# has anyone EQed a buttkicker before????



## alexa7x23 (Feb 21, 2012)

hi im trying to eq a butt kicker using a DSP1124..any recommendations or how to's on this??


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## TypeA (Aug 14, 2010)

Sorry no idea. What do the instructions say? Have you contacted the manufacture about hints? Google didnt show much, please let us know what you find.


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## alexa7x23 (Feb 21, 2012)

All that manufactures says it is of you would like to further enhance ur buttkicker you can use an external equalizer..and that's all I've really found..need help maybe no one has ever done this before


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## phreak (Aug 16, 2010)

Run a test tone cd, and eq the buttkicker to smooth the response across the frequency range. Just an idea, I have no experience with this. You might even like it with a long slope, as in heavy effect from 5-25 hz but gently rolling off from 25-50 hz


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## chris71478 (Dec 2, 2011)

I can't imagine why you'd EQ one of these. By their nature, the response should be linear. The purpose of a sub EQ is to counteract your room's effect on the sound waves. Transducers don't have that problem.


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## Zeitgeist (Apr 4, 2009)

chris71478 said:


> I can't imagine why you'd EQ one of these. By their nature, the response should be linear. The purpose of a sub EQ is to counteract your room's effect on the sound waves. Transducers don't have that problem.


The only reason I can think of EQing would be to change how they respond to very LF. Make them more/less sensitive at certain frequencies...... But since they are mechanical and they are really responding to more broader frequencies, I can't see how EQing would have much gain.

I imagine that the EQing would effectively be the same as raising/lowering volume on the amp driving the transducer.


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## phreak (Aug 16, 2010)

chris71478 said:


> I can't imagine why you'd EQ one of these. By their nature, the response should be linear. The purpose of a sub EQ is to counteract your room's effect on the sound waves. Transducers don't have that problem.


My thoughts on using eq here would be that I don't want linear response from a tactile transducer. I want hear 50 hz, not feel it. I want to hear and feel 30 hz. For 20 hz and under, I don't just want to feel, but to be shaken in a way that my subs can't compete with on a same persons budget. The more I think about it, the more I want to get a few and experiment, rather than think.


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## phreak (Aug 16, 2010)

Sane person, not same. Stupid iPhone autocorrect.


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## Zeitgeist (Apr 4, 2009)

phreak said:


> My thoughts on using eq here would be that I don't want linear response from a tactile transducer. I want hear 50 hz, not feel it. I want to hear and feel 30 hz. For 20 hz and under, I don't just want to feel, but to be shaken in a way that my subs can't compete with on a same persons budget. The more I think about it, the more I want to get a few and experiment, rather than think.


That's a really great point......... but most spectrograms that I've seen will show LF content that stretches from say 20-100 hz. So if you EQ down 50 hz, the transducer will still be responding to the rest of the frequencies. So not sure how much difference it will really make.

I don't have any transducers, otherwise I'd love to play with it and EQ.


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## phreak (Aug 16, 2010)

You could maybe get the same effect with compounding crossovers. Say maybe a 3dB/octave LPF at 20 hz and another 3dB at 35 hz?


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## sholling (Oct 6, 2010)

I would think that all that you would want to do is set a crossover point and then set the "shake level" to approximate what you're not getting from the subwoofer. That's the main reason for having a shaker.


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## madpoet (Jul 26, 2010)

That's what I did when I had them... set the crossover to 45 or 50 so it only shakes below that and you won't have it trying to reproduce voices. Then let it go.


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## tcarcio (Jun 27, 2007)

I have to agree with the last 2 posts. Just set the crossover to the frequency's that you want to feel. I set mine at 60hz so that I am only feeling the freq's below that.


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## Owen Bartley (Oct 18, 2006)

That's what I did too, and I haven't experimented with EQ'ing the Buttkickers at all. I wonder what the crossover slope is like on the BKA-1000's High Frequency Cutoff dial. I have been pretty happy just setting it and leaving it alone, but theoretically it would be better to have the tactile effects slowly ramp up in a linear fashion, contributing a little bit in the higher frequencies, and increasingly moreso as you approach the selected cutoff where it hits full power. Not sure if it's possible or not due to the nature of the transducers, but if someone figures it out I'd be interested.


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## pietsch288 (Sep 10, 2006)

When I was using a butt kicker, I set the xover a s low as I could on the amp(40hz I think), then I used my behringer eq to get rid of anything above 26-28hz'ish and it was much better/real subwoofer feeling, or as good as I could ever get a buttkicker to feel. I would only use the eq to take away what you do not want-DO NOT boost anything, you can easily damage transducers/shakers. A while later I decided that there is no substitution for a subwoofers. good luck
PS. You can hear frequencies above 30hz with transducers just like subwoofers, although the sound is not as loud as a subwoofers they can get just as annoying if played too high in the freq range.


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## yuri_rage (Jun 22, 2012)

My experience is exactly opposite what most are posting in this thread. 

I found that using a crossover or the built in high freq cutoff filter, the Buttkicker would remain nearly motionless except during a hard hitting LFE event, providing a very artificial feeling, momentary "whomp." I tried a lot of cutoff settings between 30Hz and 60Hz, and the effect was always irritating, distracting me from the scene rather than immersing me in it.

I wanted to see what happened with several test tones and the filters removed. When I played a sweep from 0-100Hz through the Buttkickers, I found that "felt" response follows a curve that is exactly opposite a house curve. What I mean is that the low frequencies REALLY shake, where the higher frequencies provide a subtle buzz. At a mid-volume setting on the 1kW amp, freqs below 40Hz made my furniture feel like it was about to shake apart, but freqs above 60Hz were barely noticeable.

I decided to to try and "flatten" the felt response out of the Buttkicker using my FBQ2496, the idea being that LFE effects would smoothly roll in and out rather than just punch hard at low freqs. I turned the volume up until 100Hz provided a subtle buzz (barely audible, and a bit noticeable in the "seat of the pants"). When I swept through 20Hz to 40Hz at that volume and without filtering, the Buttkickers REALLY shook hard. After some experimenting I found that a wide, 2 octave filter at 20Hz and -20dB seemed to tame that violent shake without diminishing the felt effect of higher freqs.

With that single parametric filter, the test sweep felt much more even. I played scenes from Transformers, Fellowship of the Rings, and several of the newer Star Wars movies. The effect was very realistic. The momentary thumps were gone, except where appropriate, and things like cars or spaceships moving across the scene provided a realistic "seat of the pants" feeling, smoothly integrating the Buttkicker effect with the sub/speaker resonance in the room.

I'm very pleased with the results. FWIW, my Buttkickers are mounted on low platforms made from two thicknesses of 3/4" plywood, isolated using washer/dryer vibration dampening pads from Lowe's, sitting on a carpet over concrete floor. I have a four seat sectional theater seat from Seatcraft. Each platform holds a single Buttkicker transducer, two seats, and a cupholder/storage "wedge."


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