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No affiliation either,
I just saw these on AudioGon.
Heard em at CES back in early 80's playing master tape of chamber music.'
Walked by room, and SWORE live music was playing in there!Met Dr Alan Hill of Plasmatronics, a Laser Physicist, and a brilliant man.
In the range of the Plasma driver, look out!
Speaker used rocks in mid/woofer chamber for damping, so it would get you "stoned" LOL
Follow Ups:
They were, of course, beyond my means then, but fortunately so. I never see them on the used market, probably because the plasma tweeter has a limited life span and replacement parts are no longer available. They were, however, blissfully airy in the reproduction of high frequency transients and the sound didn't seem to emanate from the plasma tweeter itself. It was a unique and eerie experience, but short in duration. To this day I wonder if I could have lived with them for long had I been able to take them home. They were cool, futuristic (but 20 years later just plain idiosyncratic as someone in here described them) but they also had a beautiful rosewood finish, just gorgeous.That was my only experience with plasma audio reproduction, and shortly thereafter I'd heard Magnat could no longer sell speakers with the Plasma tweeter because of the design's excessive ozone emissions.
The first time I heard these was at the Sheffield Labs booth back in the 70's. Considered the experience as one of the best that I had encountered. I was informed that there was a disco in Singapore that had 3 pairs of these speakers in their establishment.
probably back in 1979. They had an incredible top end, but from the midbass on down they were quite muddy and undistinguished. Even back then I did not think the two drivers integrated well, and I've become a LOT more picky since then.They were very interesting to look at, but, in the enclosed dealer room the smell of ozone was quite distinct. Also, there was a big cylinder of nitrogen gas that is fed to the electrode to keep it bathed in a non oxidizing environment. That would mean having to get the gas replenished regularly. I know that other plasma drivers have a very limited lifespan from such oxidation. I saw an article on how to make a homemade plasma drivers; these were expected to be replaced quite regularly.
The bottom end was far from SOTA even for the time but the plasma driver was impressive.
(nt)
hmmm...D -
Let's see the reviews and who sells speakers with NO PICTURES?@!
Ooops
They are very likely the same pair that were for sale on eBay a year or two ago. Notice the demonstration fee and all the disclaimers -- the disclaimers are a red flag that there are problems, which wouldn't be surprising. As much as I have a fond memory of the plasma driver, I wouldn't touch this pair with a ten foot pole.
Best regards,
I seem to recall that pair has been listed on eBay near half a dozen times and didn't sell any of those times. So, I'm not surprised to see it listed elsewhere. Though, the auction did have pictures and it should've been a simple matter to add them here.Having dealt with a handful of flaky buyers, I can understand the fee. It's a pita to reschedule one's day to be home to demo some gear for sale only to have the potential buyer never show. One time I had someone do this to me three times in a row before I told them no more. A modest fee (or just claim of a fee, but not actually force payment) could help with that. Perhaps the fee is also to cover the cost of any helium used during the demo? (Not sure how wasteful the Plasmatronics are here.) For someone looking at lightening their wallet by $5000, $50 isn't much, and if the purchase is finalized it comes back.
Huh!? Ok first the add has no pictures and the seller has ZERO feedbacks, hmmmm sounds weird to me
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