Buttkicker BK-LFEKit Low Frequency Effect Kit with Amplifier for Home Theater Reviews

Buttkicker BK-LFEKit Low Frequency Effect Kit with Amplifier for Home TheaterxToo low to display

(18 reviews)

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The only tactile transducer designed specifically to take advantage of the .1 and LFE channels, the ButtKicker LFE features extended low frequency response for powerful bass response and special effects. The ButtKicker LFE (low frequency effects) utilizes a patented magnetic suspension which is different from any other speaker or shaker and can be used couches, theater seating, platforms, and any type of structure. The ButtKicker accurately reproduce the "feeling" range of many natural and man-made sounds, such as earthquakes, thunderstorms, rocket launches, waves, explosions, tornadoes, volcanoes, dinosaurs, sound effects and all styles of music. Different from other shakers or tactile transducers that use voice coil technology, the ButtKicker is much more powerful,more musical (linear) and offer true infrasonic or low frequency response with their resonant frequency of 9 Hz and range of 5 - 200 Hz. One ButtKicker LFE will easily replace 2 - 4 or more of the other types of shakers previously available, and perhaps more importantly; it is virtually indestructible and maintenance free. The ButtKicker is used in: Theme park attractions; Specialty theaters; Simulators; Virtual reality machines; Arcade and amusement rides/games; and Custom Home theaters. If you are looking to delight and electrify yourself and others with an affordable and easy to use solution, now is the time to incorporate the ButtKicker into your design.The ButtKicker is a small, linear motor, which reacts

Ideal for movies, music, and gaming, the ButtKicker LFE "silent subwoofer" lets users experience realistic special effects and concert-quality music without waking the kids or disturbing the neighbors. Rather than emitting loud rumbling sounds during each explosion or heavy bass passage, the ButtKicker simulates the "feeling" of the effect through your couch, chairs, and other furnishings, letting you sense the low without the excessive volume. The device accurately mimics the sensation of many natural and manmade sounds, such as earthquakes, thunderstorms, rocket launches, waves, explosions, tornadoes, volcanoes, dinosaurs, sound effects, and all styles of music.

The Buttkicker installs easily, including under chair or couch mounting to create a tactile experience.

To make it easy to connect your ButtKicker, the company included several other items to this LFE bundle, including a 2,100-watt amplifier that connects to your receiver's subwoofer out, a cable package, and a chair/couch mounting accessory kit. Simply place the mounting plate under one leg of a piece of furniture and attach the ButtKicker to the other side. The kit also includes rubber isolators that sit under the furniture's other legs. Listeners can even install the ButtKicker under the floor to enjoy a full-room tactile experience.

To top it off, the ButtKicker LFE is virtually indestructible and maintenance-free. It's so reliable, in fact, that dozens of theme park owners, specialty theaters, virtual reality operators, and arcade owners are using a commercial version of the ButtKicker to boost their bottom line. So if you're looking to delight and electrify your guests with an affordable and easy-to-use full-body experience, it's time to incorporate the ButtKicker into your home theater system.

What's in the Box

ButtKicker LFE, BKA 1000-4 amplifier, ButtKicker LFE cable kit (with 20 feet of 14-gauge speaker wire, RCA cable, RCA "Y" adapter, and speaker level interface adapter), chair/couch mounting accessory kit (with mounting plate, 5 rubber isolators, 4 carriage bolts, 4 star washers, 4 locking nuts, 5 #10 screws, and 1 wrench), user's manual. MPN: BK-LFEKit - UPC: 898114000142

