Uploaded November 2016 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Some audio devices like the piezo pickups, found on most amplified acoustic guitars, capture the sound by mechanical coupling to the source of the vibration, in this case the vibrating strings. This is different from a normal microphone that picks up the sound wave as it moves through the air.
Most speakers work like microphones, but in reverse, meaning that the electricity is converted to mechanical energy that pushes a sound wave through the air.
Subwoofers (speakers designed to reproduce low-frequency) work the same way, by pushing air to create the low-frequency sound wave, and in doing so, dramatically increase the sound pressure level.
However, just like a piezo pickup, some devices, like room shakers and buttkickers, work via a mechanical coupling. In this case they couple a driver to the room itself. They operate in the 5 Hz to 200 Hz range, and create a low frequency wave in the floor and walls that can provide a more direct way to experience sound in that frequency range, without having the high sound pressure levels generally associated with subwoofers.
Some audio devices like the piezo pickups, found on most amplified acoustic guitars, capture the sound by mechanical coupling to the source of the vibration, in this case the vibrating strings. This is different from a normal microphone that picks up the sound wave as it moves through the air.
Most speakers work like microphones, but in reverse, meaning that the electricity is converted to mechanical energy that pushes a sound wave through the air.
Subwoofers (speakers designed to reproduce low-frequency) work the same way, by pushing air to create the low-frequency sound wave, and in doing so, dramatically increase the sound pressure level.
However, just like a piezo pickup, some devices, like room shakers and buttkickers, work via a mechanical coupling. In this case they couple a driver to the room itself. They operate in the 5 Hz to 200 Hz range, and create a low frequency wave in the floor and walls that can provide a more direct way to experience sound in that frequency range, without having the high sound pressure levels generally associated with subwoofers.
