Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

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!

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

Value - Was going to put this last, but I think I need to put it first. With A/V home theatre, we're constantly battling with diminishing returns for every $ spent. That extra $100-400 will get you another HDMI connection or 20 watts of power or THX certification. So much money is spent on increasing specs that you can't really differentiate (ehem Monster Cables). This Buttkicker is one of those rare times that $400 will get you a huge (noticeable) impact on your home theatre enjoyment. So forego the extra money spent to grab a higher contrast ratio and get this product today.

Build Quality - The first thing I noticed upon receiving my LFE Kit was the build quality. Both the amp and buttkicker feel very solid and well constructed. I was impressed.

Setup - 30 minutes and I was done. I attached the buttkicker to its base plate. Slide it under the back left corner of my couch (small ikea loveseat) and placed the rubber isolators underneath the other 3 legs (no screws). The amp set up was a piece of cake. You will need a long RCA cable (sold separately) if you want to have your amp next to your seating location.

Performance (Movies) - The buttkicker synched perfectly with my subwoofer. The great benefit is being able to keep my sub volume lower and having my buttkicker do more work. Its great because I don't disturbe the guy in the floor below me. It really increases the feelings of suspense during a drama as the music score often has low frequency sounds. Its really awesome during action sequences as ever bullet, slam, and rumble is felt right in line with the movie.

Performance (Gaming) - Even more incredible. I tested with Call of Duty WAW. It adds another dimension to first person shooters. I could feel the rumble of a tank nearby that was neither in my field of vision, nor on my UAV radar. The key is that it was a faint rumble that may not be heard with a stand alone subwoofer unless it was cranked way up and that's the beauty of it.