Customer Reviews

Best of Breed By A1MFO2DXH2C2B5 on 2005-10-09 The Buttkicker is a "tactile transducer", meaning it turns sound into shaking. It's just one of four players in that niche; the others are Clark Synthesis, Aura Bass Shaker and Crowson. But the Buttkicker is the best; the Clarks are less intense and less concentrated in the low frequencies, the Auras are $20 units with all that entails (such as lack of shake and lack of finess) and the Crowsons are purely under-couch devices. The Buttkicker adds a bit of shake to your home theatre. It doesn't replace the subwoofer, but sort-of turns the floor into a lower subwoofer. And I love it. But there are some things you should know. It needs a LOT of power, so this LFE Kit (with Amp) is probably the best choice to start with because you can't drive it from your receiver. Second, one LFE Kit will do a sofa nicely, but if you, like me, mount it under your floor, you're gonna need two. Possibly more, but probably two. Because that's a LOT more mass to shake, and otherwise they'll be maxxing out and making a loud knocking noise. (You can drive up to four Buttkickers with a single Buttkicker Amp.) Third, it's not like riding a rollercoaster. You'll feel the floor shake from loud sound effects, bombs, etc., but don't expect magic. It makes the movie more real, but it doesn't toss you around. All that said, it's a great addition. If you can afford the cost-of-entry, you'll be amazed how shallow the system feels with it off. great, but... By A23MW5WW6RMN0A on 2006-10-06 This is a pretty darn effective device and is a great addition to most home theaters. My review is in two parts, the good and the bad. The bad: I had to get two kits for one to actually work. The transducer was bad in the first kit. The amplifier was a bit smudged (the same in the second kit, too) and the acorn nuts were of horrible quality (again, in the second kit as well). Also, I recommend that they provide more than five rubber foot pads. Many people have couches with 8 or more legs. The good: Easy as heck to install, particularly the platform mounting. Mounting the transducer to the couch, although easy, requires remving the usual cloth covering on the bottom of the couch. This may not make the wife happy. Once installed the Buttkicker works well. My wife got a kick out of it when we tested it with Top Gun; we rocked and rolled. I am not sure, though, at what point the amplifier will clip. This worries me a bit. I guess I'll find out at some point, but what the symptom will be... Smell something? Overall, this is a good buy if you are really into low frequency effects. It ain't worth the money if you only watch old movies, though (no bass). If you like action and sci-fi, well, I'd buy it. However, because I think the quality is suspect I can only give this set-up three stars. Ben Felt like I was in the spaceship with Luke Skywalker! By A2DSZSGG8JNC4B on 2005-12-27 I just bought this for my husband for a holiday gift. Personally I thought it was ridiculous and couldn't even believe I would buy something called a "buttkicker". Husband was thrilled to get it and installed it very quickly--said it was easy--that very night we watched Star Wars. WOW--it really works and it felt like I was in the spaceship!!!! The next day we watched Lilo and Stitch with our 2 small kids--they loved it! It really does give you the being at the movies effect. My ony regret??? I'm not sure that I will be able to get my husband out of the home theater room!!!!!!! Arrggghhh!!! Serioulsy--I highly recommend! can't watch movie without it By A2QK34V34EP09A on 2006-03-23 this thing really kick butt, do yourself a favor get one now !! you won't regret it unless you only want to watch non action movies. First thing I noticed is it's very high quality construction if you will compare it to a car it's a Rolls Royce, my Reciever and other equipment feels flimsy compared to the buttkicker amplifier, it's really worth the money, and customer support is awesome, it only took me less than 10 min to install it, first movie I tried is Flightplan by Jodie Foster, and it really works , when the plane is taking off you can feel the engine rumbling, and it really reacts on what's happening, like when the plane finally took of the ground the rumbling stops, best thing to describe it is like you are inside the plane, and you somehow feel the acceleration. The Buttkicker add new dimension to your HT, it won't replace your subwoofer but at least you don't have to turn it all the way up, and you don't have spend thousand of dollars for a Erthquake Supernova Subwoofer, I sold mine at ebay and bought a 50 watts sub, together with my buttkicker I have an awesome setup. A real kick in the pants! By ANP6MYAP7FIQ9 on 2006-05-26 I'm a gadget guy with a decent home theater set up, so when I learned about the buttkicker, I