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(More customer reviews)We set this up to supplement our home theater system, which is run by a Pioneer VSX84TSXi A/V receiver and also uses a Polk subwoofer. The Buttkicker kit comes with the transducer itself, plus the amplifier for the unit, a long heavy duty speaker cable, a single-line RCA cable for signal connection, an RCA splitter for co-existence with a subwoofer, foot extension pads for the host couch and a remote control for the amplifier. Also included were a remote transmission system in case the transducer amplifier and your receiver are too far apart for the cable, and a four-line combiner if your receiver does not have a subwoofer channel (neither of which I used).
The kit as a whole consists of components packed together that are normally sold individually, so it was mildly confusing at first to piece together which parts would be needed for my system. There is a simple set of instructions for the overall kit, but it does not cover all installation possibilities.
Also, our home theater is idiosyncratic in that our couch is a sectional; the Buttkicker is really best meant to be attached to on a regular couch. The Buttkicker kit comes with five couch foot extension pads, so I had to supplement the kit with an extra rubber foot I scrounged up. I mounted the transducer unit at the back junction of two sectional units. I placed the unit amplifier on top of my receiver, ran the provided speaker cable behind my couch and connected the RCA cable (via the splitter) to the subwoofer channel of the Pioneer unit.
The first thing I did was to listen to the receiver's test tones. The subwoofer channel was a low shaking of the couch from the white noise, and demonstrated that the unit was working properly. I was worried that the large sectional would decrease its effect, but a rumbling was clear and it complemented the sound from the Polk subwoofer well.
For test media, I used a download of Star Trek from the iTunes store (with a 5.1 track) and the Extended Edition of The Fellowship of the Ring on DVD (with a 6.1 DTS track). The DVD player was connected to the Pioneer unit with a mini-TOSlink cable. The warp drive of the Enterprise came through splendidly, as did the battle rumbles and great roars of the Tolkien movie. For surround media sources, it's a welcome addition to our system. For plain vanilla stereo media without surround sound, it just shuts off automatically after five minutes of no surround input.
I have two other quibbles about the set aside from the confusing installation process that keep me from rating it higher. The first is that the remote control's battery died after a day. The remote does not use a standard battery, so we have not replaced it yet. This is particularly a problem because the remote is essential to switch between the Buttkicker's various frequency response modes, such as "music", "movies" and "games." There is no way to select these choices on the base unit without the remote. Also, there is no visual feedback for the volume settings, merely touch switches for raising and lowering it. It would be nice to know if I have lowered or raised the volume completely before I begin playback.
Overall, this is a good, if mildly pricy, product. The complexity of the setup makes it somewhat less than perfect for the not-so-technically savvy. For home theater enthusiasts for whom the price tag and the difficult installation process are not so much of an issue, however, it would be a very good way to increase the excitement of a home theater system.
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Click Here to see more reviews about: ButtKicker BKA300 Wireless Home Theater Kit with ButtKicker Advance and Power Amplifier
All new ButtKicker Kit with new 4 ohm ButtKicker Advance transducer, the new wider couch / chair mounting accessory kit, new BKA300-4 amplifier (115v) with integrated wireless option, optional vertical stand, and remote control with preset EQ settings, 6m of high quality speaker wire with banana plugs, 1m high quality RCA interconnect and high quality male to female RCA Y adaptor and a speaker level interface adapter for connecting to A/V systems without subwoofer pre-outs, and an illustrated Quick Start Guide.
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