Amp for tactile Transducers

[jfh123@yahoo.com]

Hi, My Reckhorn Amp has died. What Amp (in UK) should I be looking at to drive 4 transducers (
Reckhorn BS-200i Bass Shaker?). DIY (non buttkicker) would suit me best. Any suggestions? Thanks.

 

[dwightyone]

BTW - has your amp got on a fuse box on the back of the amp itself. The buttkicker amp has so it may be worth checking

 

[jfh123@yahoo.com]

Reckhorn replaced it for free, nearly 2 years old. Thanks Reckhorn!

 

[Terje Helle]

Good it worked out! This is a good question, what does people use to drive their transducers? And what transducer do they use?

 

[Alvaro de la Orden]

Good it worked out! This is a good question, what does people use to drive their transducers? And what transducer do they use?

100w 2-channel amps.
Take a look at tactile thread on this forum

 

[RCHeliguy]

I got a 400W class H 36V LED power supply board that had an output adjustment pot allowing me to adjust it to 39V. I fed that to a Sure 4 x 100W class D amplifier board.

The amp cost under $100 to build and drives my 4 Aura Pros that were about $50 each and it's been working reliably for about 2 years.

The 4 channels are independent, but the Front Left and right use the same stereo volume knob.

 

[gnoshme]

I've done a bunch of testing on very very cheap amp circuit boards. The best one I've found costs $5 / channel.

https://www.vanagony.com/buttkicker-amps-bass-shaker-cheap-amp-alternatives-driving-chair-sim/

 

[RCHeliguy]

@gnoshme That's impressive.

For $21.99 free shipping 480W 80% efficiency ( 384W actual ) 24V PS

AC 110V-220V TO DC 12V 24V 5V 10/20/30/33A Switch Power Supply Adapter LED Strip | eBay

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$4.18 + 2.79 shipping ( shipping is the same even if you get 6 of them )
12V-24V 100W Mono power amp.

Digital DC 12V-24V 100W TPA3116DA Mono Channel Power Audio Amplifier board Car | eBay

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[Alvaro de la Orden]

I got a 400W class H 36V LED power supply board that had an output adjustment pot allowing me to adjust it to 39V. I fed that to a Sure 4 x 100W class D amplifier board.

The amp cost under $100 to build and drives my 4 Aura Pros that were about $50 each and it's been working reliably for about 2 years.

The 4 channels are independent, but the Front Left and right use the same stereo volume knob.
View attachment 351180
View attachment 351181

how many watts are enough to shake that Lancia Stratos?

 

[gnoshme]

@gnoshme That's impressive.

For $21.99 free shipping 480W 80% efficiency ( 384W actual ) 24V PS

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$4.18 + 2.79 shipping ( shipping is the same even if you get 6 of them )
12V-24V 100W Mono power amp.

Digital DC 12V-24V 100W TPA3116DA Mono Channel Power Audio Amplifier board Car | eBay

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Dude that power supply looks awesome. Would be a good upgrade for me as I'm getting some "clicking" occasionally on a channel which I think is a sign of low current but not sure. Wondering if with different amps all running off the same power supply if a suppressor should be used like you add to your car stereo to remove spurious interference. Might test that.

My setup continues to grow. I picked up a Berringer headphone amp on Craigslist for $50 which is a nice way to control the various channels and will allow me to add game audio in as the "main" input. Each channel on the mixer can them mix that in as an option which I'm not sure I would do if I have telemetry driven game, but for something that doesn't this is a quick way to add tactile with a single turn of a knob.

Adding this little sub bass woofer preamp into the stack to take the mids and highs out of the game audio feed.

The stack is growing. Currently have 2 Aurasounds at the back (seat is actually SITTING on them), one under the seat pan, and a Buttkicker on the pedalboard soon to be replaced with another two Aurasounds. I like them a lot.

