The Official Bass Shaker, Buttkicker, Tactile Transducer Thread

[Big Daddy]

Originally Posted by MovieFanatic2010

Can someone with a Pro Amp powering there Transducers post a picture of the back of it so i can see how you have it all connected. Thanks

I don't have a picture, but I will try very hard to confuse you as much as possible.

• Insert a sub cable in the LFE output on the back of the receiver.
  
  
• Use a Y adapter (one female, two male) at the other end of the sub cable.
  
  
• Insert the sub cable to the female side of the Y adapter.
  
  
• Insert the two male sides of the Y adapter into the two RCA inputs on the back of the pro amplifier.
  
  
• I believe you have three Bass Shakers and one Buttkicker with an impedance of 4 ohms each.
  
  
• You can connect each pair to one channel of the pro amplifier.
  
  
• If you connect each pair in parallel like the following diagram, the impedance drops to 2 ohm.
  
  
  
  
  
  This connection would give a final impedance of 2 ohms.
  
  
  
• Although the pro amplifier that you have purchased can handle 2 ohm loads, I generally hesitate to recommend connecting a 2-ohm load to an amplifier. A 2-ohm load puts a lot of pressure on the amplifier and may shorten its life.
  
  
• If you connect each pair in series like the following diagram, the impedance will increase to 8 ohms and almost all amplifiers can handle that with ease.
  
  
  
  
  
  This connection would give a final impedance of 8 ohms.
  
  
  
• Alternatively, you can connect all four transducers to one channel of the amplifier and use the other channel to drive another subwoofer.
  
  
• If you decide to connect all four to one channel of the amplifier, you must connect them in series-parallel configuration like the following diagram.
  
  
  
  
  
  This connection would give a final impedance of 4 ohms.
  
  
  
• The following diagram is exactly the same as the previous diagram. It is another way of looking at the arrangement of the four transducers.
  
  
  
  

[MovieFanatic2010]

The Clark compared to the Aura.

[Big Daddy]

Originally Posted by MovieFanatic2010

The Clark compared to the Aura.

Clark Transducers kick the butt of Aura Bass Shakers.

[MovieFanatic2010]

Can someone post a diagram on how to wire 3 Clark Transducers..... Thanks

[Big Daddy]

Originally Posted by MovieFanatic2010

Can someone post a diagram on how to wire 3 Clark Transducers..... Thanks

This is the answer I gave you in my PM. I decided to copy it here for the benefit of others.

If your intention is to connect three Clark transducers to one mono plate amplifier, you have several options:

Option 1. Connect all three transducers in series. The net impedance will be 12 ohms and you should be safe.

Option 2. Connect two transducers in series (which results in net impedance of 8 ohms) and the third one in parallel to the other two. The problem is that the single transducer will draw more current and you may end up with transducers that have uneven levels.

You could buy a 4-ohm resistor and connect it to the third transducer in series to create a dummy load and make the net impedance of the third transducer and the resistor into 8 ohms.

Option 3. If your intention is to connect several speakers together, an odd number of speakers is not generally recommended. Just buy two transducers.

Option 4. Buy four transducers.

[Bargamon]

I agree, odd number not recommended.

I have followed big daddy's diagram using 6 of them on one sofa and one love seat. Four on the sofa and two on the love seat using the BASH 300 watt plate amp from parts express. Copied the wire diagram and stapled to the bottom of the couch!

Not sure what others expectations are its a nice effect when used sparingly. If too much it gets obnoxious.

I usually turn it up and when I can feel it dial it back down to where its barely noticable. the goal is to have it enhance the effect not instigate it.

Im sure the better tranducers from Clark work nice and perhaps as the price goes up so does the quality. I used the AURA units and got them on sale a few years back.

The newest "Bourne" movie had the best sounding/feeling rifle shot I ever experienced!

[Bargamon]

Couches are heavy. What are most of you using to isolate them?

The Butt kicker kinetic isolators at $14.00 seem steep as I would need 10 of them. They also seem to raise the couch a bit too much.

My floor is carpet so adding rubber feet into them I think would need a piece of wood under them or a brown rubber "carpet protecter" to at least keep the feet from sinking into it. The inexpensve feet they sell on Parts express are rated for 70lbs per. While six should do the trick the couch likely weigh 150lbs and with three adults thats doing to add another 400-600 lbs!

[Kali157]

Originally Posted by Bargamon

Couches are heavy. What are most of you using to isolate them?

The Butt kicker kinetic isolators at $14.00 seem steep as I would need 10 of them. They also seem to raise the couch a bit too much.

