ButtKicker has announced a new wireless version of its low frequency audio transducer to be sold on Amazon on Black Friday for $300. You can piece all the same gear together separately, but the whole package together is new. (The wireless stuff goes for about $70 now; the actual amp and shaker price varies depending on which model you get.)
The Buttkicker stuff is pretty amusing, adding a vibration to your chair or couch when triggered by low-end audio frequencies in games or movies. It definitely does add something visceral to a movie watching experience, although perhaps not as much as $300 more worth of speakers might (provided you live in a home where turning up the sound won’t cause your neighbors to plotz).
For some reason the whole kit is listing as $400 now, so I wouldn’t buy it yet. Buttkicker just sent out a press release announcing the price at $300.
Buttkicker Wireless Home Theater Kit catalog page [Amazon.com]
Update: Speaking of which, the Tulsa Emergency Medical Services Authority has started installing “Howler” sirens on their 77 ambulances. Each Howler generates a low-frequency noise that can be felt from up to 200 feet away, cutting through even loud engine or stereo noise that might cause a driver to miss the screaming, blaring, flashing explosion of light and sound that is a modern ambulance. Each unit costs about $400.
A siren you can feel coming [TulsaWorld.com via Medgadget via Oh Gizmo]
I remember back in the early 90′s there was some kind of “body shock” speaker system that kids were supposed to strap on to their chest. Urban legend has it that some kid turned his up too high while playing Mortal Kombat and got bruises to led to him being taken away by CPS.
Uh oh…
If Buttkicker puts a hole in the seat of this thing there is going to be a big legal battle between them and Johnny Henry’s Vibrating Toilet Seat.