Dayton Audio SA1000 Subwoofer Amplifier Rack Mountable

My Buttkicker amp died. I needed a replacement. The Buttkicker company no longer makes amps but recommended this one. All the features (low pass filter, high pass filter, EQ functions) work perfectly for any subwoofer, or in my case a Buttkicker which requires the exact same amp technology even though it is not a speaker. If you are not familiar with them, they are shakers for a couch or chair, and make the apparent sound level greater (while actually making no sound at all) by increasing the low frequency effects. I have one Buttkicker LFE amp on each of four home theater chairs. Each requires "500-1500 amps" of amplifier. I bought two Dayton 1000 amplifiers to power the 4 Buttkicker LFEs and used a RCA splitter to divide the subwoofer signal to both. Works frigging awesome! Only problem is the amplifiers have a ridiculously powerful power LED. With two amps, there is a blue sheen on the home theater screen 14' away that is obvious on dark scenes. Ridiculous. I put some black duct tape on some wax paper, then used a circle punch to cut out a circle for each amplifier. Peeled off the wax paper and stuck them over the power LEDs. Still plenty bright, no kidding. But at least it doesn't light up the room. My only concern is that the cooling vents on the lower amplifier are right underneath the intake for the amplifier above. The legs are only like a centimeter tall. I am going to add something to lift the upper amp higher to assist with cooling. I have not measured the temperature in use, but think for Buttkicker amplifier it shouldn't be a big deal as the subwoofer soundtrack typically only triggers the Buttkickers like 1% of the time. Others have complained that these amps get super hot with music. The Buttkickers let you shake the people instead of the house. I have dual SVS PB3000 subwoofers that can shake the house no problem. But turn them down a little, turn up the Dayton 1000 Buttkicker amps a little, and save your ears. The effect is the same or better and noone gets a headache. Wife acceptance factor improved. Now its like your subwoofer goes down to 1Hz even though it is 18Hz typically in real life. For example, the cannon broadsides in Master and Commander will have you crying for your momma and hiding behind the couch. The thunder at the beginning of Open Range is more dramatic than real life. And a hundred more examples. When I first bought the Buttkickers (4 of them, one each for 4 home theater recliners) it came with a single 1000 watt amplifier, for 250 watts per Buttkicker LFE when the recommendation is 500-1500 watts per Buttkicker LFE. It was not impressive, more seemed kind of like annoying and I didn't use it often, as it didn't seem realistic, was more like you were being dragged down a gravel road. Now with twice the power with dual Dayton 1000 amps, and 500 watts per chair, the Buttkickers actually are much LESS noticeable. Or maybe it is the better crossover of the Dayton amps. It used to be they were on or off. Now they blend in more (ie more variable response) with what is happening on the screen which improves the whole experience. My new Dayton amps have made a obvious improvement to my home theater. Highly recommended despite the ridiculously bright power LEDs. Wow!

With this Dayton Audio SA1000 Subwoofer Amplifier driving my single Buttkicker LFE, it will literally shake the entire condo (and my neighbors too!)... way overkill for a small condo, but WOW!, the two together added to my home entertainment system make action movies a "true" experience... I did have to buy a small table-top fan to keep it cool though, since it does get REALLY hot to the touch when I drive it really hard (super low-frequency at a "constant" high volumes--good ventilation is essential)... that's why only four stars (seems to need an internal fan inside the housing--but then, you would definitely have some fan noise)... But it certainly beats the tiny 90-watt amp that came with the Gamer2. Just be away... The amp is super-heavy, and I did notice that the little rubber feet make round marks on my nicely finished wood shelf (seems like they do wipe off)... a thick glass surface might prevent this...

Sound is so subjective. If we all heard the same then there would only be a handful of speakers for sale. I am somewhere between and every day person and an audiophile, probably more like and audio enthusiast. I enjoy crystal clarity of sound and imaging. I am a 2 speaker stereo person, surround sound is fine, but I would rather have 2 great speakers instead of 6 or 8 ‘average’ surround sound speakers. I had a plate amp on the back of a subwoofer I built. It was an NHT1259 in a sealed box. I was powered by a 250 watt plate amp built in to the sub enclosure. I had it for years and liked it. After a night of running this plate amp at very high volume it got too hot and burned some components. One of the things I never liked about the plate amp was that the controls were on the back of the sub. It was a pain to adjust while listening and had to go by memory of which knob did what function. I got this SA1000 amp to replace it and am very happy. The amp is a very heavy unit, as it has a nice heavy transformer (always a big plus). I enjoy the front mounted controls as I can see what knob I am adjusting (as opposed to a plate amp on the back of a subwoofer). I ran the amp all night and it did not get hot to the touch. It did get slightly warm. I has more punch than my older 250 watt plate amp and it is more clean sounding. My only complaints: The soft clip circuitry is useless as when it clips it is just as bad as any clipping amp and the blue power button, it is too bright. The amp does not have any audible hum when in use.