Clark Synthesis TACTILE SOUND AW339 User manual

Placing high-fidelity, tactile sound transducers in your home theater adds a new level
of enjoyment to your movie-watching experience, taking you far beyond the experience
you find in regular movie theaters. Using time-proven technology, transducers allow you
to “hear” audio through your body, helping you feel more connected to the movie you
are watching. However, since there are many products offered today that promise tactile
sound, buyers need to be clear about some of the key differences within the industry. So,
what should you look for when shopping for tactile sound products? Following are a few
suggestions for how to assess home theater, tactile sound products:
Buyer’s Guide for
Tactile Sound Transducers
Frequency Response
The Home Theater
marketplace has been flooded
with devices designed to
vibrate your home theater
furniture. These products,
often referred to as shakers
or kickers, do a great job if
your goal is to merely “shake”
your furniture. Operating
much like oversized versions
of the doorbells commonly
found in older homes, these
devices typically vibrate
somewhere between 40 to 80
Hz. The problem with using
these devices is that different
audio segments found in
movies (car crashes, trains
rumbling, drums playing)
all deliver the same tactile
experience (vibration). More
sophisticated products, such
as full-frequency transducers,
can deliver a full range of
audio, from 20 Hz up to at
least 17 kHz. A transducer
with this kind of frequency
response can deliver the
subtle, fundamental tones and
overtones necessary for you to
distinguish between a cymbal
crash and a car crash.
Mounting Hardware
It is unfortunate when
manufacturers cut important
corners to increase their
profits, but a few transducers
on the market suffer from
this problem. One example of
this dilemma is the increasing
number of transducers that
come with plastic mounts.
Given the high degree of
stress these mounts can
receive during installation
and operation, it is important
to choose a transducer that
comes with metal mounting
hardware. This type of
mounting hardware will help
reduce breakage resulting
from continued use or
inadvertent bumps to the side
of the transducer.
Power
A tactile sound transducer
must be able to set a large mass
in motion. When mounted in
your home theater furniture,
the transducer must transmit
tactile sound through the
furniture in order to reach
your body. Getting enough
tactile energy to your body
requires a great deal of power.
There are several inexpensive
transducers that work at
around 30 Watts. However,
it may take 4, 6, or even 8 of
these transducers to deliver
the same experience as a single
100 to 150 Watt transducer.
In the long run, it is much
less expensive to select the
transducer with the right
amount of power delivery for
your application.
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In-Wall Transducers
Some companies are trying to
convince consumers that their
walls can be turned into high-
quality speakers with the use of
transducers. Although drywall
can be made to radiate sound,
drywall is not conducive
to sound reproduction and
usually fails to reproduce high-
quality, full-frequency sound.
If you want high-quality
sound coming from your
walls, the best alternative is
to place high-fidelity speakers
on or in the walls. The use of
transducers for this purpose is
often found to be very difficult
and unnecessarily expensive.
Warranty Coverage
Let’s face it, everything
eventually breaks down,
including transducers. In
the transducer business,
many companies have come
and gone. Therefore, it is
important to find a recognized
brand and then buy products
manufacturedbythatcompany.
Some questions you might
want to ask include, “How
long has your company been
in business?,” “What is your
return policy?,” and “If there
is a manufacturing defect, will
the company ship me a free
replacement?” The answers to
these questions will help you
make a sound choice.
Technical Support
Selecting and installing
transducers can be a bit tricky,
depending on your home
theater application. Therefore,
you want to insure that the
company you are purchasing
transducers from has an
accessible and well-trained
technical support staff. Quite
often discount companies
or auction web sites will sell
transducers at very low prices,
but they will be completely
unable to help you with issues
such as transducer spacing,
amplification requirements,
and installation techniques.
Thus, it is worth taking a
little extra time to insure
the company you buy from
can adequately support your
technical needs.
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