Bass Shaker Projects at Parts Express - DIY Projects, Home Theater Seats, Drum Thrones, Gaming Chair

Art - Pick-Up Truck Bench Seat

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Bench Seat Shaker

These Aura Bass Shakers actually produce bass well below 20Hz with only a cheap Curtis - no name brand 25W per channel amplifier I purchased 10 years ago.

When I purchased my Toyota Pickup truck, I insulated the rear metal firewall with a piece of rubber carpet underlay glued on with some construction adhesive. This gives the cab some extra thermal insulation, as well as acoustical sound deadening. The best part though is the drum effect given off by this very flexible wall when "thumped on" with my fist or hand. Over the years I thought to myself how nice it would be to somehow harness this deep bass producing effect. Then several months ago, I saw the Aura Bass shakers on the Parts Express promo items sale page, and promptly purchased 2 pairs of these puppies. Needless to say, these things ROCK!

Where else can you get back pounding bass (literally) that fits into an import standard cab truck for under $100 Can. - including the Amp? Installation was a cinch. I ran 2 wires from the rear speakers into the high level inputs on the amp and 2 - 18ga cables to the shakers. Another cable to the cigarette lighter (amp only draws 7amps max.) and 8 flathead SS sheetmetal screws later, the cab is shakin'.

Todd Marcucci - Bucket Seat Shakers

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This install will specifically cover the "Pro Series" of Bass Shakers, mounted under the seat on a set of brackets. There are several other models out there that you can find if you look. Picture 1 above shows the Pros (right) next to a smaller, cheaper model both from Parts Express (left).

What You Need

12mm and 14mm sockets and driver

Needle nose pliers

Bench vise or other metal-bending tool

1/4" and 3/16" drill bits and drill

3' of 1.4" thick by 1" wide (or wider) Aluminum flat (bar stock)

(4) 1/4 x 28 x 1" long bolts

(4) 1/4 x 28 locking nuts, or nuts and lockwashers

(4) 8-32 x 1" countersunk screws (see below)

(4) 8-32 locking nuts or nuts and lockwashers (see below)

Wire (zip) ties (at least 7), about 1/8" wide

Speaker wire

Wire cutters/strippers

Wire loom/electrical tape (see below)

Removing the Seats
The seats have to come out for the bracket/shaker installation. Lower the top, then remove the four bolts that hold the seat into place. Before you can lift the seat up out of the car, you have to disconnect the seat belt warning switch. Carefully lift the seat up out of the car- watch those seat rails, they are sharp and will scratch any plastic they contact. Set the seat aside somewhere safe.

Wiring
The preferred method of wiring is through wire loom, like the stock wiring. We will assume for this installation that you have already installed an amp or are in the process of doing so. For our installation, the wire was threaded alongside the primary and then into the carpet (where it begins) and down to the hole in the carpet where the seat belt switch wiring is. The wire was covered in loom until it was sandwiched between the sheet metal and carpet/trim, from there on it is simply wrapped in electrical tape. The wire needs to be just long enough to reach the front of the seat bottom at it's forwardmost position (a little slack won't hurt).

Installing
Assuming the holes were drilled properly, the easiest method will be to mount the Shaker to brackets and then mount the whole assembly to the seat. Since we tapped our own holes in the brackets, we have to use Loctite on the threads to keep the screws from backing out over time. Attach all four bolts or with 4 locking washers and nuts (or locking nuts). Now you can mount this mess to the seat. Flip the seat upside down (preferably resting on something solid), and you will see a series of metal "brads". Each of these needs to be removed to get behind the seat fabric and cushion. Don't worry, we'll be putting it back together with the zip ties (just as strong). You might not be able to see it at first, but each "circle" is a single piece of wire wrapped in a circle. If you grab one end with a pair of needlenose, you can "open" them and remove them. Once you remove all of these, you will need to remove the bolt on the inside edge of the side of the seat. This will allow you to peel the fabric back off of the seat bottom and expose it. The next step is to drill mounting holes for the bracket in the seat. You will notice that there are already two square holes in the seat bottom, which the brackets are designed to use. The first two bolts can be test-fitted, then the next two at the front lip of the seat marked and drilled. Once you are certain of the location, drill the two holes through with the 1/4" drill bit. Install the hardware for these screws and you are ready to button up the seat. Using the zip ties mentioned above, zip tie the seat fabric back into place where the metal brads were before. Don't forget the bolt on the side of the seat, then re-install the seat with the four bolts that were removed. Hook up the bass shaker to the amp... and you're done!

