[sloomingbla]

Hey guys! I am currently an owner of the Abyss 1266 Phi TCs, hooked up to a Lampizator Golden Atlantic DAC and a Luxman P750u Amplifier.
All in all, my setup costs around 15K USD, and I'm 100% satisfied with it, it's incredible.

That being said. I miss feeling that THUMP in my chest when I listen to music. I'm quite the basshead, and although these headphones are fantastic for low end rumble, nothing could ever compete with a good subwoofer thump.

And so, I'm thinking of spicing up the mix with some tactile transducers installed into my gaming chair.

The problem is, I'm unsure of what transducer to use, and I REALLY want to make sure that the quality of the bass vibrations produced match the quality of bass my headphones provide.

I do already own a subpac, which is incredibly fun when used with a splitter (kills the sq otherwise), but it is incredibly uncomfortable, and unfortunately it lags behind a bit in bass quality, a long with being reaaaaally fidgety with volume making it a bit of a deal breaker.

What are your opinions on using a high end tactile transducer, wired to an amp fed by my dac from a splitter?

Does anyone here have experience using tactile transducers in a hifi setup, and if so

A - Will the quality ever be good enough to not degrade the overall sq, and
B - Any recommendations on some of the better transducers that focus on quality over quality when it comes to bass, that could fit on a gaming chair?
And C - How important would the amp be in terms of bass quality? Any recommendations for a suitable amp to go alongside it?

Thanks guys!!!

 

[ABuilder]

I have experience with transducers for sim racing. Buttkicker (yes that is their name) has some pretty affordable options you could quickly try. Their Gamer 2 is designed to attach to office chairs easily, but this is not really on the level of Abyss and is just a couple hundred bucks. They can come with an included amp, which is fine but not great and can be overworked. Buttkciker does make transducers for bands so they can feel the music in the floor or what not. I think that may be how they were started. Different sizes, but I doubt you would want a big one for a chair. I have a gamer 2 I played with a bit but don't use often to be honest. It does make some noise being attached to my metal frame. My cockpit I have it on is probably 100lbs of metal with various attachments, so not exactly relevant. Not sure if it would at a lower drive and attached to a desk chair. They are basically weights that get tossed around, so at different frequencies they can bang if driven hard enough. Not sure you would ever run into this with music but it happens in sim racing when you are trying to push them. These seems to be some variation as some people have problems while others seem to never have any.

Clark Synthesis makes higher end transducers but for a significant increase in price. Some sim racers go for them if they have the funds. I have no experience, but may be something you are interested in. I think mounting one to bhe back or bottom of your seat may be a bit of a challenge.

Cheaper and smaller are exciters. Commonly Dayton audio. These are more like pucks that you could add to your seat pretty easy. Not as impactful as bigger transducers, but quick and cheap.

Amps. These things need big power. Class D for sure unless you are made of money. A lot of sim racers go for Barringer amps, specifically with DSD for the price to performance. These don't need amazing clarity. Your pushing around a weight, not making music. These transducers you will want to have control to tune. They are not a flat response so DSD allows you to get things even and avoid issues. If you don't go with an amp with DSD, you can add a MiniDSD to manage.

Software. Yes, you can just run the music to transducers and have it play the low frequencies. However, software packages are available to better control everything and may be worth your time. You can better control what information is going to what, as well as dial everything in. In sim racing, we often use a mix of different transducers so everything can operate in its ideal range. You can have one big boy handling the lowest frequencies where they do best, have mid for other effects, and exciters for the higher frequencies(relative) used. That allows the big boy to really hit while the smaller things handle other duties among other things. We also use software in sim racing to boost certain effects. I can make my cockpit jolt like banging in a gear shift for example or get each bump of a curb as I drive over them, etc. People map out all kinds of info and tie together tons of info. I know people with 8 exciter pucks, and 4 transducers of various sizes running together all doing different things. SimHub is probably the top software I see used and is very flexible. SimVibes is another big one. There are more options but those are the biggies.

If you really want to go for it and budget is not an issue, you may want to look into D-Box. They make immersion systems for theaters and are pretty established in the industry. They are actual actuators you would need to figure out how to attach, but it would move your seat. Not much, just a couple inches but they also have an integrated transducer effect. They will rumble you to your hearts content. Is this in any way needed for audio, nope. Is it the wrong tool for the job, probably. But damn it would be cool. Honestly, good transducers probably work better but it would probably be immersive.

I think you already know but they don't really have sound so I don't think matching it to the Abyss will be an issue. You would get the rumble or thump you are looking for but the traducers I'm referring to don't produce bass. There is not exactly quality like you would think of sound quality. A better amp won't change that. You really just need the amp to provide the power needed to move them. No real clarity in a swinging weight. Different frequencies have different vibrations, but better to think of them as vibrations then sound your ear will pick up. Yes, I know that is what you ear hears as well but... Think the rumble motors in a video game controller.

 

[ABuilder]

If you want to go down a deep rabbit hole. Here is about 6K post discussion of transducers and their effects on the big sim racing forum. Just fair warning, Mr. Latte is trying to develop his own system and has a big of an ax to grind with the SimVibe guys. While he has put a ton into it, take his advice with a grain of salt.

https://www.racedepartment.com/thre...-discussion-hardware-software.137631/page-296

 

[Pumpo]

I would recommend transducers if you want to be more immersed in the music, It makes listening to headphones feel like you are at a concert, I got one for sim racing but only use it for music now.