ButtKicker LFE Kit Review

In the never-ending quest to upgrade our home theaters, sometimes it becomes difficult to find cost effective upgrades that actually enhance our systems. We all know that we want our systems' audio and video to appeal to our senses (sight and sound) and we want our lighting and seating to be just right. So, what are we missing? There is one sense that remains untapped for the majority: feeling.

Motion actuators have been around for a long time. I have been installing them in high-end home theaters for the better part of 10 years. The effect can add a huge amount of impact, fun, and excitement.

These actuators actually became popular in the automobile installation industry first. Later, a few innovative installers started integrating them into home theaters. Most often the installation process was labor-intensive and required modification of furniture or building custom platforms for mounting. Now, 10 years later, the Guitammer Corporation has introduced an actuator kit that can be installed with ease. The ButtKicker LFE (Low Frequency Effect) Kit is the perfect addition for custom home theaters or for the person that lives in an apartment or condo where sharing a wall with a neighbor makes loud subwoofers an impossibility.

Installation, connection, and termination of the ButtKicker LFE Kit could not be simpler! The kit contains everything you need to accomplish the installation; however, the interconnect and the "Y" splitter are lower quality (obviously an attempt by the manufacturer to ensure low pricing of the overall kit.) I recommend the use of better shielded cables for the installation like the ones shown here from Impact Acoustics.

For the evaluation, I used the DVD U-571 specifically the depth charge scene. As the depth charges began to explode around the submarine's hull, my chair shook to each and every concussion. This sensation coupled with my subwoofer made the scene more realistic and really drew me into the scene. I was very surprised that this kit performed just as well as the actuators that I had installed in the chair frames. The really cool thing is that this kit can be used with just about all reclining chairs. This is a near impossibility with some chair mechanisms.

I enjoyed using Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace , the Pod Race scene because of the intense pans and the very quick LFE present throughout. Again, the ButtKicker LFE Kit added a sense of realism! It drew me into the scene. I found myself holding onto my armchairs as the pods rushed by blowing up along the course. The BK-Link wireless system performed very well, transferring every bit of information that was present in the LFE track to the amplifier. I did, however, notice signal present every once in a while when there was no signal from the LFE. It was subtle and very infrequent; but it was there representing itself as a slight tap or bump in the chair.

After the evaluation, I placed my hand on the top cover to find it was barely warm to the touch. One small quibble I have with the system is it has no IR/RF control. This means you must turn the amplifier off manually to halt the operation of the LFE shakers. I found this a little annoying because I prefer to not have the LFE shakers vibrating when I listen to music. Some may call this lazy, but I like to have the option to turn them on and off from my seat.

I can say without hesitation that if you are looking for a way to add impact, fun, and excitement to your home theater, you should definitely check these out. If you live in an apartment or condo that shares walls then this is the perfect solution to augment the low level at which you must run your subwoofer for greater effect without disturbing your neighbors. This kit is very easy to install and will integrate into any room or system. The build quality of the system is exemplary. The price performance ratio of this kit is astounding and I highly recommend it because it really... Kicks Butt!