Bass shakers are one of those things that you didn’t know you were missing out on until you try it for the first time. Entertainment room seating equipped with bass shakers have the ability to transport you to a whole new dimension of immersion with your favorite shows and movies. The premise is simple enough: any time an action-packed scene makes use of heavy bass, your supremely comfortable media room seating becomes a hub for that bass to travel through and delivers shakes and rumbles that course through your body.
With such powerful vibrations coming from the transducer, some people love it, and some people could do without it. But is adding that powerful little home theater chair accessory worth it? We’re here to break down the pros and cons of one of the more unique things you can add to your home theater arsenal.
The Pros to Adding Bass Theater Seats to Your Home Theater
Equipping those leather-upholstered home theater recliners with bass shakers opens up a brand new world to your favorite movies and shows. They add a physical sensation to low-frequency sounds and noises in media. Explosions, rumbles, and other intense moments come to life by way of transducers that deliver movement directly to your home theater couch as you feel like you are part of the action onscreen. The biggest reasons, hands down, that people want bass shakers for their entertainment rooms is solely for the immersion that they offer. And it doesn’t stop at just movies and tv shows—bass shakers can also be used for gaming to create additional immersion too.
Bass shakers also offer customization options, because let’s face it: not everyone is going to love the physical jolts that they receive through bass theater seats. So, depending on your comfort level, you can adjust the intensity of the shakers to your ideal setting. Everyone is going to have different levels of comfort with bass shakers, and the customization aspect allows you to also cater to different viewing experiences. Maybe you want the bass shakers on at full throttle while watching the new Fast and the Furious movie, but maybe you’ll want something a little more subtle for that foreign drama that isn’t going to startle you out of your chair during the quiet moments.
When compared to other equipment that delivers heavy on the bass, like subwoofers, bass shakers are going to save you space in your home theater, because they’re actually a part of the chair as opposed to a separate device. This frees up potentially limited space in your home theater allowing you to fit in other pieces of media room furniture, like that home theater chaise lounge that you were just a hair short on space for before.
The Cons of Bass Shakers for Entertainment Room Seating
As with anything, you’re going to have some drawbacks to whatever product you’re looking at, and bass shakers are no different. The biggest hurdle for bass shakers will likely be the cost associated with them and the various other parts that you’ll need to get them up and rumbling. While there is a range of prices depending on which make and model of shaker you decide to go with, there will be an initial investment to get everything you need to transform the media room sectional sofa into a bass-filled machine.
Speaking of turning your reclining media room loveseats into bass-filled machines, there’s going to be some installation involved. We get it—it’s the last thing you want to hear, having to do more electrical work with your home theater, but thankfully it’s relatively simple if you know what you’re doing. It mostly involves running some wires and cables through the backing of your reclining entertainment room chairs and attaching the actual transducer square on the back. Compared to subwoofers, which you basically plop down on the floor and call it a day, bass shakers are a little more complex to install.
Bass shakers also have the potential for annoyance over time. Maybe not for the ones using them, but for those around them. Those powerful devices emit high-intensity rumbles, and—depending on the make and model—have the ability to create earth-shattering vibrations. They might not be the most ideal to use if someone in your home is trying to focus on something else other than the movie or show you’re engaged with. If you’re living in an apartment building or some other shared living space, you’ll want to keep in mind just how much those bass shakers make your walls shake so you’re not disturbing anyone else’s living space.
All in all, bass shaker theater seats offer major immersion in the media you’re consuming, whether it’s a movie, show, or video game. But they do come with a few minor drawbacks that make it worth giving careful consideration to its inclusion in your home theater.