Anyone use Buttkickers?

[Uniquely]

I am shopping for new home theater seating, and with the set-up I am looking at; I can add buttkickers for $900. This would be three buttkickers. I looked online and they run about $279 each, so I think $300 each is a very reasonable price to have them pre-installed on my furniture.

My questions are.....

How much do you feel they add to your experience?


My receiver only has one LFE out for the sub. Would I just be able to use an RCA splitter to get signal to the Buttkicker LFE amp and my sub at the same time? Would this affect my sub?

[Beta Man]

I don't use them, but have checked them out at my local shop numerous times, and I just don't get the appeal of them...... although many people who have them swear by them.

I doubt you'll find someone who purchased them that will say they would ever live without them......

I'd treat it like any other electronics purchase, and audition it for yourself

[Uniquely]

Originally Posted by Beta Man

I don't use them, but have checked them out at my local shop numerous times, and I just don't get the appeal of them...... although many people who have them swear by them.

I doubt you'll find someone who purchased them that will say they would ever live without them......

I'd treat it like any other electronics purchase, and audition it for yourself

I only wish I could. The only electronics stores around here are the big boxes, and none of them have buttkickers set up in their loungy display area.

[Beta Man]

Looking at your equipment list, I'd say you'd probably get more value by putting the $900 elsewhere, but again, only you can decide that......

I'd say audio (rather than just LFE bass) would benefit more

[Uniquely]

Originally Posted by Beta Man

Looking at your equipment list, I'd say you'd probably get more value by putting the $900 elsewhere, but again, only you can decide that......

I'd say audio (rather than just LFE bass) would benefit more

Well the top group is my main viewing set-up. The other is in my game room and is really only used to play my Wii, and my wife watches TV in there while she cooks. It's already overkill for what I use it for. It's basically just the hand me downs from my main room.

The audio equipment in my main room is all pretty new and a nice step up from what I used to have, so I'm not looking to do any upgrades there right now.

Furniture on the other hand will be used for probably at least 10 years, so really I was more interested in how others feel about buttkickers than a critique of my current set up; but thank you anyway.

[Badas]

Yeah, I use a buttkicker. I have four 12" Polk Subs. So I like my bass. I think the buttkicker is better than subs and have turned the subs down and use the buttkicker for most of the effects. I watch all movies with it turned on.

[Dickn52]

I sat through a demo one time, and they had taken one buttkicker, attached it to a running board that shot the vibes through three chairs. The center chair of three got the most of course, but the other two were awsome as well. Of course the three chairs were definitly connected to each other on the second tier of the theater/room.

[Sir Terrence]

There is no better buttkicker than a sub, or pair of subs with 20hz and below capability at decent levels. The top of the line HSU can do this, Paradigm 15" monster can do it, and SVS's subs can do it.

I found buttkickers to be quite unnatural, shaking the couch even when a door slams. Don't waste your money on this, just buy a high output low distortion sub with ouput down to at least 20hz, and you'll get the same effect.

[MieDan4ever]

Save yourself $800. Buy Aura Basshakers that works just as well as buttkickers. These are $40-$60 a piece. Very easy to install yourself. I have them and love them since.

[LynxFX]

Originally Posted by MieDan4ever

Save yourself $800. Buy Aura Basshakers that works just as well as buttkickers. These are $40-$60 a piece. Very easy to install yourself. I have them and love them since.

I was going to say the same thing. $900 for buttkickers is insane. I have 4 Aura Basshakers and only paid $100 total for them. I only use two for my couch, and the other two are for when I expand.

The key is to not overdo them. If your couch is vibrating because someone is breathing heavy, then something is wrong. Fine tune it and it will add a whole new dimension to film watching. It helps if it is matched with a good sub.

[Uniquely]

Originally Posted by LynxFX

I was going to say the same thing. $900 for buttkickers is insane. I have 4 Aura Basshakers and only paid $100 total for them. I only use two for my couch, and the other two are for when I expand.

The key is to not overdo them. If your couch is vibrating because someone is breathing heavy, then something is wrong. Fine tune it and it will add a whole new dimension to film watching. It helps if it is matched with a good sub.

But how are those hooked up to the receiver? The buttkickers have their own amps with an LFE input, so all I have to do is split the LFE output of my receiver; one to my sub and one to the buttkicker amps.

[LynxFX]

I use one of my old receivers to power the aura's. Then do the same thing, split the LFE out from your main receiver.

[phantompwr]

This might be too late to make any difference, but I have the Buttkicker Mini-LFE and I love it. I agree that if I had $900 I would buy a sub before a buttkicker, I just happened to have an amp lying around that I could use for mine. For the really low stuff I love it, and its also great if you are at all worried about disturbing the neighbors.
I would recommend getting the big one or a mini or two, and just finding your own amp. You don't need to spend money on a good amp for something like this, so just get something with lots of power (that can handle low impendence loads) and I bet you can get these going for a lot less than $900

[Uniquely]

I actually ended up buying a Coaster Promenade sectional. They don't offer all of the bells and whistles of the Berklines. Then I came across a pair of Klispch F1's on open box special for $150 each so I picked those up for rears. I also repositioned my sub. Now my couch vibrates plenty, but only when it should. All's well that ends well