Introduction to Buttkickers, what are they?

I’m excited! I bought a pair of Buttkicker LFE’s today and a single amp for $1117 AUD which will be amazing on my Obutto Revolution cockpit which I bought late last year in 2014. However I haven’t had a chance to use it much yet as I’ve moved house 3 times since I bought it and moving the great thing is difficult, therefore I never set it up fully at any of the houses. This is going to change though because in 5 days i’m moving for the final time (This move was included in the first number) to hopefully stay there for 5 years or so and to actually get use out of my Obutto.

This will be the first time i’ve felt any tactile transducers which everyone agrees adds so much to the immersion of movies and games which are the primary uses of buying them. For the short answer, basically they shake your butt and anything they are attached to. I might also use them for my music production purely to see what my songs feel like or to make myself a vibrating chair which would be awesome. I bought the Buttkicker LFE’s because they are the strongest and I wanted a big ‘kick’ when watching action movies and shooting guns in FPS games to improve the immersion.


Here’s a list of my setup and specifications for what i’m planning on creating when i’m in the new house:
1 Gaming Pc which includes:
1 LG 34″ 34UM95 3440×1440 display (recommended by LinusTechTips)
2 Overlord 27″ 1440p 120hz monitors either side of the previous monitor
2 ASUS GTX 780Ti GPU’s

(I’m designing a custom water cooled pc for the release of the skylake cpu later this year, you’ll get a build guide of that)

1 Buttkicker LFE Amplifier
2 Buttkicker LFE’s mounted either side of the Obutto Chair with either clamps or a custom made metal plate
1 Obutto Revolution Cockpit with two acrylic tabletops and triple monitor display
2 Rubber isolating pads (Yoga Mattresses) to prevent vibration going into the cement and shaking the house. (I’ll see how they work instead of the ones that come with the BK, as the Obutto is a weird shape and the rubber pads might be too small to hold it)

And here’s some specifications of the Buttkicker LFE as seen on their website:
ButtKicker® LFE Transducer
Dimensions: 5.375″ H x 5.375″ W
Frequency Response: 5 – 200 Hz
Weight: 11 lbs / 5 kgs
Nominal Impedance: 4 ohms
Power Handling: 400 watts min.

BKA1000-N Power Amplifier Specs
Dimensions: 4.625″ H x 12″ W x 12” L
Frequency Response: 10 – 300 Hz
Power Output: 1900 watt RMS @ 2 ohms
1000 watt RMS @ 4 ohms
Input Sensitivity: 80 mVolt for RCA
1.25 Volt for balanced 1.4” TRS
Filter Roll-Off: 12 dB per octave
Weight: 25 lbs / 11.3 kg
Voltage: 120V or 240V NOT SWITCHABLE


One of the bigger tasks when adding the Buttkickers is working out where and how to mount them to the revolution. There are pre-drilled holes in the cockpit on the main body and under the seat although they are a determined size which could make it a bit harder to mount them. Currently my options are to either use the metal plate that comes with the Buttkicker and place it between it and the rubber pads on the floor, drill some holes in the mounting pad to fit the spacing for the Obutto and bolt it on ruining the mounting kit in the process or fashion my own metal piece that connects the actual Obutto to the chair keeping the mounting kit intact if I ever want to use it again. For the maximum impact from the Buttkickers I would ideally like to have them mounted to the underside of the chair to minimise the vibration reduction if they have a long way to travel through the metal frame. My plan is to buy two more and mount them close to the front of the cockpit for the pedal tray which also gives me the opportunity to use the simulation software which makes each individual Buttkicker vibrate depending on which side of the ‘car’ collides with an object. Another way I thought of mounting them was to simply clamp them on with a flat-style clamp to the metal frame which could be easily removed and not damage the frame or the Buttkicker mounting kit if I wanted to swap them back or even sell them later on.


The next problem is where to mount it, as I mentioned before the two best places for mounting which have holes already drilled is the front metal frame and under the chair which would make attaching it easy with minimal drilling. At this stage i’ll just put them underneath the chair at the back until I buy some clamps or work out the distances I need to drill to bolt them to the frame which would have the best overall vibration, there will also be another article about the complete experience and review of the Buttkickers after i’ve tried them out for a month or so.

Here’s where I bought my Buttkickers if you’re in Australia:
http://www.pagnianimports.com.au/buttkicker-lfe-kit.html

If you’re interested in how other people set up their Buttkickers with an Obutto product check out what this guy did:
http://www.isrtv.com/forums/topic/15499-buttkickers-on-obutto-rev-with-pictures/

and leave a comment below if you’re doing something similar or want to ask a question about my setup.

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Australia.

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