ButtKicker BKA300 Wireless Home Theater Kit with ButtKicker Advance and Power Amplifier Review

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(More customer reviews)I purchased the ButtKicker BKA300 based on prior reviews here. This is my first time owning one of these systems. The intended purpose of was for more immersive movie-watching and playing on a PS3. The kit was setup with a HDTV using the line out on the TV using a Y-adapter to split between it and a 2.1 (two satellites one sub) speaker set. The rumble unit was setup under one of the four rear legs of a three-person sofa.
Watching live concert music on the Palladia channel really gives the feeling of being there. I started noticing that on regular TV programming one can hear muffled sound on most dialog as if the sofa was the speaker. This is a bit distracting, and an annoyance that could be addressed by sound proofing the furniture a bit.
The blu-ray version of The Dark Knight has some loud low frequency passages that causes a loud metallic thump. At first I though it was bouncing against the furniture or floor, so I took a couple of mouse pads as a quick fix test and put them in between the floor and another between the rumble platform and the sofa, but it did not fix the problem. I then watched Pirates of the Caribbean, again on blu-ray, fortunately not much of an issue here.
Gaming on the PS3 was another issue. Playing Call of Duty 4 with the rumble kit really brings gaming to a whole new level. Unfortunately, once I went online, grabbed a sniper rifle and aimed at someone, every heart beat the game produces started causing the metallic thump. I had someone else play while I tried troubleshooting the problem and noticed it was coming from inside the rumble module as if it was bottoming out. A few days later a family member was playing Resistance 2 and the module was not working. It had stopped working within an hour of playing, and was very hot to the touch. Once it cooled it worked again so it appears that it disables to prevent damage. I tried multiple settings for several days, lowering the "volume" on the amplifier, selecting different modes (music,movie,game,) but was not able to fix the problem.
Ultimately, I decided to return the unit. Really disappointing, I recently learned from reviews of the bigger brother (400 watts min, 1100 watts max) unit also bottoms out; this one is 50 watts. I may still give it a cautious try.

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All new ButtKicker Kit with new 4 ohm ButtKicker Advance transducer, the new wider couch / chair mounting accessory kit, new BKA300-4 amplifier (115v) with integrated wireless option, optional vertical stand, and remote control with preset EQ settings, 6m of high quality speaker wire with banana plugs, 1m high quality RCA interconnect and high quality male to female RCA Y adaptor and a speaker level interface adapter for connecting to A/V systems without subwoofer pre-outs, and an illustrated Quick Start Guide.

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Klipsch LightSpeaker System 5.2.2 Wireless Sound and Efficient LED Lighting Review

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(More customer reviews)The first thing that struck me about this product is the quality of it's manufacture. These speakers were solid and well made. Below I will address the various information that is important to know.

PACKAGING AND INSTRUCTIONS:
As with any product what we first see is the packaging it comes in. This speaker system was no exception.
An expensive product, should be well packed and these speakers were in separate boxes within the main box, well cushioned. The various components were also well packed and obvious to find. The overall box when you open it, the first thing you see is the setup information. This card was the full length of the box and succinctly told you the steps you needed to complete installation. I thought this was all well done. Under that was the user's manual that if you had issues you could refer to.

INSTALLATION:
First of all you need to be sure you have the right spot to install these. They go into 5 or 6" recessed lighting tubes. The manufacturers provided two size flanges that could go on the end of the speaker/lights that would work with either of these sizes. One thing we found while installing these, is you could actually not get them properly seated in the light socket(not deep enough) and they would not work. It was the user's manual that alerted me to this and we resolved the issue. Another thing I found was, we could not use the metal arms spread out to stabilize the speaker in the recessed outlet, as the spread was too far. We had to keep them pulled in.

I liked the fact that the instructions warned me upfront that most recessed lighting fixtures had adjustable depths. I didn't know that. In telling me that I knew enough to adjust them and that is what took to get the speakers installed deep enough. You have to finesse this a bit and get the proper mix of deep enough while holding the flange flush to the ceiling and properly engaged to work. It took us about an hour to get both speakers properly installed. It was somewhat fatiguing as these speaker/lights have some heft to them. But, not a major problem.

Once installed properly the main unit quickly detected the speakers and they worked well. You can control the volume of the speakers and the brightness of the lights. You also have the abililty to choose two inputs. There is also a remote provided and this mimicked the controls on the base unit. Handy if you are not easily able to reach the base unit.

USAGE:
Once we had them up and synched to the base unit, everything worked fine. We are now planning on having these hook both to the radio as well as an ipod and you can do this as there are two inputs as well as the appropriate cables. I was pleased with the sound quality, but I'm no audiophile. Since the speakers were small and not only behind the lights but the light lens a more discerning listener might have concerns. I did not.

