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In Reply to: RE: not why Wendell is (potentially) inviting him posted by Satie on October 14, 2011 at 19:23:25
Not to mention the $100,000 super mini maggie. Who was it who demonstrated that plasma speaker that used killowatts and filled the room with a lethal level of ozone? They could make a desktop version.
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"Information is not knowledge.
Knowledge is not wisdom.
Wisdom is not truth.
Truth is not beauty.
Beauty is not love.
Love is not music.
Music is THE BEST." FZ
Heh, didn't know that. That's a great story.
Here is what he said about it:
The "ion cloud loudspeaker" used photocopy
machine ionizing nichrome wire strung in a flat
array a bit like a window screen, but with more
space between the wires, and charged to a variable
DC potential of about 10 KV.
This screen developed a layer of ionized air, and was
enclosed between two stators, much like an electrostatic
speaker, except that instead of a charged plastic diaphragm,
you had a charged semi-flat layer of gas, and you could
push-pull it with high AC voltages on the stators.
It worked fairly well, and gave new meaning to the word
"transparency".
It also had several flaws, one of which did result in a
trip to the local emergency room with breathing problems
similar to those sometimes experienced by arc welders and
caused by extended exposure to ozone.
The Wall Street Journal printed my comment:
"It was the perfect high end audio product: Exotic, inefficient,
expensive, unavailable, and toxic."
No one here remembers the bending of our minds
The Hill Plasma is king, but requires helium to prevent ozone. The Hill Plasma is the only
plasma loudspeaker ever built that went down to 700 hz. To this day this plasma driver
has never been equaled. There are other plasmas out there, but they only go down to 5000 hz, and do not require helium to prevent ozone. The sound is phenomenal, but refilling the
tanks with helium is very expensive, not to mention the weight of the helium tanks and
maintenance required for the plasma drivers. All the other drivers are true ribbons (Apogee)
Or would you know how I can contact him or her?
I can accept e-mail from members if you prefer.
Thanks :-)
Vbr,
Sam
Apparently, Hill says he could develop a full-range plasma if he had the resources.
It is true that the process by which Hill's Plasmatronic generates the plasma field does not directly produce ozone. However, the interaction of that plasma field with the surrounding air will produce ozone. I imagine there is a point at which the energy it takes to produce bass frequencies will also result in dangerous ozone levels. Then again, I'm certainly no expert. Plasma is the ultimate 360 degree transducer as well as the ultimate low mass transducer. I sure would love to hear a pair.
"Information is not knowledge.
Knowledge is not wisdom.
Wisdom is not truth.
Truth is not beauty.
Beauty is not love.
Love is not music.
Music is THE BEST." FZ
I wonder if it would be possible to filter and remove the ozone? After all, laser printers have ozone filters in them . . .
Allan Hills first plasma loudspeaker (prototype that was never sold) went considerably
lower in frequency, around 400 hz. Required considerably more power and also much
more helium. This was just too impractical (cost would have been much higher.
A speaker like this would be impossible to market today (way too many safety concerns; extremely
high temperature of electrodes, high voltage, not to mention the danger to the eyes; like
looking at a welding torch. The good old days are gone!
I like the lava lamp!
As cool as plasma technology is, I tend to think that the future belongs to true pistonic motion, feedback, and DSP. In principle, anyway, it should be possible to make a driver with inaudible distortion. I think also that we'll see matrices of drivers which are capable of reproducing the original sound field, perhaps integrated with a video display. Plasma technology doesn't lend itself to that.
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