Nick Buol - Home Theatre Seats

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The Starlight Theatre

I have always wanted a home theater. Being an avid watcher of movies, I wanted to be able to control the environment both visually and audibly so that I could go from watching movies to appreciating them. With the house we purchased in 1999, there was a room in the basement that would fit my needs.

I was on a limited budget, so I worked on this in my spare time, and I dubbed it "The Poor Man's Theater". It wasn't until everything was done, with a 10 speaker (don't even ask about the wiring required to get this to sound right), 2 subwoofer system, with a nice big screen rear projection TV that I really started to enjoy it, but some things were missing.

It lacked character and another aspect that I wouldn't come to realize for about 6 months. I added real movie seats, bit of items form some of my favorite movies, some decorative columns, move posters, controlled lights, and a working, twinkling star field to the ceiling, and the Starlight Theatre was born. This all added character, but was usually lost after the first 5 minutes of a movie. I needed something more.

Then I stumbled across a web site about home theaters, and one of the founders had a home theater called The Nate (named after his cat). He was using things called Bass Shakers attached to the movie seats to add a third dimension to the move experience... Tactile feedback from what is happening in the movie. I knew that I needed these Bass Shakers, so I bought 10 of them (One for each movie seat, and 2 for the love seat that was in the theater) and I used an older Pioneer receiver to power them so that I had separate "volume" control as well as not taxing my main receiver. This finished things off with a visual, audible, and now tactile movie experience.

Wiring the 4 Ohm Bass Shakers together in an 8 Ohm environment was a bit tricky. I had to put some in series and some in parallel in order to get as close to 8 Ohms as possible in the end so that I didn't have the Ohms too far off from the receiver's Ohm rating.

Now that is it all done, people go down the stairs of the house, see the big "Starlight Theatre" sign, turn the corner, and say, "Wow! You've got real movie theater seats." A few seconds later they ask, "What are those things attached to the back of the seats?" That is when I say, sit down and FEEL them. They are called Bass Shakers! The Bass Shakers help to provide interest, as well as enhance the movie experience well beyond the first 5 minutes. When the movie is over, the comments are usually, "That was Great! Those Bass Shakers are really cool!"

(Note: We have since moved from this house, but it is still for sale, and includes the Home Theater at this point. Our new home theater should be done in a year or so, and I will have Bass Shakers for that one too.)

Monte - Bass Shaker Gaming Chair

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The setup is pretty basic. I have the A channels of my Pioneer receiver powering a set of 6x9 speakers in carpeted enclosures. These are hung high on the wall, far away from my monitor (the oversized magnets were causing major distortion in my display when they were on my desk). The receiver's B channels drive the two BassShakers mounted under my computer chair. They're secured to the chair's bottom by woodscrews. The speaker wires are coiled up under my desk when not in use. When I want to add that extra kick to my games or MP3 music, I plug in the cables using the 4-pin Molex plug I attached and switch on the B channels from the Pioneer. To keep the wires tidy I covered them in black spiral wrap. If you need any more information just ask.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to share my work and give something back to Parts Express. You guys have helped me complete several projects over the years, especially when I was building custom car audio systems.

Crook Stewart III - Bass Shaker Drum Throne

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The installation is quite easy. I just screwed the Aura Pro to the bottom of my drum throne and I run a signal from my mixer to a spare power amp and then to the Aura Pro. Any low frequency causes the Aura to respond and I can "feel" the low end of my bass drum and the bass guitar and lock in to the beat.

Jarred Land - Bass Shaker Gaming Chair

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This chair has back mounted speakers and a tactile transducer (Aura Bass Shaker) to actually shake the chair. This literally shakes the seat during explosive low-frequency viewing/audio moments to add an incredible sense of realism.

As you can see, this standard executive office chair has been transformed into a 3d gaming chair with rear mounted speakers and one hell of a sub sensation called the Aura Bass Shaker. The shaker actually shakes your chair according to low frequency sounds for a feeling that will "rock your world" (sorry, just had to use it.)

The Aura bass shaker is screwed into the bottom of the chair, We received two, but found we got motions sickness form having them both shaking, so we suggest only using one in the center below the brace on the underside of the chair. This we wire to the an RCA box and Zip tie to the other cables, the bass shaker already has a quick release so it saves us a few steps.