My floor is carpet so adding rubber feet into them I think would need a piece of wood under them or a brown rubber "carpet protecter" to at least keep the feet from sinking into it. The inexpensve feet they sell on Parts express are rated for 70lbs per. While six should do the trick the couch likely weigh 150lbs and with three adults thats doing to add another 400-600 lbs!

You can get rubber feet on amazon or ebay. Just make sure there is a metal washer to keep from ripping the foot if you move the couch.

These are what I use. The seller sells 4 packs as well, but the 8 is a better deal... and I use them to isolate other equipment (sub, amps, etc). You can attach a felt pad under it to aid in sliding. I have hardwood floors and I place felt pads under the rubber feet on my sub riser so I can slide it arround.

[Big Daddy]

I have added additional diagrams for wiring three, six, and twelve speakers to Post #120 of the Impedance & Sensitivity of a Speaker thread.

[eclimax13]

Without reading through the entire thread....has someone found a decent amplifier to power the clark silver transducer with a lpf?

[Big Daddy]

Originally Posted by eclimax13

Without reading through the entire thread....has someone found a decent amplifier to power the clark silver transducer with a lpf?

You can buy a plate subwoofer amplifier from Parts Express. You may have to build a small box for it. Parts Express also sells external mono subwoofer amplifiers.

Alternatively, you can buy a pro amplifier such as the Behringer to power any subwoofer or transducer. Pro amps are stereo. You can use them to power two transducers or bridge them as a single amplifier source. You don't need to buy a very powerful pro amp.

[eclimax13]

Just bought a Clark Platinum and Samson Servo 300. This is the final piece to my theater and can't wait to see how it adds to it.

[eclimax13]

Well I got everything hooked up. Definitely a great add to the theater. I've already experienced this for the most part while using dual SVS Pc12plus subs. But since putting them on great gramma isolation pads, I lost most, if not all "shake." This has brought all it back, and more and really has brought a new experience to watching movies. It definitely needs to be dialed in to compliment the subs, not overpower them. I've watched Jurassic Park lots of times, on all sorts of home theaters over the years. I've never experienced it quite like this. The t-rex scene in particular was very intense and might I say, somewhat frightening.

[Zyphic]

So I am planning on getting my old man an interesting Father's Day gift and I would really appreciate any advice you guys can offer (surprisingly I don't know many people who readily offer up knowledge on transducers and that includes hi-fi audio distributors!)

Plan goes as follows: I was thinking about grabbing two TST429 Platinums from Clark and sticking them underneath an isolated platform (I am yet to build) for a Sofa, a Loveseat, and a Heavy Panasonic Massage Chair Recliner. I understand these pieces of furniture will need to be bolted down good.

Uncertainty arises here: Is there any way to even recreate a stereo effect with transducers? I was planning to hook one up to the left speaker output and one from the right (Imagine the rumble of a train passing by discernably by without even needing to hear it ). Of course I'll also need either two mono amps or a stereo amp (both with fine tunable low-pass controls and 4ohm capabilities) to run the brutes. But would it work? Would it be worthwhile? What kind of amp/s would be my most cost affective route?

Many thanks in advance!

[Big Daddy]

Originally Posted by Zyphic

So I am planning on getting my old man an interesting Father's Day gift and I would really appreciate any advice you guys can offer (surprisingly I don't know many people who readily offer up knowledge on transducers and that includes hi-fi audio distributors!)

Plan goes as follows: I was thinking about grabbing two TST429 Platinums from Clark and sticking them underneath an isolated platform (I am yet to build) for a Sofa, a Loveseat, and a Heavy Panasonic Massage Chair Recliner. I understand these pieces of furniture will need to be bolted down good.

Uncertainty arises here: Is there any way to even recreate a stereo effect with transducers? I was planning to hook one up to the left speaker output and one from the right (Imagine the rumble of a train passing by discernably by without even needing to hear it ). Of course I'll also need either two mono amps or a stereo amp (both with fine tunable low-pass controls and 4ohm capabilities) to run the brutes. But would it work? Would it be worthwhile? What kind of amp/s would be my most cost affective route?

Many thanks in advance!

Transducers and bass shakers are meant to vibrate the sofa so that you feel the vibrations of the bass. You generally feed lower frequencies to them. As you may know, lower frequencies are not directional. You can feed higher frequencies to some Clark transducers, but I am not sure what type of effect you will get.

You can use two mono amplifiers or a single stereo amplifier. Alternatively, you can use one mono amplifier and connect the transducers to each other in series. My understanding is that Clark transducers are 4 ohms. If you connect them in series, the net impedance will be 8 ohms.

