Bass Shakers on the cheap!

[Sonnie Parker]

You might also try wiring them in parallel to lower the impedance and increase power output from the Sony if it can handle the lower impedance.

I'm thinking that the board is absorbing too much of the vibrations, and maybe mounting them directly to the frame would be better.

 

[Mike Schramm]

This is the first time I have ever wired anything either in series or parallel. I've only ever done the normal one wire, red to red, black to black. I didn't even know that was a thing until this thread started. Wiring in parallel with generate more power than wiring in series?

 

[Todd Anderson]

Something isn't right... you should feel that.

You could also just wire them from two different terminals.

Did you try increasing the bass in the Sony settings?

 

[Sonnie Parker]

Generally, yes. When you wire in series you add the impedance of the speakers. The Dayton shaker is rated at 4 ohms, so wiring them in series makes it an 8-ohm load on your Sony amp. So you have one channel on your Sony amp powering an 8-ohm load. In most cases amps are rated at 8-ohms and the power increases as you lower the impedance, and in some cases doubling the power. 8-ohm rating is 100 watts, and 4-ohm rating is 200 watts. Probably not the case with the Sony and most other receivers. It's usually 100 watts at 8-ohm and 125-150 at 4-ohm. Then if you double down again to a 2-ohm load it may increase the power more. However, not many receivers are capable of a 2-ohm load.

In this case, what I would do is use two separate outputs on your Sony. Split those inputs to both L+R on the CD input as mentioned earlier. Then use the left output to one shaker and the right output to the other, giving you full power of each channel to the 4-ohm load of each shaker.

 

[Sonnie Parker]

That Sony unit shows the following:

Minimum RMS Output Power (8 ohms, 20 Hz - 20 kHz, THD 0.09%)

100 W + 100 W

It also shows there is no 4-ohm/8-ohm switch (8-ohm only)... so it's not really designed to power a 4-ohm load. It may still work just fine though, although it may only output down to 20Hz. I was unable to find any measured output data for it.

 

[Mike Schramm]

I never thought to crank up the sub level on the Sony. So, here's my plan: relocate off of the board and onto the couch itself, wire them individually, and boost the sub gain on the Sony. I will, of course, report back.

I hope the Sony isn't too weak to handle these.