figured "why not"? and ordered the kit with the wireless connection unit. The equipment is of good quality and easy to set up. The "buttkicking" effect is awesome and syncs perfectly with sub (the bass signal is simply split between the sub and buttkicker amp). You'll be amazed at how much more in tune you'll be with a movie's bass signal. Occasionally, you'll feel some bass that doesn't quite feel right because you don't hear it in the movie, but it is there. You'll quickly become addicted to the buttkicker. I have two rows of seating in my theater set up and only the second row has the buttkicker installed. We never sit in the 1st row any more! If you really want to give the buttkicker a test run, I highly recommend any of the Matrix movies- insane amounts of bass! My only complaint is with the wireless unit. Be forewarned if you go that route that the wireless RF unit can pick up noise fairly easily. The end result is that the buttkicker will jump and jerk when it isn't supposed to. It took me some time to tweak the wireless unit to work properly. It's nice not to have to run a wire the whole way back to your seating, but you may find more frustration in trying to use the wireless connection. In conclusion, this is a great product and a must buy to complete a home theater set up. Added The Missing Link To My Home Theater By AE1PBTU7V2Q85 on 2007-04-20 Where to begin? Should I start about how this thing litterally kicks butt, or the excellent build quality? The LFE Buttkicker kit is now easily my favorite piece of home theater equipment, as the title of the review says it added the missing link to it. Everythings packaged extremely well, with the amp receiving some extra padding due to its weight. Now for me this wasn't a plug-n play install, it took me over probably 5 or 6 hours over the course of 2 days to get the thing installed properly. Don't get me wrong, you can have the kit ready to go in 15-20 minutes, I did, but the effects were only ok. One always needs to tinker with new electronics before they find that sweat spot, and this is the case with the Buttkicker LFE kit. At first I mounted it under my couch using the mounting kit, this installation worked pretty well, except that one end was rattling off my hard basement floor. Therefore I put a rug under the couch, this reduced the rattling but it was still present. I then mounted it under a T junction under the couch, and the rattling was pretty much gone. I still had to tighten some bolts, and even remove a bracket underneath for the kicker to have enough room. The effects were now pretty good, although I thought they could be even better. I therefore made my own mounting plate out of wood, and attached it across these two metal supports on my theater couch (with bolts of course). After doing this I noticed a substantial change in vibration, it was over my entire body more so. I concluded that the best effect will be given when the unit is somehow attached directly to your couch, that way the couch and the Buttkicker almost as one piece. The build quality is outstanding, probably 90% of the parts are made of metal, which is really nice considering a lot of things are being made out of plastic today.The Buttkicker LFE kit will give you a better movie experience, just don't expect to much, it doesn't toss you around. You may also want to check your receivers LFE settings, mine was set to "0", I changed this to -10db, the result was a much deeper response from the Buttkicker, very nice indeed. Overall I'm extremely impressed, I plan on getting another LFE unit for my other couch. Requires a proper install By A30W8N2261PVF9 on 2007-01-10 This thing is so cool, its great for getting more umph out of movies without cranking the volume up. think about still being able to 'feel' the bass while watching a movie at 1 am but having the volume low enough to not wake the kids up! they used the word kicker for a reason they can kick you square in the back, they are accurate at reproducing the feel of the low noise also. the 'punch of a bullet' or the 'thwap thwap' in slow motion of a helicopter blade. I wish at this time that there was a way to eliminate the bass from the music of the movie and isolate only the bass of the effects this would be a much more optimal set up. It will give you a back massage if you listen to rap music with this unit turned on. I bought this kit and one other transducer and mounted them inside our sectional sofa. Tuning the unit to where it is powerful enough to kick when it needs to but soft enough to not bug you the whole movie is a little tricky. All in all this unit does not replace a good high quality sub. To b e completly honest we leave them turned off a lot of the times but are a fun novelty to have and really surprise guests that have never been in your theater. So if you have everything else for your home