Ok so I'm pretty much done, still a bit of tweaking and tidying up to do.
Was it worth the effort? I think so, certainly added a level of immersion that wasn't there before. Would I fork out big $$ for buttkickers, I can't say that I would, although I only have a home made rig so I think the bass shaker setup is comparative of the whole rig really. Considering I did a 4 x transducer rig for about the same price of 1 x buttkicker I'm pretty happy with the end result.
Final Parts list was
- 2 x Dayton Audio BST-1 bass shaker transducers ($180 for 2 delivered) - 1 under the chair, 1 on the back of the chair
- 2 x Dayton Audio TT25-8 puck transducers ($62 total) - both under my pedals for left and right hand wheels
- 1 x 24V/10A power supply ($29 delivered)
- 4 x 100W Mono channel TPA3116D2 amplifier boards ($52 delivered) - 1 amplifier for each channel
- 4 x 40mm x 40mm Female/female isolation bobbins for my sim chair ($42 delivered)
- 2 x clipsal 3.5mm wallplate jacks and a wallplate ($15) (to go on the side of the my chair)
- 1 x IEC320 C14 AC inlet with switch ($12) (just to go on the side of my chair)
- 2 x 3.5mm leads to run from computer to side of chair $20
Total $412.
I attached a photo of where I placed the transducers on my chairs, including the isolation rubbers. Also attached a photo of the amplifier board I made up, that mounts in the box under my seat (you don't see it at all). The amps do not run hot at all, it is quite surprising how much grunt they have for such a little board.
I didn't take any photos of the puck transducers mounted under my pedals, if anyone was interested I can post a photo.
Also if anyone is interested I'm happy to share my simhub settings that I'm using, still tweaking it a bit but I'm pretty happy with the results so far. It is awesome to actually feel when your wheel is locking up, quite handy for adjusting the brake bias.