ButtKicker BK-LINK RF Wireless System Review

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(More customer reviews)I have to add my .02 cents here. First of all, the rambling review quoting transducer frequencies is wrong. He did give the unit 5 stars, however he tries to defend the unit by attempting to invalidate the reviews of the unit when used with a subwoofer rather than the BK shakers.
Guitammer clearly states this unit can be used with a standard subwoofer which is specifically what I needed it for. I read the reviews here and decided to keep looking but after a fair amount of research, I found no other devices claiming the (sonic) frequency range of the BK-Link. Other wireless units were offered in sets and were intended for use with rear surrounds. Along with being more expensive, they also claim 20Hz to 20KHz audio which is standard speaker range. It's also the range of human hearing (generally) but subs are also about feeling. Both of my subs go well below 20Hz and I wanted to be sure I would get all of the performance out of them that they are capable of giving.
The operating frequencies of the BK-Link unit start at 5Hz. The upper range is stated to be 350Hz. Much higher than anyone should need for the intended uses.
So... I went ahead and got this and figured I could return it if it was unacceptable.
I was prepared to chase down any hum, something I'm quite experienced at. But, there was no hum to chase. I plugged it in, hooked it up, and it worked.
I played one of my favorite sub tests, the crash sequence from "Flight of the Phoenix(2005)", as I am very familiar with my sub's performance with this material and I see, or should I say hear, no difference between a line and the BK-Link.
No discernible delay was added nor was any loss of volume or tone obvious. This held true for music tracks also.
Testing for speed and accuracy, I reached for "Fade to black" which has a prolonged rapid double bass kick at the end that will trip up inferior subs even with direct connection. Again, no difference with the BK-Link compared to a direct line.

The send unit sends, the receiver receives, the woofer woofs. End of story. It also does so out of sight and out of mind. Which it should.

I realize hum is a genuine issue in a lot of systems. I also know it can almost always be remedied. My $5K component pre/pro and amp had their share of (humming) gremlins when added to my somewhat extensive HT setup and that's with balanced interconnects. After working through my system, I resolved all issues one-by-one.

After seeing and now using the BK-Link, I think it is no exception. Although my system is already quite settled, the BK-Link brought no NEW issues to the party. Meaning, most likely, if you're having issues, it's with a system that was already prone to have issues. You may run into problems adding ANY new device to your system. You just need to do some homework and you will, with very few exceptions, be able to work it out. An added bonus is, you just may find your system sounds better after resolving your newly found latent electrical issues.
P.S. Audio (dot com) has a great essay on hum busting on their website. It is really a great piece with lots of great ideas for fixing these issues. Perhaps if some who've reviewed this item poorly happen to read this, they can take another shot at it armed with a little more information.
If you're having a problem with the BK-Link, I wouldn't be so quick to blame the unit. ALL HT components are susceptible to some extent. The BK-Link is no different.
As my Mama always said, "don't throw out the baby with the bath water".
The BK-Link DOES work with Subwoofers. It works as well as I could possibly have hoped and I am extremely pleased with it.

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If you have the ButtKicker LFE low-frequency effect system you already know what a powerful bass effect it adds to your home-theater entertainment or other audio system. Now you can add the ButtKicker LINK RF Wireless unit to your system's design, allowing you to expand the locations where your ButtKicker LFE units can go and remove the unsightly tangle of connecting wires.
The ButtKicker LINK RF Wireless package uses a transmitter and receiver that transmits radio-frequency waves, allowing your ButtKicker LFE unit to communicate wirelessly with the rest of your audio system. Set-up is simple, with the transmitter unit connecting to your subwoofer or audio/video processor, such as your stereo or television, via an RCA cable, and the receiver unit attaching either directly to your ButtKicker LFE or your ButtKicker Power Amplifier via another RCA cable.
Operating on the 900 MHz bandwidth with a frequency range of 5 to 350 MHz, these two units can communicate over several dozen feet -- even through walls and ceilings. Enjoy the amazing effect of the ButtKicker audio system anywhere in your home or business at ease by utilizing the ButtKicker LINK RF Wireless package.
What's in the Box Transmitter unit, receiver unit, two AC adapters, and two 1.5-meter RCA male to male cables.

