Tactile Sound Transducers
P
lacing high-fidelity, tactile sound transducers in your home theater adds a new level
of enjoyment to your movie-watching experience, taking you far beyond the experience
you find in regular movie theaters. Using time-proven technology, transducers allow you
to "hear" audio through your body, helping you feel more connected to the movie you
are watching. However, since there are many products offered today that promise tactile
sound, buyers need to be clear about some of the key differences within the industry. So,
what should you look for when shopping for tactile sound products? Following are a few
suggestions for how to assess home theater, tactile sound products:
Frequency Response
The
Home
marketplace has been flooded
with
devices
designed
vibrate your home theater
furniture.
These
products,
often referred to as shakers
or kickers, do a great job if
your goal is to merely "shake"
your
furniture.
Operating
much like oversized versions
of the doorbells commonly
found in older homes, these
devices
typically
somewhere between 40 to 80
Hz. The problem with using
these devices is that different
audio segments found in
movies (car crashes, trains
rumbling,
drums
all deliver the same tactile
experience (vibration). More
sophisticated products, such
as full-frequency transducers,
can deliver a full range of
audio, from 20 Hz up to at
least 17 kHz. A transducer
with this kind of frequency
response
can
deliver
subtle, fundamental tones and
overtones necessary for you to
distinguish between a cymbal
crash and a car crash.
Buyer's Guide for
Theater
A tactile sound transducer
must be able to set a large mass
to
in motion. When mounted in
your home theater furniture,
the transducer must transmit
tactile sound through the
furniture in order to reach
your body. Getting enough
tactile energy to your body
requires a great deal of power.
There are several inexpensive
transducers
vibrate
around 30 Watts. However,
it may take 4, 6, or even 8 of
these transducers to deliver
the same experience as a single
100 to 150 Watt transducer.
In the long run, it is much
playing)
less expensive to select the
transducer with the right
amount of power delivery for
your application.
the
Power
that
work
at
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Mounting Hardware
It
is
unfortunate
manufacturers cut important
corners
to
increase
profits, but a few transducers
on the market suffer from
this problem. One example of
this dilemma is the increasing
number of transducers that
come with plastic mounts.
Given the high degree of
stress
these
mounts
receive
during
installation
and operation, it is important
to choose a transducer that
comes with metal mounting
hardware.
This
type
mounting hardware will help
reduce
breakage
resulting
from
continued
use
inadvertent bumps to the side
of the transducer.
when
their
can
of
or
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