I don't own a buttkicker, but my guess would be the bass wasn't of low enough frequency to pass the cutoff filter and so didn't wake the unit up. You could try disabling the cutoff filter and then re-watch the end of the movie and see if it exhibits the same behavior.
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Question about Buttkicker amp (BKA1000-4A) red light/green light LED
I recently moved my Buttkicker power amp (the one that came with the kit) to a more visible area and noticed for the first time that the red LED turns green (presumably when LFE is being sent to the Buttkicker LFE unit). However, last night as I watched a movie I noticed that during a long quiet stretch with no LFE, the green light clicked back to red. I assume this means that the amp goes into a "sleep" mode during longer times it is not being used, (like my SVS sub does).
However, as the end credits of the movie kicked in, loud bassy music started and my Sony receiver indicated that LFE was being transmitted. However, the Buttkicker amp light remained red and no vibrations came through the LFE unit.
Does this mean the LFE was not 'loud' enough to be 'heard' by the Buttkicker amp to wake it up? (I had turned my volume down slightly in response to some earlier loud scenes that were annoying my wife.) Or does this mean the LFE that was being transmitted was above 45 Hz, which is what I set the high cutoff at? Do I need to increase the volume of the Buttkicker amp when I reduce the overall volume of my receiver, to ensure I'll feel more bass? Or does this mean something is wrong with my amp?
I'm curious to hear other people's experiences with this.
However, as the end credits of the movie kicked in, loud bassy music started and my Sony receiver indicated that LFE was being transmitted. However, the Buttkicker amp light remained red and no vibrations came through the LFE unit.
Does this mean the LFE was not 'loud' enough to be 'heard' by the Buttkicker amp to wake it up? (I had turned my volume down slightly in response to some earlier loud scenes that were annoying my wife.) Or does this mean the LFE that was being transmitted was above 45 Hz, which is what I set the high cutoff at? Do I need to increase the volume of the Buttkicker amp when I reduce the overall volume of my receiver, to ensure I'll feel more bass? Or does this mean something is wrong with my amp?
I'm curious to hear other people's experiences with this.
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Very logical solution...unfortunately I already returned the movie (netflix). I'll see if I can find another movie that this happens to.
Very logical solution...unfortunately I already returned the movie (netflix). I'll see if I can find another movie that this happens to.
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Hi Bob,
That's correct.
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I can't say with absolute certainty, but I believe there is a minimum level needed to trigger the green LED. Logically that level would depend on the amount of unfiltered signal.
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There is no question that the amount of power delivered to the ButtKickers is dependent on the level of your receiver. Lowering the receiver will lower the power delivered to the ButtKickers. There's nothing wrong with your amp.
Larry
| Originally Posted by Bob McLaughlin I recently moved my Buttkicker power amp (the one that came with the kit) to a more visible area and noticed for the first time that the red LED turns green (presumably when LFE is being sent to the Buttkicker LFE unit). However, last night as I watched a movie I noticed that during a long quiet stretch with no LFE, the green light clicked back to red. I assume this means that the amp goes into a "sleep" mode during longer times it is not being used, (like my SVS sub does). |
That's correct.
Quote:
| Originally Posted by Bob McLaughlin However, as the end credits of the movie kicked in, loud bassy music started and my Sony receiver indicated that LFE was being transmitted. However, the Buttkicker amp light remained red and no vibrations came through the LFE unit. Does this mean the LFE was not 'loud' enough to be 'heard' by the Buttkicker amp to wake it up? (I had turned my volume down slightly in response to some earlier loud scenes that were annoying my wife.) Or does this mean the LFE that was being transmitted was above 45 Hz, which is what I set the high cutoff at? |
Quote:
| Originally Posted by Bob McLaughlin Do I need to increase the volume of the Buttkicker amp when I reduce the overall volume of my receiver, to ensure I'll feel more bass? Or does this mean something is wrong with my amp? I'm curious to hear other people's experiences with this. |
Larry
Thanks Larry. I'm a little paranoid about this unit since I had to return the LFE unit twice. I'll have to experiment around to find the best combination of my normal listening levels (with wife, and without wife) and the amp volume.
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Hi Bob,
You're quite welcome.
With regard to experimentation with settings, you might want to start classifying your movies by the amount of deep energetic bass. The reason for this is that in addition to the receiver volume and ButtKicker amp volume greatly effecting the amount of shaking, the amount of bass content in the movie will also have a significant effect.
For instance, you might classify movies as a)typical action movie, b)extreme action movie (such as Sky Captain, Batman Returns, War of the Worlds), and c)all other movies.
For the extreme action movie category there will be a much greater likelihood of bottoming-out your transducers. This isn't terribly damaging to your equipment, but it is extremely distracting from the movie. Even if your preferences run to more shaking, you still won't like bottoming-out.
Therefore, when you experiment with settings you may want to keep track of all three factors if possible, and adjust your amp volume based on both the receiver volume and movie category.
Obviously this technique only applies to movies that you've had a chance to actually watch, and your subsequent adjustments are really for the future viewings, particularly when you have guests over. If you haven't already auditioned the movie you might want to simply classify them as action movies or non-action movies and set the volumes accordingly.
Larry
| Originally Posted by Bob McLaughlin Thanks Larry. I'm a little paranoid about this unit since I had to return the LFE unit twice. I'll have to experiment around to find the best combination of my normal listening levels (with wife, and without wife) and the amp volume. |
You're quite welcome.
With regard to experimentation with settings, you might want to start classifying your movies by the amount of deep energetic bass. The reason for this is that in addition to the receiver volume and ButtKicker amp volume greatly effecting the amount of shaking, the amount of bass content in the movie will also have a significant effect.
For instance, you might classify movies as a)typical action movie, b)extreme action movie (such as Sky Captain, Batman Returns, War of the Worlds), and c)all other movies.
For the extreme action movie category there will be a much greater likelihood of bottoming-out your transducers. This isn't terribly damaging to your equipment, but it is extremely distracting from the movie. Even if your preferences run to more shaking, you still won't like bottoming-out.
Therefore, when you experiment with settings you may want to keep track of all three factors if possible, and adjust your amp volume based on both the receiver volume and movie category.
Obviously this technique only applies to movies that you've had a chance to actually watch, and your subsequent adjustments are really for the future viewings, particularly when you have guests over. If you haven't already auditioned the movie you might want to simply classify them as action movies or non-action movies and set the volumes accordingly.
Larry
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