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Yamaha YSTSW012 8" Front-Firing Active Subwoofer, Black Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a great deal for $59 delivered. I don't know what I was expecting. Maybe some hollow sounding computer type sub-woofer that pops when I turn it on and off. This sub has a 50-watt RMS amp at 5ohm. It has a decent .5 inch MFD box with an internal space of almost 10.5 X 10.5 (small!) External is about 11.4 x 11.4 x 11.5 height. It's much better built than the Sony's on this site. They even made a small attempt to support the box with 1-inch corner braces on all 6 sides. The sub sounds great at lower volume. It maxis out fast though. In a small room or apartment, you wouldn't need it any louder. It's the quality of sound that's important, and that's where this delivers. Up to it's distortion point, it sounds like a true big sub-woofer. This is the perfect sub for anybody who is not allowed to shake the foundation. This sub plays deep! It just hits its max excursion fast. Either the amp is more than 50 watts or the speaker can't handle much wattage. Speaking of the speaker, it's about 5lbs. They seemed to have glued a smaller magnet onto the larger one at the base. I've heard of some seedy speaker manufactures doing this, but this speaker seems to deliver pretty good quality. I swapped out the stock speaker with a Dayton and secured the walls with cross braces and then covered the inside walls with carpet. Foam would take up to much space and there isn't much inside already. This setup was a pleasure to work with. The grill pops right off. The speaker is held on by 4 screws in the standard speaker hole location. (making it easy to replace) The amp is held on by 8 screws. The port is held in place mostly by a tight fit and some glue that easily breaks loose. The amp is connected to the speaker with standard removable connectors. That's it. It takes about 3-5 min to take apart. As for the Dayton, it performs about the same as the stock one. It was made for a little bit bigger box, but I wanted to know if the stock speaker was unable to handle much or was it the amp that produced the power. It seems to be the amp. It can push a stronger speaker. If I had a 100 watt 8" speaker with a high SPL, built for a small-ported box, and good excursion level (that's the amount of movement on a speaker), then I would really need the extra bracing. Problem is, that would cost much more than this whole system. That, and I wouldn't use a .5-inch thick box. Where am I going with this... anyway, this sub is worth every penny of $59. If you have a set of decent bookshelf speakers and a sub-woofer out jack on your amp that you're not using, you would be a fool not to get this. To cut costs, it has no auto on/off, and no pass through signal. If you must have auto on/off, buy a remote control on/off power supply from someplace cheap. I had one left over from my X-mass lights. (or use the power connection on the back of your receiver if you have one). This sub doesn't pop at all when turned on or off and its amp is inside the box. This sub is much better looking than a Sony I have. If the person before me didn't didn't give this 4 stars, I wouldn't have tested this out. So thanks! I'm very happy I purchased this. I think its so cheap people are afraid of it! I don't know how they make money on this. (update 1-11-08) to clarify the wattage on these: output power on the spec sheet is rated at 5ohms. 50 watts to 5 ohms RMS and 100 dynamic. It has a 6ohm speaker in it. That means it's probably pushing about 45 watts RMS to the speaker. The frequency response is -4db at 40hz, -10db at 30hz, -15db at 25hz. It has a decent flat response from 45hz to 120hz at 90db. It then tapers off to -5db at 200hz. Not bad for $59 !!! Update 1-15-07 Here's a FYI given to me: The second magnet glued on the back of the driver magnet is for shielding. It is not there to deceive. The second magnet is attached in polar opposite to the functional magnet, canceling the magnetic pollution it would normally give off. (Thanks Kevin!)

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ButtKicker BKA300 Wireless Home Theater Kit with ButtKicker Advance and Power Amplifier Review

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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.
If you found this review helpful, please let me know.

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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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KEF KHT3005 High gloss black 5.1 channel home theater system Review

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(More customer reviews)I just bought a new set of KEF KHT3005SE speakers. They are truly remarkable. I still have my Bose Lifestyle 38. Even though the Bose is a good compact system, these KEF speakers are so much better. The sound quality on the KEF's are inspirational. You can hear every High,Mid,low and lfe low without question. The sound is warm and BIG!! Even though they are small speakers they will give you the impression that they are big tower speakers. I set my crossover to 80Hz. With the Bose I had to set my crossover to 150Hz. The sound on the Bose is muddied compared to the KEF's which are crystal clear. This is due to the Uni-Q application which fits a tweeter in the center of the speaker giving it the crystal clear timbre. The sub on the KEF is a solid performer as well. The sub produces a clear bass response with very little boom and no distortion. If your thinking about buying a Bose system first try out the KEF KHT3005SE. I thought the BOSE Lifestyle system's were excellent however after owning the KEF's and hearing what they can do I definitely recommend the KEF's over the Bose anyday.

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Sony SSF-7000 Floor-Standing 4-way Speaker with 8" Woofer (Pair) Review

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(More customer reviews)Purchased and Received these speakers just a couple days ago. The free shipping was great considering the weight of the speakers.
They are great! No complaints here. I was upgrading from my original aiwa speakers (made by sony) in my home entertainment system. The difference is amazing. Highs mids and lows are all great. I always recommend a powered sub woofer, I do have one. However, if you get these speakers you can get by without one.
My listening interests are varied. I have listened to Kiss, ELO, The Hollies, Peter Frampton, Supertramp and some classical on these speakers so far. I have also viewed a couple movies using them. All sounded great. "Do You, (Feel Like I Do) sounded GREAT! All the ELO was crisp, clean and clear. The only "booming," as mentioned in the other review, that I heard was while listening to "Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress" by the Hollies. However, it did appear to be a bass sound that was appropriate with the song, not anything abnormal. But then again, it may just be different taste.
Oh, and the picture shows the speaker as looking more of a grey than black. They are black, not the grey like the picture shows. that is good since my tv and all my entertaiment system units are all black.
My advice is you cannot go wrong with these. If anything changes I will update.

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The ultra-powerful SS-F7000 floor-standing speakers will refresh your appreciation for music. With pristine sound reproduction and high-quality drivers, these speakers bring new life to your music collection. Just as the original composer intended, the sound quality is so rich you feel like you're at a private concert. Lows, mid-ranges and high tones are recreated in high resolution audio, making even the most subtle sounds music to your ears.

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