Now you should see everything coming together. Next step is to hook your long RCA cables to the RCA base plate, and the other end to the surround outs on your subwoofer. Zip tie the Aura Shaker cable (from the amp) to the long RCA Jacks. Place the Amp on the sub, and turn on the surrounds and give them a test and see if they work.

To connect the bass shaker we simply take the supplied Y splitter (comes with the shaker) and plug it into your sound card FRONT stereo outs. Plug your speakers into one outlet and the aura bass shaker cable to the other. (This cable goes the amp and then a cable goes to the bass shaker, read the directions because I am just going to confuse you.)

Load up Quake. Select Game on the back of the Aura amp. Prepare to loose your lunch.

Andy Farrior - Bass Shaker Chairs & L-Pad Box

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I've attached photos of the underside of one of my chairs and front and back of my LPad box. I also included some wiring schematics and plans for constructing the box. (you'll notice that the box has rabbit joints, it's only because I just got a router and wanted to try my hand at rabbit joints, butt joints would be fine.)

Equipment list (with Parts Express part numbers):

300-794, qty 1, 250W plate amplifier

260-265, qty 4, L-Pad 100W Mono 1" shaft

299-027, qty (1,2,3,or 4 depending on what you want), Aura Bass Shaker Pair subwoofer of choice

261-414, one per chair, Ivory double-hole wall plate insert

091-1206, one pair of red/black banana jacks for wall plate insert

260-301, qty 5, Rectangular Speaker Terminal

14ga speaker wire (you'll want to seperate the two wires so it's easier to route the cables in the box and connect them with the other wires.)

24 or so female terminal crimp connectors to fit the terminal connectors on the L-Pads and Bass Shakers.

Basic design: We know that if we wire two 8ohm speakers in series, we get a 16ohm load. If we wire that 16ohm array in parallel with another 16ohm array, the total load will be 8ohms. However, instead of using speakers in the array, I'm using 8ohm L-Pads; so, the result should be the same. I choose 100W L-Pads just to be on the safe side.

L-Pads have three connector tabs, a positive input lead, an output lead to the positive input of a speaker and an output lead that's connected to the negative lead of the speaker and the negative lead of your amplifier. The input lead and the output lead on the L-Pad maintain a constant load on the amplifier. The knob adjusts the internal resistance of the L-Pad that affects the signal level going out to the connector that attaches to the positive input lead on the speaker while maintaining a constant resistance load for the amplifier. (I think I described the L-Pad correctly.)

Refer to the wiring schematic to see how I wired everything. In the schematic, you'll see that I indicate a subwoofer and three pairs of Bass Shakers. Currently, I only have two pairs of Bass Shakers; so, on the L-Pad associated with the unused pair, I have the volume turned down to zero. Depending on you soldering skills, you can solder you connections or use splice blocks for the various connections. (If you have a subwoofer(s) in the array, wire them so that they are the first speaker in the 16ohm "in-series" array.)

On my chairs, you'll notice that I have some banana jacks mounted on the back of the chair. I highly recommend this so it's easier to vacuum and rearrange furniture. However, it I were to do it over again, I'd probably use 2-port keystone surface mount housings and get keystone banana jack inserts instead so it would be easier to mount to the inside of the chair. The size of a keystone jack is the same as a Category 5 (Ethernet data cable) modular insert so you have an idea what I'm talking about if you've never heard of keystone jacks.

For this project, I used the 250W plate amp that I had originally dedicated to my subwoofer. The amp for my sonotube sub is attached to the side of the sub enclosure. I left the sub attached to my existing enclosure and routed my amp speaker cables to my L-Pad box where I connected them to a some banana jack connectors that served as the input to my L-Pad array. The speaker output of each L-Pad was connected to seperate banana jack connectors so I'd have a simple connection for my sub as well as my Bass Shakers. If you are starting from scratch, you could just as easily create a single box that contained the plate amplifier, the L-Pad array and the banana jack connectors for the Bass Shakers and sub(s). Look at the front and back of my L-Pad box to see what I'm talking about. (I'll get around to painting my L-Pad box some day...)

Hope you enjoy this as much as I have!

Robert Sprout - Bass Shaker Five-Seat Sofa

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I have a five-seat sofa in my home theatre. I have placed a Bass Shaker on the wooden frame of each seat with two mounted to the center chair. These are wired in series for a 12ohm load with three Bass Shakers for each side. I chose this set up for an easy load for the receiver and also to not overdrive the bass shakers. I use a receiver with an extra power amp to drive the main speakers. The receiver speaker outputs are hooked up to a speaker selector box. This way you can turn the bass shakers on for movies and off for music. The 14-ga four connector in wall wire was then run under the floor to the back of the couch.