RANGE:
I have noticed that these speakers do not have much in the way of bass, so your music can sound a bit tinny. Not surprising due to their size.
OTHER POINTS:
Since we used these units in our kitchen on recessed lights over the countertop, which has 4 lights, in order to work you need to have that circuit on. This means the two lights that don't have the speakers in them need to be on all the time, that we use the speakers. The lights in the speakers can be turned off independently. At this time, I don't think that is a problem, as I kept the ones over the primary work area as non-speakered lights.

The speakers have convex covers on the LED light inside. This makes the light they shine down a bit different than the lights in the recesses. I find this light is more diffuse. Another reason why I did not put these lights over the primary work area. I would have to make it very bright to be the the most useful. The LED lights can get bright enough, but it seemed almost too bright in order to get the proper coverage. Too bad there was not a concave lens option for these speaker/lights to address this.

SUMMARY:
All in all we are pleased with this system. I will write more as we use it more.


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Wireless speaker system installs in minutes like a ceiling light bulb and allows enjoyment of music anywhere while saving energy & money

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nVidia GeForce 3D Vision Kit Review

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(More customer reviews)I'll try to be brief, as to not simply reiterate too much of the other reviewers.
1) These nVidia glasses work very well, and the glasses have wider field of view than the eDimensions 3D glasses (which I bought 2 years ago). The 3D effect is fully adjustable in the two key dimensions: separation (amount of 3D effect) and convergence (how far away the objects appear). Having a 60 Hz refresh rate for each eye is critical; my eDimension glasses with an older 60 Hz LCD monitor could only give 30 Hz per eye and lots of flicker. I haven't tried the eDimension with the new 120 Hz monitor.
2) My computer set up is not excessive, but not wimpy either: AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ 3.0GHz; nVidia 8800GTS; 2 Gb DDR2-800 RAM; ViewSonic VX2265wm 120Hz LCD monitor; Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit. This is about the bare minimum set up for good 3D.
3) Make sure you uninstall your current GeForce drivers before loading the new GeForce + 3D Vision drivers (collectively downloadable as the "Full Driver CD" from nVidia's website). I had mismatched drivers at first (from Windows 7), and got excessive ghosting and got the right-eye signal going to the left eye. Reinstalling with fresh drivers from nVidia solved the problem. Now I have no ghosting, no flicker, great 3D effect.
4) I've only tested one game so far, World of Warcraft, which looks beautiful. There's a setting in WoW to allow the cursor to adjust its depth to match the interacting object - nice! Takes 15-30 minutes to get used to, but then it's fantastic. Setting the convergence (or "screen depth") to a low value makes the objects appear far away and is easier on the eyes.
5) Caveats: (a) you need Windows Vista or 7; XP will not work. (b) There are only two LCD monitors at the moment that offer true 120 Hz refresh rates: ViewSonic VX2265wm FuHzion 3D/120Hz LCD Display (Black) and Samsung Syncmaster 2233RZ 22" 3D Gaming LCD Monito; many LCD TVs claim 120 Hz, but this is upscaled, and none currently take 120 Hz input; some DLP TVs will work - check nVidia's website.

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Tired of living in a 2D world? Upgrade your PC to a fully immersive stereoscopic 3D gaming experience with NVIDIA GeForce 3D Vision. A combination of high-tech wireless glasses and advanced software, the GeForce 3D Vision kit transforms hundreds of PC games, 3D movies, and digital photographs into an eye popping, interactive experience. Adjust 3D depth adjustment from the IR emitter Fully supports 3D video players such as 3dtv Stereoscopic Player Easily take in-game screenshots and view them in stereoscopic 3D with NVIDIA's free photo viewer Infrared receiver - Receive signal between 1.5 and 15 feet Infrared transmitter - Transmit signal between 1.5 and 15 feet Battery Life - up to 40 hours of stereoscopic 3D Rechargeable battery connector - USB 2.0 mini-B power connector USB 2.0 mini-B - Connect to the PC for enabling GeForce 3D Vision VESA Stereo Cable Port - For use with DLP HDTV only In the box - One pair of GeForce 3D Vision active shutter glasses with storage pouch, adjustable nose pieces, and microfiber cleaning cloth GeForce 3D Vision USB controller/IR emitter Custom 5' VESA stereo to 2.5mm stereo audio plug cable 10' DVI to HDMI cable 10' USB 2.0 type A to 5-pin mini-B cable 6' recharge cable (USB Type A to 5-pin mini Type B) Quick star guide Installation CD System Requirements - Windows Vista 32-bit or 64-bit Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD Athlon X2 CPU 1GB of system memory 100 MB free disk space Unit Dimensions - 20.3 x 16.6 x 8.2, Weight - 1.76 oz. GeForce 3D Vision currently supports 2-way NVIDIA SLI

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