Buttkicker review part 1

Didn't know where to put this thread so people would see it, so I thought general would be a good place. First I would like to thank (again) the Sonnie, The Shack and Roman at The Ultimate Home Entertainment for this for this contest. I was the winner of the Buttkicker Givaway Contest and I could not be more pleased. In eight days of being notified, I was tearing apart my Home theater and couch (just a hole in the dust cover) and installing the LFE's. The service that I received from Roman was second to none. I remained a little skeptical until I actually received the packages. Everything was included as stated on the contest qualification thread, as well as packaged better than I expected. You would expect a thank you plug for such a great gift, but I was absolutly blown away by the service as well.

Now on to the Review. This is my first review and It will be in a few parts as I dont have much spare time (manager of a retail store around the holidays=60-75 hrs/week ). I also have a lot of tweeking to do as well, and the hours I am off of work are not the best time play the rest of my home theater.

I got one installed to see how it sounds/works. I only hooked up one as I wasnt sure how my wife would feel about this thing on "her" couch. My plan was to hook up both on my couch, but I see now that both may not be needed. The instalation took about an hour from unpacking to wiring to powering everything up. It was pretty self explainatory with no curve balls.

I first put in some DTS test DVD's (#9 & #10)to get a feel for these things. I started slowly with the volume way down and worked my way up from there. I set the crossover at 60, a guestimate at where my towers start to roll off. Once I found these things were for real...I put in the Incredibles. All I have to say is WOW!. Sceen #24 and #25, the sceen where the Incredibles kids are being chased throught the woods by those flying disks, was awesome. The feel of the bass was deep and VERY impactful. I next put in Jurasic Park. You all know which sceen...T-Rex gets loose and the two kids are noticing the impact tremors as they are waiting in the SUV's. It was unreal the depth and force the LFE shook the couch. There were times I could not focus on the TV because my eyeballs were vibrating. That is no exageration...my eyeballs were literally vibrating! The palm tree I have next to the couch was rattling! Remember...this is with only one LFE hooked up. One thing that really separated the Buttkicker from a sub was when I was getting up to adjust the crossover and volume, I could still hear and fell the bass a little, but It wasnt nearly as impactful as sitting on the couch. Great news for the neighbors! I changed gears and put on a concert DVD. Only got to listen to a few songs I didnt have much time to calibrate the LFE, but I really got a feel for what they can do. I Threw everything I could (in my limited time) at the LFE and it didnt seem to flintch. I was amased how it not only reprodused crazy bass...but it also was able to reproduce different frequencies. I have heard a lot about the Buttkickers and beleive me...These things are for real! Had I known how they work, I would have gotten then a long time ago.

There is one thing that I felt lacking in my Home theater. There seems to be a gap between the range from my speakers and where the LFE starts. You could feel the LFE kick in and almost overwhelm the rest of my speakers. I turned the Buttkicker down and tried to get a seemless bled of sound. It took a little while but I think I have a decent settings for the crossover and volume. It is still not perfect, but I am sure it has to do with the settings I have. I will have to do some playing around with it...A little more adjusting should eliminate this and with the addition of a sub (X-mas gift from the misses!!) I think this wiil be a MERRY MERRY Chrismas!

Sorry to cut it short (I think) but I dont have much spare time, and I havent devoted enough time to the settings to give an accurate review. I didnt want to wait to long to review the Buttkicker and seem ungrateful. More to come when I can devote more time on the settings. Thanks again to all involved!!!

[Sonnie]

Great start! Sounds like you are really enjoying them...

[mdrums]

I have (as a musician) always felt that feeling the sound is important as hearing it. Hearing a bass drum is one thing but when you add in the feeling of the sound a bass drum makes...well...that is what really brings instruments and other sounds we hear to life.
Enjoy!

COOL I will be installing 4 of these soon

P.HUNT wrote:

COOL I will be installing 4 of these soon

It takes some time to get them callibrated. but once you do...your gonna love them!!! It still amazes me how much it adds to the home theater experience. I now have a decent Subwoofer (rocket UFW-12), and with this and the two Buttkickers, the low punch is absolutely awesome!

[salvasol]

P.HUNT wrote:

COOL I will be installing 4 of these soon

When are you going to install them???? .... What kind of seats (couch, chair, etc) do you have??? Do you have a riser??? .... How do you plan to do the installation??? ....Do you mind telling me where did you get them, price, etc???? .... I'm thinking to get at least one or two but I been looking around in the internet for the best place to buy and I haven't decided yet.... Thank You

Dont know about him, but I got mine from:

Ultimate Home Entertainment

24 Bartram Rd

Manalapan, NJ 07726

This was my contact...the customer service was awesome.
Roman Shenkerman
Ultimate Home Entertainment
www.rtheaters.com
732.617.2348

Ask about the mounting kits as I STRONGLY recommend them. the instalation was easy and there isnt any damage to any of your couches or chairs. I have one hooked up to a couch and the other on a love seat.

[salvasol]

Mr. Lamb Fries wrote:

Dont know about him, but I got mine from:

Ultimate Home Entertainment

24 Bartram Rd

Manalapan, NJ 07726

This was my contact...the customer service was awesome.
Roman Shenkerman
Ultimate Home Entertainment
www.rtheaters.com
732.617.2348

Ask about the mounting kits as I STRONGLY recommend them. the instalation was easy and there isnt any damage to any of your couches or chairs. I have one hooked up to a couch and the other on a love seat.

Thank You .... I will email them to request a price (website say to request a quote, but when you added to the cart it shows a price of #379.99), not bad, circuit city shows $389.99 and others $399.99 .... I will keep checking but I think this will be the best price.

[salvasol]

Mr. Lamb Fries wrote:

It takes some time to get them callibrated. but once you do...your gonna love them!!! It still amazes me how much it adds to the home theater experience. I now have a decent Subwoofer (rocket UFW-12), and with this and the two Buttkickers, the low punch is absolutely awesome!

You're right abou this !!!!! Yesterday I installed mine, I have not done any calibration (just put the crossover at 70 and the volume to the middle) I saw part of the Star Wars I (chapter where it shows the race); first I didn't use the Buttkicker and then I turned on and watch the same chapter .... and What a difference!!!! ... you can feel the shake like if you were racing .... if only you could see my kid and wife faces

I still have to add some rubber isolators to the seats (I got only for six places/legs), but is not enough to feel the shake in all three seats, I need to have four per seat ... I can feel it more in two, so I need to add more isolators to level everything.

I'm sure this is how I will look everytime I watch a movie