kelticwizard said:Theoretically, the ideal loudspeaker would be a pulsating sphere. Even in the Encylopedia Britannica, they say this. So there must be general agreement on this concept. I am not so sure an omnidirectional pulsating sphere would work so well in a real-world room, but the physicists say the pulsaitng sphere is ideal.
It's funny you should mention pulsating spheres...
...there is such a thing as a plasma tweeter that functions in exactly this way! The idea is to create plasma (highly ionised corona discharge) from an electrode and modulate it with an audio frequency wave - I think the carrier wave is of much higher frequency to allow high bandwidth.
As the plasma discharge is modulated it increases or decreases in size creating 360° output wave from a sphere of plasma.
These things apparantly sound amazing - and they look damn sexy too!
Check it out, do a search for plasma tweeters, I think Magnat made a comercial unit a long time ago?? Anyway check it out very interesting stuff!
yeah, plasma tweeters are cool, until you get brain damage from the ozone contamination in your room. 😛
dorkus said:yeah, plasma tweeters are cool, until you get brain damage from the ozone contamination in your room. 😛
Well I guess there is that and the fact that they emmit a large amount of RF around about 27Mhz (the carrier wave).
Annex and Dorkus:
Thanks for the tip. I have been following ionic speakers for some time. But they are not well-known, so it was certainly appropriate to mention them in a discussion that has meandered onto the topic of pulsating spheres.
There is an article in the Journal of the Audio Engineering Society about them from the fifties, I believe. In the article, the author mentions that some ionic speakers were made back in the 1920's-they might even pre-date the cone loudspeaker, I am not sure. I think the author called it the Corona Wind loudspeaker.
Some years ago, Hans Fantel of the New York Times covered an audio show where the developer of an ionic loudspeaker was demonstrating his invention when he was overcome by the ozone and fainted right on the stage. He was carried off the premises on a stretcher.
When he awoke in the hospital bed, he started talking about the personal sacrifices necessary to achieve perfection, or something like that.
Come to think of it, he sounds like a guy who belongs on this forum. I wonder if he is reading this? 🙂 🙂
Thanks for the tip. I have been following ionic speakers for some time. But they are not well-known, so it was certainly appropriate to mention them in a discussion that has meandered onto the topic of pulsating spheres.
There is an article in the Journal of the Audio Engineering Society about them from the fifties, I believe. In the article, the author mentions that some ionic speakers were made back in the 1920's-they might even pre-date the cone loudspeaker, I am not sure. I think the author called it the Corona Wind loudspeaker.
Some years ago, Hans Fantel of the New York Times covered an audio show where the developer of an ionic loudspeaker was demonstrating his invention when he was overcome by the ozone and fainted right on the stage. He was carried off the premises on a stretcher.
When he awoke in the hospital bed, he started talking about the personal sacrifices necessary to achieve perfection, or something like that.
Come to think of it, he sounds like a guy who belongs on this forum. I wonder if he is reading this? 🙂 🙂
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