Need Advice for Bass Shakers

I have 6 of Aura Bass Pros wired up to 3 seats. Love em. Definitely get them. Without going through great lengths, here's the quick and dirty:

1) Yes, you split the LFE line and run the signal to another amp.

2) You will want to buy a 50 hz low pass fmod from parts express and put that in your LFE line after the split. This limits the signal going to your bass shaker amp to 50Hz and below. We found that the experience without the fmod was as good... too much bass from music in movies was being reproduced by the bass shakers. The fmod helps to keep those shakers focused on rumbling what you want: gun shots, explosions, roar of motors, etc.

3) The bass shakers are 4 ohm devices, so you need to wire them in series so they match-up with your amp. Easy to do and a quick net search will show you how to do this if you aren't familiar with it.

4) I found my amp had trouble powering them... that is until I went into my amp's menu and cranked the bass output to +10. Now, the experience is perfect.

5) Mounting them is everything. They need to be mounted firing UP into your seat.

Here are two threads on a Polk Audio user forum where I detailed my install experience and trouble shooting (thread number 1)... thread number 2 is one in which I answered someone else's post about shakers. I'm 27dnast in the threads.

Thread 1: http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/sho...ll-advice-for-bass-shaker&highlight=aura+bass

Thread 2: http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?125277-Bass-shakers.....&p=1681552#post1681552



Oh... in answer to your final question... I would probably install 4 in a 2-3 person couch. Be prepared to add some wood mounting points if your couch doesn't have secure places to install them. I hope this all helps.

Got the 2 aura pro's in the mail today. Hooked them up and still not 100% satisfied yet. They do seem to shake more than the single clark did, but I still have to turn the subwoofer channel level on the AVR all the way up, and then the shaker amp all the way up to get them shaking good.

I'm not a fan of turning amps up to the max.

I just don't get it, i read posts elsewhere from people saying that they are using a 70 watt plate amp with these and they are getting more shake than they need. And people say these shakers don't need much power.

I'm wondering if I need a bigger amp now or what?

Another question for you guys... how do you know when you've turned these shakers up to their max? With a speaker, you can kind of tell by excursion, but how do I tell with these?

I'm gonna call PE tomorrow and see what their experts say, but any more advice here is appreciated... or any recommendations on a different/better amp for these.

Thanks.

Ok, well I figured out a way to make it work. I had my dad come over with some of his testing tools and an old receiver we had laying around.

So I hooked up the shakers to the old receiver instead of that new dayton amp, and we used the PHONO output and wow, it works! I can only turn the volume on the old receiver up a little way.

So finally we got it working. Still trying to tweak the system though.

My dad thinks it had something to do with the volts that the new amp was getting from the subwoofer output. And apparently the PHONO spot on the old receiver must amplify that signal or something.

But, sucky thing is I don't have a lowpass filter to play with like I did on the Dayton amp. It is still crossed at 80hz per the AVR's subwoofer output, but I think I'd like that to be lower on these shakers.

Seems like I am getting unnecessary rumbles on parts of movies that aren't really hitting low. And if I just turn the volume down, then the explosions are minor. Seems like it's all or none right now. So I have some tweaking to do I guess.

Not sure if that's a byproduct of the funky way I have it set up or not.

EDIT::: after reading previous posts again, I just bought the 50hz fmod crossover things from PE. So hopefully those will work.

FYI.... I did test the Clark out and it seemed to not work as well compared to these aura shakers with this setup.

It is easy to think one or the other is better but it typically depends on environment, installation, and the quality of the source you are using. I first started out with the Buttkicker but it was overkill. Worked great with movies but harsh when it came to music or TV. The Clark work good but even with the crossover turn down I was still getting the real deep voice people talking thru the chair when all I want was the gunshots and booms. The Auras on the other hand work well for movies, music and TV but it took a lot of them were the Clark and Buttkicker were just a single device.

With that being said I sold the two Clarks to a friend who install both in his couch. The difference was unbelievable. The entire couch would shake with plenty of tactical vibration from the floor. Pictures were rattling and stuff in the next room was even being shaking slightly. I haft to attribute the results to his elevated floor vs. my concrete bunker.

One down side to the Auras is the lack of low frequency response to match the big subs during movies. When the booms hit the subs were still going after the Auras had peter-out. To compensate I took out the 18”s and 15”s and went back with 12”s and 10”s to get a better match with the Auras. Did I lose some bottom end, of course but the blend has never been better. Two more cents added.


BIG’EN