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Needless to say, these don't work in our environment. I went up to see what she was doing and she was sitting reading. Maybe our cordless phones or WiFi network or microwave or something is interfering with the transmission, but they weren't acceptable.
I then heard another bump and thought someone came in our house. Thanks, Amazon, for taking them back. I bought this to eliminate a 35' subwoofer cable run that was generating some RF noise ("hum").
In fact, it was so loud that soon after I got it hooked up, I started thinking that my wife was moving things around upstairs. Unfortunately, while the BK-LINK setup eliminated the hum, it introduced a weird "thump": every few seconds, not on a regular schedule, the subwoofer would emit a low "thump", as if the RF receiver attached to it had received a channel change request or something. It was incredibly annoying since (a) it happened all the time, not just when music was playing, (b) it happened irregularly.ever 10-30 seconds, and (c) it was at the max volume of the sub, so it was quite loud.
:-)
I decided to try it as I have recently installed an LCD flat panel, and I now have a totally wire-less set up, except for my powered sub-woofer. I hooked up the ButtKicker, and sure enough it works with the powered sub-woofer. When trying to decide whether to try this product or not, I read 2 Amazon reviews. The only caveat I have is that sometimes when I walk by the sub-woofer, it "woofs" (a low rumble) at me, which is some sort of feedback. Even though I have this small annoyance, the overall operation is quite satisfactory. One said this product would defintely work with a sub-woofer, and the other said it definitely would not work with a sub-woofer and the vendor specified it wasn't meant to work with one. Note: The previous reviews I read did not specify whether or not their sub-woofers were powered sub-woofers.
I'm using the Buttkicker wireless system with a Sony subwoofer, and it works fine. Only downside is that, occasionally when we walk between the units and the signal is disrupted, a low-freq sound is generated by the subwoofer.
You may run into problems adding ANY new device to your system. The send unit sends, the receiver receives, the woofer woofs. 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 seeing and now using the BK-Link, I think it is no exception. The upper range is stated to be 350Hz. 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.
Meaning, most likely, if you're having issues, it's with a system that was already prone to have issues. It also does so out of sight and out of mind. I was prepared to chase down any hum, something I'm quite experienced at. It is really a great piece with lots of great ideas for fixing these issues. 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. I have to add my.02 cents here. The BK-Link is no different. It's also the range of human hearing (generally) but subs are also about feeling.
P.S. After working through my system, I resolved all issues one-by-one. 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. But, there was no hum to chase. So. Again, no difference with the BK-Link compared to a direct line. If you're having a problem with the BK-Link, I wouldn't be so quick to blame the unit.
Along with being more expensive, they also claim 20Hz to 20KHz audio which is standard speaker range. I plugged it in, hooked it up, and it worked. An added bonus is, you just may find your system sounds better after resolving your newly found latent electrical issues. Although my system is already quite settled, the BK-Link brought no NEW issues to the party. You just need to do some homework and you will, with very few exceptions, be able to work it out. 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. I went ahead and got this and figured I could return it if it was unacceptable. As my Mama always said, "don't throw out the baby with the bath water".The BK-Link DOES work with Subwoofers.
I realize hum is a genuine issue in a lot of systems. Other wireless units were offered in sets and were intended for use with rear surrounds. ALL HT components are susceptible to some extent. Which it should. Guitammer clearly states this unit can be used with a standard subwoofer which is specifically what I needed it for. Audio (dot com) has a great essay on hum busting on their website.
I also know it can almost always be remedied. 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. First of all, the rambling review quoting transducer frequencies is wrong. End of story.
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. This held true for music tracks also. The operating frequencies of the BK-Link unit start at 5Hz. Much higher than anyone should need for the intended uses.
It works as well as I could possibly have hoped and I am extremely pleased with it.
These other reviewers must have received defective units.I bought these wireless Buttkicker [trans-receive] units new and installed them in about 5 minutes.NOTE: I am using them with bass-transducers connected to a LFE enabled AMP; I am NOT using subwoofers.I am not sure if this makes a difference, but they work perfectly with my bass-transducers and I am very happy with them.If you read all the negative reviews about these units online, you may notice a trend, which is that all of these people tried using these wireless units with SUB-woofers.
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