I had a chance to test out the “ButtKicker” home theater kit- it’s a motor that shakes your couch while you watch movies. Overall, it’s a great product- but I think it’s really geared for hardcore movie goers or video gamers. Disclaimer: I want to make a point to tell you that the company that makes this product sent this to me for free after seeing my AMC Mainstreet video blog. This company outfits AMC theaters with ButtKickers and this product is the same, but designed for your house. I decided to put together a vblog review on my own and was not paid to do this.

What is the ButtKicker? It’s a device that shakes your couch using the low frequencies that your sub woofer outputs. Basically, if your sub woofer is playing- the ButtKicker will vibrate to shake your couch so you can ‘feel’ the bass in addition to hearing it. After testing movies out with my DVD player, I will say the ButtKicker makes already intense action scenes even better and movie soundtracks are much more entertaining. You can literally feel the gun shots fired in a movie and the explosions.

The setup of the ButtKicker was painless (which I found shocking, I thought it would require assembly of elevendy billion parts). It took me 20-minutes to put together the entire kit. You can see in my photos, the ButtKicker goes under one leg of your couch, but the instructions also show you can mount it inside your couch if you’d like. Watch my video blog for more visuals /commentary on how you connect it to your stereo system- it’s really easy.

I really like that when you have the volume down, the ButtKicker still works- which is awesome for those late night movies you don’t want to wake anyone up, but still want the full movie experience. It comes with a wireless remote which has adjustable “intensity” so you can increase or decrease the levels. I couldn’t really tell a difference when I increased /decreased the levels, but I will say this thing is so powerful that it does shake your entire couch without making any noise (you can’t hear any motor or fans coming from the ButtKicker).

Keep in mind, this device isn’t always on shaking your couch. If you’re watching the movie “You’ve Got Mail”, you’re likely not going to feel the ButtKicker at all It’s only the ‘action scenes’ that have loud low explosions or noises will you even feel the ButtKicker.

For anyone who thinks they have every component of their home theater setup- this IS the finishing touch. The bottom line is this is for the hardcore- techy, video gamer or movie goer this is a must-have. For the average person, likely not for you unless you’ve got money to spare. If you want to buy a kit- you can on their website (it retails for $399, but there’s a coupon that I will post later (or email me) that gives you a discount to decrease the cost to $289).
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