Believe it or not, that top board takes the 24v amp signal, drops it to 12 then fires a relay, which sends the same constant 12V signal to the ACC+ circuit of an android car stereo to wake it up. The car stereo itself is on my "constant on" power strip so it doesn't have to boot every time along with the steering wheel and laptop. I have a different power strip that I can hit the switch on just for game play / audio / tactile.

I first added the car stereo as a bit of a joke (and because it was sitting doing nothing after I pulled it from a car), but it's friggin awesome because I can use Android Auto to sync my phone and it will read me my texts, and I can call hands free. Not to mention the having "OK Google" on hand, and of course my own music mixed into my driving and the volume control for it right there where it should be.

All mixed in with this little mixer:

- will take a mic input (next up)
- is the audio send for the sub bass woofer pre-amp to the headphone mixer
- is an audio send to the laptop for streaming
- mixes the game audio and car stereo audio to headphones and everywhere else the signal goes

Fun.

 

[Deleted member 197115]

Just get two of these, plenty of power to drive Aura Pro and more.
Small footprint, great build quality, and look.

Amazon.com: SMSL SA-98E 2x160W Big Power TDA7498E HiFi Stereo Digital Amplifier Black: Electronics

Amazon.com: SMSL SA-98E 2x160W Big Power TDA7498E HiFi Stereo Digital Amplifier Black: Electronics

www.amazon.com

Pretty sure you can find them on ebay even cheaper.

 

[RCHeliguy]

Just get two of these, plenty of power to drive Aura Pro and more.
Small footprint, great build quality, and look.

Amazon.com: SMSL SA-98E 2x160W Big Power TDA7498E HiFi Stereo Digital Amplifier Black: Electronics

Amazon.com: SMSL SA-98E 2x160W Big Power TDA7498E HiFi Stereo Digital Amplifier Black: Electronics

www.amazon.com

Pretty sure you can find them on ebay even cheaper.

Definitely looks like one of the better bargains out there.

 

[gnoshme]

Just get two of these, plenty of power to drive Aura Pro and more.
Small footprint, great build quality, and look.

Amazon.com: SMSL SA-98E 2x160W Big Power TDA7498E HiFi Stereo Digital Amplifier Black: Electronics

Amazon.com: SMSL SA-98E 2x160W Big Power TDA7498E HiFi Stereo Digital Amplifier Black: Electronics

www.amazon.com

Pretty sure you can find them on ebay even cheaper.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

The TDA7498E based amps that I've tested are crap for shakers. They have practically nothing below 60hz. Sure, go ahead and buy a cheapo box like this, or just a circuit board but make sure it's based on the TPA3166 chip.

 

[Mr Latte]

The SMSL 160w mini amp has been used by owners of BK mini LFE for many years.
TDA7498E will perform better with 36v PSU but it is not going to perform that well with low bass frequencies. I can't say what its limits are without testing it.

Many cheap audio amps are not designed for low bass, they do not need to offer it either, as in most use case scenarios they will be used on budget speakers with limited bass output anyways. The best amps for tactile (if wanting good low bass) is amps made for powering large woofer drivers all day long.

I did remember watching this though...

Personally, I just don't get the point of these d.i.y amps (imho) while cheap, to me they look a mess. Having to order all the parts then the work involved to build. Is it worth it compared to something like the Nobsound NS20G for £50 with 2x100w in a nice and miniature form factor?

These should be fine with affordable transducers as they will not output the lowest frequencies.
What I will ask is you guys that own these d.i.y amps what is the output of the units if you set a low bass crossover (50Hz-80Hz max) and then try low-frequency test-tones?

 

[gnoshme]

The SMSL 160w mini amp has been used by owners of BK mini LFE for many years.
TDA7498E will perform better with 36v PSU but it is not going to perform that well with low bass frequencies. I can't say what its limits are without testing it.

