Bass shakers are one of the most underrated additions you can make to your home cinema setup. Why spend large amounts of money on large subwoofers to shake the room when you can use bass shakers to quite literally shake things!
If you have a conventional home cinema setup, attaching the bass shakers to your sofa should be quite straightforward. It is the suggested setup from most manufacturers. One below and one behind and you should have the ultimate setup but what about if you are using a bed as your place to relax while watching movies? Can you attach a bass shaker to a bed?
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Can you Attach Bass Shakers To a Bed?
A bed and a sofa are not a million miles apart but when you compare the structure when it comes to seating, you are more than likely going to be missing a backrest. Will you be able to get the same experience without this and if so, how do you even go about attaching the bass shakers to a bed frame?
Let’s start with the lack of a backrest. This going to be a bit of a downgrade but not so much to render this task pointless. Having completed the project, I can confirm that bass shakers will still significantly enhance your movie or gaming experience. Don’t let the lack of a backrest deter you, bass shakers will still provide an awesome experience if they are only attached underneath.
So at this point, the question has been asked. It is no problem at all to use bass shakers without a backrest. It will still work perfectly well. So how do you go about attaching them to a bed?
How To Attach Bass Shakers To a Bed
Attaching bass shakers to a bed may differ depending on the bed. If you have a metal frame bed, it may be a little more challenging to create the holes and secure the shaker units to the frame. Even if the bed is a metal frame, you may still have wooden planks that go underneath the mattress. For this guide, I will go over attaching it to a wooden frame bed. You may have to alter these steps slightly if it is a metal bed that you are dealing with.
Get Some Wooden Planks to Run Length Ways
When it comes to getting the most out of the vibration, you want to ensure that the vibration is not localised to a single portion. Since you don’t have large wooden beams that are used to create the frame beneath you, as there would be on a sofa, these planks will allow the vibration from each of the motors to vibrate more of the mattress base than if you were to screw them directly into the wooden beams.
Sandwich Mattress Bass Between Planks
I used some large bolts to sandwich two planks above and below the wooden planks supporting the mattress. Once these were tightly clamped together, it meant that one bass shaker would directly vibrate several wooden planks below the mattress, maximizing the effect and overall experience.
Once you are happy the wooden frame to mount the bass shakers is secure, you can start planning where you are going to mount them. A single bed would comfortably fit 3 people but ideally, fit two. If you are going to be the only user, there is little benefit in putting bass shakers all the way to the top and bottom of the bed. Try to focus the impact of the shakers on around 60% of the beds centre to give the best effect.
Wire Bass Shakers
Once they are all set up and ready to go, you just have to wire them up. Connecting the wires is going to be the more tricky part as you have to cleanly run the cables across the room. Hopefully, you have a clean way to achieve this. If you are unsure about how to set wires up with your shakers, check out this detailed bass shaker wiring guide.
Once you are all wired up, you will be able to put the mattress back on and start the test run. What you are likely to find is that the vibrations may start to cause some bolts to come loose. Keep a listen out for anything loose and use a hex key or screwdriver to tighten up any bolts that are looking like they may vibrate themselves loose.