theater this should be the next toy you get! Very nice By A11QDRK8G3TVP7 on 2007-01-19 The Buttkicker is worth buying. I'm so picky about my audio experience that I spent months listening to systems all across Texas before I chose my stereo. I didn't know it wasn't complete until I tried the buttkicker. The kit comes with everything you need and is very high quality. The high and low pass filters work pretty well, my only complaint is I need to put a low frequency equalizer on it to even out the sounds. thats my only complaint. and I''m really really good at complaining. Buy one. Totally Awesome By A3R2Y1LPYOU480 on 2007-03-08 This system brings out the feeling of a movie that the director originally intended, but SPL's alone cannot produce this feeling. I have a pretty nice system and I cannot believe the difference with the Buttkickers installed. I have revisited my collection of movies and even when you know there is a scene of excitment coming, you cannot prepare for the feeling or jolt that comes with the LFE kit. When properly setup, this is totally awesome. Setup is easy, time consuming, but easy. You don't want the amp set so high that movement is evident by voices...set it up so it is transparent. You want the Buttkicker to work in harmony with your subwoofer. Now, you will feel what you are hearing. It Works By A3LGJXCN189ALH on 2006-03-12 It Works in the way you're hoping it will. Easy set-up. Enough said. Buttkicker LFE Kit is awesome By A3SK9UN556YOWP on 2006-05-03 I purchase the Buttkicker LFE Kit along with the wireless transmitter. I have a four piece section (L shaped) and was told I'd need multiple LFE's to feel it in all seats. I installed the mounting plate under two legs (vs one as the instructions suggest) and pushed all seats as tight as I could. I purchased enough of the rubber isolators to fit under all the legs on the sectional. Man oh man is this thing powerful. You have to play with a bit to find the sweet spot, but I feel the movement from all four pieces of my sectional. Absolutely amazing! Watching King Kong is a thrill. As for the wireless kit, it works like a dream and not having to run wires everywhere was even better. All movies are not created equal By A541RWESOQY58 on 2007-03-26 When a movie has a good surround track with adequate LFE you will feel the tremors. Most movies do not have adequate surround tracks, or worse, the levels vary from movie to movie. You will find yourself adjusting the gain up or down or the cutoff up or down to get more or less out of the shaker system. I have had some movies bottom out the shakers and with the same setting the next movie has little to no LFE unless the gain is cranked. I wish there was an auto tune or some other setup signal (done automatically) on the intro of each movie such that your surround system and shakers could be set appropriately. The effect you get is mild shaking. Some movies have it just for explosions, others for elephants or large animals walking. I have seen 2 movies where the shaking is continous when the scene is inside a space ship or helicoptor ... when you hear the engine noise, you can feel it as if you were inside. Kicks butt! By A374Y0PZSKX16F on 2008-06-22 I had wanted a Buttkicker for a long time, but wondered if it was really worth $400. I finally decided to take a chance. Not only was it worth every penny, I'm kicking my butt for not buying it sooner. I have an amazing sound system in my home theater, and this was the icing on the cake. Stop reading the review, and order one (you'll be happy you did). I was very impressed with the quality, and the amp weighs a ton. Outstanding addition to a home theater By AJO7JFO8JRZTT on 2007-02-03 As a home theater enthusiast, I'm regularly tweaking my surround sound system for the best experience. Bass management can be a chore, getting the overlap between the subwoofer and the other speaker as natural as possible, yet still get the thumping bass experience. I decided to try the buttkicker, and it was the best "tweak" I've done to my system in a long time. Other have talked about the installation and benefits. So, I'll just mention that one reason I love the buttkicer is that I can still get that big bass movie experience without the high sound pressure levels you need from just a sub. So, you can watch a movie at a very reasonable volume but feel likes it much louder. If you like concert DVD's - the buttkicker really adds a life-like feel to the bass drum. A very cool, great product. Just what I was missing By A1VQZV1QNAMB32 on 2007-02-06 This is a great product. Build quality is excellent,Performs fantastic,Simple and easy to setup,Very realistic low frequecy effects. This is a great finishing touch for any home theater. If nothing else the fun factor with this kit is off the charts.

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