Many cheap audio amps are not designed for low bass, they do not need to offer it either, as in most use case scenarios they will be used on budget speakers with limited bass output anyways. The best amps for tactile (if wanting good low bass) is amps made for powering large woofer drivers all day long.

I did remember watching this though...

Personally, I just don't get the point of these d.i.y amps (imho) while cheap, to me they look a mess. Having to order all the parts then the work involved to build. Is it worth it compared to something like the Nobsound NS20G for £50 with 2x100w in a nice and miniature form factor?

These should be fine with affordable transducers as they will not output the lowest frequencies.
What I will ask is you guys that own these d.i.y amps what is the output of the units if you set a low bass crossover (50Hz-80Hz max) and then try low-frequency test-tones?

I can assure you that this exact amp under performs the TPA3116 amps. I have tested this exact one and found it extremely lacking.

 

[Deleted member 197115]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

The TDA7498E based amps that I've tested are crap for shakers. They have practically nothing below 60hz. Sure, go ahead and buy a cheapo box like this, or just a circuit board but make sure it's based on the TPA3166 chip.

The amp was highly recommended by SimRacingCoach (check his Guide pdf, very enlightening), it's 2x160W, I have one, at some point even used it with ButtKickers Mini LFE, while not ideal for those power hungry guys, it was holding pretty well, now with Aura Pro 50% volume is all it takes to drive them to full extent.

 

[Mr Latte]

Yes but only performing well above 60Hz as you stated seems odd. You also soon get to a point in price that the Behringer NX and NXD models are not much more but are very good amps for low frequencies.

 

[RCHeliguy]

I did a little digging on this and while Shure shows a pretty flat graph from 22Hz-20kHz for this amp at 1W 6ohms, I get NOTHING out of my 4 x Aura Pros near 20 Hz and need to configure them up to about 32 Hz to feel them on my rig. I have always assumed that was because of a transducer limitation.

If you watch the following video it shows that the Aura Pros do in fact work well at 20 Hz assuming that the guy really is running a 20Hz signal that he says he is running to the transducers he is testing.

So while I feel like I'm getting good effects out of my transducers running in the 32-70Hz range, it does appear that my DIY amplifier is a weak link.

Good to know.

When I built that amp, I was playing and mostly curious if it would even work. I am happy with the effects I'm getting from it, but I did have to adjust the frequencies higher than I probably would have needed with a different amp.

What I learned from the Tactile thread is that it's important to have different effects use different frequencies when a single transducer is producing multiple effects. Even then a single transducer can be saturated with one signal masking others. So having a wider frequency range available can only help make each signal stand out more. Having dedicated transducers per effect is a more ideal solution.

So the bottom line is that this inexpensive Class D amplifier is not going to give you the full range of a transducer and is not ideal. It may be enough depending on your needs, but it appears that it actually does have low frequency limitations.

 

[RCHeliguy]

Sometimes It doesn't take much to push me over the edge, but now I want to see how much more I can get out of my Auras. I just ordered a mint demo model NX-4 6000 I found for $400.

The combination of looking better and having the ability to drive LFE's in the future sealed the deal.

Ordered a couple pair of these

Amazon.com: NANYI TS 1/4 Inch Jack, 6.35mm Mono Male Plug for Guitar/Speaker/Microphone Cable That can be Solderless Screw - 2 Pack: Industrial & Scientific

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**** Not a fit ****
and a couple of these

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07K59J42N

Update (2/27/20)
I ended up getting these instead

Amazon.com: 10PCS Speakon 2 Pin Male Plug Compatible Audio Cable Connectors 2 Pole NL2 Compatible with Speaker/Amplifier : Electronics

Buy 10PCS Speakon 2 Pin Male Plug Compatible Audio Cable Connectors 2 Pole NL2 Compatible with Speaker/Amplifier: Speaker Cables - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

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[Deleted member 197115]

Hmm, ran some frequency sweeps yesterday and could get even 10hz on Auras and SMSL.
One of the tests I ran, but same result with others