Thanks to Parts Express this helps bring movies alive and everyone loves to watch them at our house. This is an awesome upgrade to any system!!!! Next I will be putting some of the Bass Shakers in my son’s video chairs for real feel to gaming!!!

Randy Herr - Bass Shaker Couch & Love Seats

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I have been building my own home theater over a number of years. The theater consists of two rows of tiered seating (the back row being elevated one foot), with two love seats in the back row, and a full-size couch in the front row. I built a table on the outside of each of the rows which house the amplifiers for the shakers. The first is a picture of the back of my theater.

Three shakers are installed into each of the back couches, and four shakers in the full-sized front couch. Each array of shakers is wired in a series/parallel configuration (with a 4ohm 25W resistor added to each of the arrays in the small couches since I am only using 3 shakers in these) resulting in a 4 ohm load for each amplifier. I am using a Parts Express 120 Watt subwoofer amplifier (300-792) to power each array.

Internally, the sides of each couch frame has a wood portion large enough to mount a shaker. I added a length of 1" X 6" solid spruce to each couch frame, glued to each side and to the center portion of the sofa's frame using lots of PL400 adhesive. I also added some extra PL400 to the frame to insure the integrety of the entire frame.

I wired the side mounted shakers out of phase, so that they were not fighting against each other, to provide lateral movement. The shaker(s) mounted on the newly added frame support, running the length of the couch, provide vertical movement. The connections were done within each couch using 18 gauge wire, and extended from the couch into the tables housing the amplifiers.

I built a balanced line driver and receiver to extend the signal, from the subwoofer out line jack of my Pioneer receiver, into the theater to the tables housing the shaker amplifiers. Using the output from the subwoofer jack provided a signal limited to the subwoofer frequency range.

I thought that the details of the theater subwoofers would also be of interest to you since they incorporate Parts Express drivers.

The front cabinet in the theater is constructed from doors from an office demolition project. These are oak covered MDF which I cut up to built a wall-to-wall cabinet. Due to the integrety of this cabinet (1 3/4" thick), I sealed up the left and right bottom chambers of the cabinet and built large baffle incorporating 3 Attitude 15" drivers in each. The cabinets are 18 cubic feet each and tuned to 18 Hz. using a large port built on the back of the baffle. The baffle is then screwed to an internal frame in each enclosure, sealed using closed cell foam weatherstripping. I plan on building some high power amplifiers to drive each speaker in the enclosure, but I presently have all of the drivers wired in a series/parallel arrangement powered from a Parts Express 250 Watt subwoofer amplifier (300-796) with the bass boost set to 6dB at 18 Hz., which in itself provides tremendous bass output due to the combined overall surface area of the speaker cones.

The first inclination was to set the shaker amplifier's level fairly high, but after time each amplifier was set to a level to give a subtle effect adding to the bass output from the subwoofers. I always like to show off the system without telling guests about the shakers mounted in the couch and they think that it is the subwoofers creating the movement. While the subwoofers are capable of shaking the couches, the shakers allow realistic sensations without having to shake the house apart in the process.

John Danek - Bass Shaker Futon

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I read about Bass Shakers a while ago and was very interested in them. So, I ordered a pair and once they arrived I decided to mount them on my futon frame. However, once I removed the mattress I discovered the frame bars were too far apart. So, I ran down to my workshop and set about cutting a 1" x 6" for a mounting surface. Then, I grabbed my drill and some pan head screws before heading back to the viewing room. Once mounted, I ran them in parallel directly from my amp on the 6.1 discreet surround input. I turned down the output for a test, then turned it up to where it was suitable for the feel and comfort of the Bass Shakers.

To my surprise they rocked out. I can turn down my sub and I still get the bass. I feel the punches off of MK3, and the ships flying in on Star Wars. I love it, and that's why I'm buying another set for the love seat. Very easy set up, except for the draw back of the futon frame.

Riverview Baptist Church Miamisburg, OH - Bass Shaker Pews for the Deaf

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We have several deaf parishioners in our congregation and when we heard about bass shakers we had an idea. We felt that if we could let them "feel" the music, in addition to seeing what was going on, then they could have a more fulfilling experience. So, we attached several bass shakers to the bottom of a few pews and hooked them into our sound system. To our delight they were able to feel the vibrations and enjoy a fuller church-going experience.