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

5 comments

1. 

   Benjamin J. Keyser on January 31, 2010 at 7:43 am

   I found an advance review here of the buttkicker… pretty awesome. The review is by Brett A. DiMichele about the Buttkicker Advance wireless it. Check it out.

   [...]

2. 

   Ben on January 31, 2010 at 9:32 am

   Although I still prefer a traditional setup with a subwoofer (really just a preference), I have to say the Buttkicker kit is very impressive. Adds an extra bit of oompf to your system. I tested it with a few action movies and PS3 games and was pleasantly suprised. For the AV enthusiast with the complete setup (eg. 7.1, 40″+ LCD and audiophile cable and speakers) you might want to give this a try, its a nice kit to play with and works as advertised. But for the apartment dweller such as myself, it is not necessary and comes back to my initial point of why I prefer a traditional subwoofer. Still its a great product that delivers.

3. 

   L. Bejta on January 31, 2010 at 10:35 am

   This is my second review ever and my review is more towards the Dark Night Blue Ray Edition, but if you read carefully you will see that the Buttkicker is included on this review so please read.

   First of All Video:

   I have seen better video but i must tell you the blacks in this movie are superb that makes the whole movie watchable because no matter how black it is is still watchable and it just makes you wait whats the next scene going to be.
   
   The movie shifts between 2.4:1 and 1.78:1 to compensate for the scenes shot in IMAX but let me tell you probably most of you didn’t even notice until you read this, and its understandable because the transition between 2.4:1 and 1.78:1 its smooth. for those with Projector will be more visible and i would say Video 9/10

   Audio:
   
   This is the part that will make me watch the movie again and again and again, now for most of you that do not have a decent sound/surround system whatever i say here would not make a difference and let me tell you you are missing a movie.

   Let me start by saying from the begging to the end i enjoyed every second of it, the sound is so good that for every scene i was thinking that was the best scene until the scene where the hospital blows, the scene with trucks etc….i must say in long long time i haven’t enjoyed the movie more than this.

   I recommend to home theater enthusiast to buy the ButtKicker BKA300 for $299 now it will not replace the subwoofer but this blends with the subwoofer and the experience on dark room is unbelievable i had my sister watch the movie for 5 minutes and she was speechless, she could not believe that Buttkicker will add so much to the movie. Anyway for you who have surround sound be careful with the sub the Movie works the Sub to the limit Please be careful. i would like to give sound 10 but it was on 48khz instead of 24khz not that my ears would know the difference but it’s just would be better for my eyes to see 24 so saying that i would give 9/10 or maybe in other words 9.99/10

   I will add this same review to the buttkicker because that made the movie rock.

   I have watched the movie on Blue ray Dolby Digital TrueHD 5.1
   
   My rest of the setup is below.

   My equipment is:
   
   Fronts: Mirage OMD 15
   
   Center Mirage OMD C1
   
   Rear: Mirage FS2
   
   Subwoofer: Mirage Prestige 8

   Buttkicker: ButtKicker BKA300

   Receiver Pioneer Elite 92
   
   TV Samsung 750 52inq
   
   PS3 : for Blue ray Audio Source PCM.

   If you have any question i would be more than happy to answer you my email is Lbejta@gmail.com

   Thank you.

4. 

   Reviewer Name on January 31, 2010 at 12:58 pm

   Provides “rumble” for my 3 person couch easily. Wireless connection took a few attempts to connect but it eventually does. Occasionally have to repair the transmitter and amp, especially if you unplug it. Remote is nice but not very powerful (my amp is behind my couch and the transmitter is up front by tv and it sometimes doesn’t register – pointing the remote directly at the amp works though). The amp makes no noise and cannot be heard in a silent room. This is a much better system than the ButtKicker Gamer which i got a couple years ago. This is a nice addition to a sub woofer but does not replace one. Works well with both movies and games.

5. 

   LawyerMom on January 31, 2010 at 3:50 pm

   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.