Using a bass shaker speaker for added realism.....

[Navy Chief]

Years ago I bought bass shaker speakers to add realism for flight simulation. Then I moved a couple times, and the equipment (speakers and amplifier) sat on a shelf in my closet.

Yesterday I finally took everything out and spent some time, attaching a speaker under the office chair I use for flight simming, and connected my pc sound to a amplifier, and then to the speaker.

WOW! I had forgotten how much that bass shaker speaker effect adds to flight simming!! The amp I use is way over powered for the task (Dayton Audio 240 watt), but at the time I bought it, the price was very cheap.

The bass shaker is made by Aura. About $50 on Amazon.

NC

[Tako_Kichi]

Somewhere around here I have a Buttkicker Gamer stored away in a box. I used to use it all the time when I was flying combat sims many years ago and it certainly makes a difference when you can feel hits from an enemy on your six!

I stopped using it when I switched to civilian flight sims (FS2004/FSX) as I only really felt anything when raising/lowering the gear and on touchdown.

[Navy Chief]

I stopped using it when I switched to civilian flight sims (FS2004/FSX) as I only really felt anything when raising/lowering the gear and on touchdown.

I haven't gotten involved with combat sims much, but can certainly see where bass shakers would add a LOT of realism to them. But with civilian sims, it's cool to feel the difference when flying older recips! NC

[roger-wilco-66]

I had a whole bunch of them attached to my chair and a wooden plank where my rudders were fixed to, about 14 years ago when I played Il2 extensively. They were called body shakers and that is exactly what they did. When you had incoming flak or fire the chair jolted and vibrated mightily. That was outright startling when one got caught by surprise! The massage they gave you when you fired your own weapons was also quite satisfying.
The chair is long gone since then, but I still have the body shakers and the amplifiers. Hmmm, come to think of it, I could put them to good use again. My wife thinks I'm nuts anyhow.


Cheers,
Mark

Edit: I found an old article I wrote for my friend Pete Inglis (Migman) ages ago for his virtual flight sim museum:

http://www.migman.com/eq/bodyshakers.php

[jtrandttr]

NC

That's almost identical to the set-up I have, except I use a Dayton 70W amp to power the Aura. I use an office chair for my simulator setup also, so I have the Aura fitted to the underside of the seat. I ran a guitar amp cord (the coiled kind) from the bass shaker up and along the arm of the chair and it terminates in a 1/4" mono audio jack which dangles down from the end of the armrest about 18”. The coiled cord arrangement is very forgiving if I roll away from the desk without remembering to unplug first plus it keeps the cord up off the floor out of harm's way when it's unplugged. To complete the setup, the 1/4" female receptacle is mounted to my desk with wires running to the Dayton tucked away down low.

When I first decided to add the bass shaker I wasn't sure what to expect. Truth told, at the time I thought it was a little goofy. That didn’t last long. My kids would say the setup really shines when you take off in a Connie while in external view. They might have something there. However, I find it boosts the experience in all modes (even the relatively modest output you get when flying in VC, light aircraft, etc.). All in all, I'd have to say I really like the thing.

Tom