Ginky Weeds Home Theater

[Ginky Weeds]

Do any of you use tactile transducers in addition to your subwoofers?  Soundshaker or others?  I'm almost ready to pull the trigger on Seatcraft chairs that come with the transducers included.  Wondering if it would be worth the additional $360 to order the amp required.  With four subwoofers in the system and one pair set for LFE, I'm curious if this would add much.

[bmoney]

Do any of you use tactile transducers in addition to your subwoofers?  Soundshaker or others?  I'm almost ready to pull the trigger on Seatcraft chairs that come with the transducers included.  Wondering if it would be worth the additional $360 to order the amp required.  With four subwoofers in the system and one pair set for LFE, I'm curious if this would add much.

Crowson transducer are worth every penny if admission. Pricey but again at this point I’d rather add more of them than more subwoofers.
they give you the true traction feeling down to low single digits. And it’s real feeling unlike bass shakers etc

I’d advise against using ones built into seats. 

[Ginky Weeds]

Thanks for sharing your experience!

[randman]

Do any of you use tactile transducers in addition to your subwoofers?  Soundshaker or others?  I'm almost ready to pull the trigger on Seatcraft chairs that come with the transducers included.  Wondering if it would be worth the additional $360 to order the amp required.  With four subwoofers in the system and one pair set for LFE, I'm curious if this would add much.

Short story: YMMV. 

Long story: In my previous home, I placed Clark Tactile Transducers under each chair. My wife and I really liked them in the beginning, and it was always entertaining when unsuspecting guests first sat on the seats and big bass scenes occurred, causing the seats to vibrate. 

However, in the long term, the "gimmicky" factor might wear off.

The challenge is to set the crossover and volume of the transducer amp low enough so that the seats only shake when there is very low frequency content. You don't want the seats to vibrate when someone with a low voice (e.g. James Earl Jones) starts talking. You only want the seats shaking when there's explosions and other low bass content. I dialed the content pretty low (somewhere south of 40 Hz), so most of the time, the transducers complemented the subwoofers. But occasionally, the seats would shake when they shouldn't, making the experience seem less natural. To prevent this unnatural effect entails lowering the crossover and volume even more, but then it would be too low for explosions and car crashes. So it was a challenge dialing the crossover and volume to be "just right". 

For now, I didn't order the SoundShaler amp. The seats come with the transducer anyway, so I can add the amp in the future if I need a new toy to play with. Fortunately, the amp is wireless, so there's no need to pre-wire the seats for the SoundShakers. 

[bmoney]

That’s exactly why j recommend and ONLY recommend crowsons. All other “shakers” are gimmicky. The crowson doesn’t Shake the seat  it actually slightly lifts and lowers the couch/chairs at the exact frequency wobble as a real wave would shake the seat. So no gimmick there

I’ve never heard of a single person return or not like the effect of the crowson

[randman]

That’s exactly why j recommend and ONLY recommend crowsons. All other “shakers” are gimmicky. The crowson doesn’t Shake the seat  it actually slightly lifts and lowers the couch/chairs at the exact frequency wobble as a real wave would shake the seat. So no gimmick there

I’ve never heard of a single person return or not like the effect of the crowson

Better not top off the wine glasses or they'll spill!

[Ginky Weeds]

OK Randman, I just joined you in the Seatcraft club.  Talked with Alex at 4Seating.com and confirmed that their next shipment of Equinox chairs is expected at the end of January.  I ordered a row of three Equinox for the front row and a row of four auditorium style chairs for the back row on the riser.  The HT will be mostly used by my wife and me, so putting more expensive recliners in the back doesn't make economic sense.  Plus, it provides more room on the riser.

I'll probably receive the auditorium chairs in a couple of weeks and the Equinox in mid-February.  Hope to have the theater ready for them by then.  Timing of carpet might be the determining factor.  Thanks for the recommendation!

In other news, the theater will be primed this afternoon.  Not sure if he'll do two coats or not, but at least the first will be done today.  

[randman]

OK Randman, I just joined you in the Seatcraft club.  Talked with Alex at 4Seating.com and confirmed that their next shipment of Equinox chairs is expected at the end of January.  I ordered a row of three Equinox for the front row and a row of four auditorium style chairs for the back row on the riser.  The HT will be mostly used by my wife and me, so putting more expensive recliners in the back doesn't make economic sense.  Plus, it provides more room on the riser.

I'll probably receive the auditorium chairs in a couple of weeks and the Equinox in mid-February.  Hope to have the theater ready for them by then.  Timing of carpet might be the determining factor.  Thanks for the recommendation!

In other news, the theater will be primed this afternoon.  Not sure if he'll do two coats or not, but at least the first will be done today. 

Congratulations! I also thought of using a row of three recliners for one row and something else (maybe a couch) for another row. There's 4 people in my family. Most of the time, only 3 people or less are watching at the same time. However, in order to minimize bickering when all 4 people watch at the same time, I just had to get the same seats in the two rows. I even thought of maybe getting massage/heated chairs for the non-center seats so there will be less clamoring for the center seats, but I wasn't convinced the massage/heat features were very good (not that they were available for the Equinox).

Well, the seats made it from the CA to NY in about a week. I contacted the white glove delivery agent (JB Hunt Final Mile). Unfortunately, the earliest that they can schedule the delivery is 2.5 weeks from now. Oh well. My HT room is still being framed, so at least the seats won't consume space in the finished part of my basement. But hope they come on time to help ensure that riser, etc. are built properly.  

[AVSMike]

I also worked with my neighbor (who does woodworking as a hobby) to build the four columns to cover the side surround speakers.  The are built, filled, sanded and will get first coat of primer tomorrow.  We'll install them after the room is primed.

I can see some required guest invites, once theater is finished.

[Ginky Weeds]

Amen Mike!  He and his family will be some of the first!

[Ginky Weeds]

The theater has been primed and sanded.  And a few touchups made.  My friend and I will begin building the stage and riser tomorrow.  We'll also install the columns on the side walls.  Then hoping to begin finish painting early next week.  The paint was purchased today, so we're ready with materials!

Medium gray primer was used to provide a good base for the very dark finish colors that will be applied.

I plan to order carpet next week.

[David Vaughn]

Good idea of tinting the primer gray. Hopefully your finish coat is going to be high-quality Benjamin Moore Paint

[Ginky Weeds]

Sorry David.  It will be high quality Sherwin-Williams paint.  I too have had really good experience with Benjamin Moore paint, but my friend that's doing the painting gets a large discount on the top grade S-W paints, so I couldn't pass it up and expect performance to be similar.

Are you a Benjamin Moore employee?

[randman]

The carpet is a commercial grade with and commercial pad that can be glued and not stretched. 

Is commercial grade less prone to stains? What's the advantage of glued and not stretched?

[Ginky Weeds]

Is commercial grade less prone to stains? What's the advantage of glued and not stretched?

My reason for needing glued carpet is that several years ago we had a problem with water entering the basement through cracks in the floor.  We live on a very high water table and the house tends to try to float sometimes.  So, we had a basement waterproofing system installed that included breaking out the concrete floor all around the outside walls and placing drainage pipe in pea gravel, then covered with concrete.  So when framing walls in the basement, they can't be mechanically anchored to the floor around the outside walls or it would create potential entry points for water intrusion.  Which means the wall sill plates are glued instead and I don't think it would be wise to test the shear strength of the glue by pressing on the walls with a carpet stretcher.  Sorry for the long answer, but it's a bit of a unique carpet application.

The commercial carpet is designed for high traffic wear and stain resistance.  Our theater won't be a truly high traffic area, but it's nice to know that carpet should be very durable and stain resistant.