was doing gymnastics!
I have been playing with my BOSS for the last couple days and like everyone said: it is amazing, truly is. I feel thing I didn’t notice before as it wobbles a lot more now. The first scene I tried was the Lone survivor chopper scene as I knew I didn’t feel anything with my subs before. This time with boss, I can feel it in my seat/body as the chopper flying through - very cool.
What I like the most about the BOSS is being able to have the TR and wobble effects at -25MV on my AVR and it feels very real. I was testing the boss out with a song from Paul Rodgers: Live in Glasgow but I enjoyed it so much that I ended up watching the whole concert. It sounded like I was there in the concert with each drum and bass notes hitting my back and body
. To test it out, without changing anything, I stood up, and the feel to the sound was missing then I sat down and boom there it was
I spent about $900 and a weekend building my 8 Jbl boss, it is easily one of the best upgrade I made to my theater. I have been to about 20 AVSers’ houses listening to some of the badest *ss systems hitting above reference up to 150db and I am glad to report that my boss TR has surpassed the TR of those systems
Again, I would like to thank Tim for such a great find and thanks Sbuger for all of his inspirational posts
I think my "BOSS" set up is complete, so I feel like I should post final impressions, but I don't think I have much to say that hasn't already been said -- it feels great, startling, and realistic. I've never gotten anything close to it before, especially on my carpet over concrete floor. And it solved a dilemma I was having with my main subs -- I had JTR 118HT subs that I loved for movies, but they weren't cutting it for me for music. I picked up some Rythmik FV18s and they are way more musical, but they are noticeably less violent than the JTRs for movies. But now that fight doesn't matter anymore, the JBLs directly mounted to my seats are about a hundred times more violent than the JTRs ever were, so I can have that violence for movies but also have my main subs be as musical and articulate as possible. Thanks for helping me end up with the best of both worlds!
Everyone always talks about the huge impacts of the BOSS - explosions, gunshots, etc. What I don't hear people talk about a lot is the subtlety it has. To me that is what is so great about it - when it needs to be delicate and add just a very slight feeling it does. When it needs to tear the chair apart it does it's best to do it. And everywhere in between it lends itself to the experience. What this serves to do is DRAW YOU IN to the movie like nothing else I've ever experienced even if the movie is mainly dialog the subtle vibrations that you feel rather than hear just make it so much more like you are in the movie rather than watching it. I will never have another theater without one.
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Wanted to share some pics of our 20 year old home theater and give back to our wonderful AVS community.
My apologies up front for my lack of a DSLR camera and resulting magazine perfect images. These pictures are from my trusty i-phone to help illustrate some design concepts and ideas despite the lack of lush colors, exquisite detail and sharp images.
After that disclaimer, if you’re still reading, I’m a long time lurker, seldom poster but daily AVS’er. We GC’d our house in 1998 with provisions for a 17’x30x’9’ dedicated home theater in the basement. Being in Louisiana, a basement is a luxury most don’t have and we’ve been making the most of it ever since the home completed in late ’98. We didn’t have any children when the house was built and now have three, ages 19, 15 and 13. The theater has provided many great memories so far for friends and family along the way.
When designing the house and theater space in the mid-90’s, internet was in its infancy without many of the readily available home theater design/construction resources available today. Most of my knowledge came from books and magazines from the day that sometimes featured articles on dedicated home theater spaces and some of the science behind room acoustics. Being a mechanical engineer with an understanding of physics, wave propagation, resonance frequencies, etc….I knew getting the room right from the start would pay dividends later in many ways.
The theater room was basically constructed with sound attenuation in mind using methods of the time….not even sure if clips, hat channel and green glue existed back then? The walls are 6” thick and constructed of staggered 2 x 4 studs spaced on 2’ centers to make for flexible and non-coupled walls to absorb the bass standing waves and minimize sound intrusion into adjacent living spaces in the basement. The ceiling drywall is hung from 2 x 8 rafters on 2’ centers for the same sound attenuating purpose and are decoupled from the floor joists for the main floor which are standard 2 x 12s’ on 12” centers to support the weight and span from the house above.
The floor wasn’t treated and is simply commercial grade carpet glued to the concrete slab. The projector is mounted to the 2 x 12 floor joists above so the projector wouldn’t vibrate during heavy bass activity.
There’s no stage and the riser in the back is 12” high and stuffed with pink fluffy.
When we built the house, we weren’t sure how long we would live in it. Once we started having kids, we stopped moving and this looks like it will be our forever home. Especially since we doubled down and also built the pool of our dreams about 10 years ago to accompany the theater of our dreams.
The pool, like our house, is nestled about 100 yards into the woods and is called our hideaway pool for obvious reasons. It was only appropriate to name the theater as such to follow standard “dedicated home theater build” etiquette.