[Zyphic]

Originally Posted by Big Daddy

Transducers and bass shakers are meant to vibrate the sofa so that you feel the vibrations of the bass. You generally feed lower frequencies to them. As you may know, lower frequencies are not directional. You can feed higher frequencies to some Clark transducers, but I am not sure what type of effect you will get.

You can use two mono amplifiers or a single stereo amplifier. Alternatively, you can use one mono amplifier and connect the transducers to each other in series. My understanding is that Clark transducers are 4 ohms. If you connect them in series, the net impedance will be 8 ohms.

Originally, I thought as you did about vibrations being non-directional so why should it matter. But then I noticed in the Clark Synthesis installation guide they had a stereo amp set up as described from the LF and RF (one going to each transducer and not summed). Now I'm not sure if this holds true for tactile sensations but when you have the frequencies from LF and RF being generated independently would there not be a distinct difference in the vibrations whenever the waves acted additively vs destructively? I was imagining these nodes of interference might mimic reality a little more accurately.

Either way I'm also concerned about the full "range" of the Clarks. Are there any affordable amp (or amps) that would allow me to fully equalize (or is that something that's cheaper to add on externally to a straight amp)?

Thanks again

[middy]

Thank you to everybody who made this thread what it is and to Big Daddy for starting it. I have seen other threads and this one was the easiest to understand and seems like folks here know what they were talking about.

I have decided to get the Clark 239... relevant components of my current setup include:
Marantz AV8801 (has 2 sub outs and allows you to set them independently),
two Emotiva XPA-5 (3 channels unused in 7.1 setup)
SVS PC12+ sub

My questions are:

1.With my current setup, am I correct in saying that all I need to purchase is the clark 239, 4 rubber feet for my couch, extra speaker wire and a level control (even if I can set the volume for the sub in the Marantz)? If so, the gain control should be between the amp and the clark?
2.will the Clark overwork the EMO such that its more advisable to buy the Bash amp?
3.Why are the rubber feet with the metal washer better than rubber feet without?

Thanks.
All answers are greatly appreciated.

[Bargamon]

Rubber feet under couch w/o metal washer built could drive the screw thru it and into carpet/floor.

After almost two yers of having 4 auras in couch and 2 in love seat a few things:

Keep the volume low, the enhancement is good but too much is not.

No two couch's/chairs are the same so its hard to compare. More is usually better. I experienced a Clark set up with a friends theatre that cost much more than my Aura's did and it was not good until we lowered it down.

so much depends on your chair and type of floor. Also If they are isolated.

Funny, I have a bag of isolaters needing to be installed. Be interesting to see if there is any effect.

[middy]

Thanks for the response Bargamon.

i've pulled the trigger and i'm waiting for them all to arrive in the mail.

[Bargamon]

Originally Posted by middy

Thank you to everybody who made this thread what it is and to Big Daddy for starting it. I have seen other threads and this one was the easiest to understand and seems like folks here know what they were talking about.

I have decided to get the Clark 239... relevant components of my current setup include:
Marantz AV8801 (has 2 sub outs and allows you to set them independently),
two Emotiva XPA-5 (3 channels unused in 7.1 setup)
SVS PC12+ sub

My questions are:

1.With my current setup, am I correct in saying that all I need to purchase is the clark 239, 4 rubber feet for my couch, extra speaker wire and a level control (even if I can set the volume for the sub in the Marantz)? If so, the gain control should be between the amp and the clark?
2.will the Clark overwork the EMO such that its more advisable to buy the Bash amp?
3.Why are the rubber feet with the metal washer better than rubber feet without?

Thanks.
All answers are greatly appreciated.

I daisy changed from one of my two subs to a bash amp. I had a metal box fabricated (one can use wood) to house the bash and it sits low out of site next to the couch (my primary spot). I keep the volume at 25% and never higher and the crossover set to 40hz and below.

Like I said, I keep it low. My long theory is while effects are very cool I think a great movie just pulls you in and the surround effect should not really be notices. Granted during an action move it is great fun to turn things up a bit! It can be startling if things are not in check. A thriller with not much action and a bass mix over done (by the studio) can be distracting! Some older titles with early 5.1 mixes don't always get it right!

Also, remember not all couches are created equal so brace what you can! bought some hard birch wood and bolted them to my couches mounting the aura's as close to the couch supports as possible. Too much volume the couch feels "loose". Its not. when dialed back its a nice enhancement to trick the mind that the woofer is is creating more output.

There are not rules here so experiment and have fun! Get a bluray copy of U571 and stay "dry" during the depth charge scene!