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ARC Plasma Speaker (Kickstarter) — Parallax Forums

ARC Plasma Speaker (Kickstarter)

W9GFOW9GFO Posts: 4,010
edited 2014-03-04 12:03 in General Discussion
My friend David has a Kickstarter going that some of you may find interesting:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/excelphysics/the-arc-plasma-speaker

..and they made the local news:

http://www.king5.com/news/technology/Local-company-creates-music-using-electric-spark-247804151.html

Comments

  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    edited 2014-03-02 11:33
    Very cool, the danger factor is a huge plus for me. Probably not for ultimate audiophiles. Any chance that high-voltage arc will become an EMP and take out my favorite 8-track player? :)
  • PublisonPublison Posts: 12,366
    edited 2014-03-02 12:44
    I had an article from Popular Electronics or Radio Electronics back from the 70' that explained this I began to build one but it was too expensive and parts availability was a problem at the time.

    Nice to see a cheaper solution, but not at the scale I was looking for back then.
  • PropGuy2PropGuy2 Posts: 360
    edited 2014-03-02 20:43
    I also built one of those as a science fair project in the 60's from a article in Popular Electronics. It worked great with lots of volume and high fidelity 360 degree sound. I used both a very large candle flame and also a propane torch. OK for outside use but Dad had a problem with bring it in the living room... Don't know why LOL
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    edited 2014-03-02 20:50
    Hardly a new idea.

    Apart from it's ability to shock and amaze the audience, if not actually kill them, what advantages does a plasma speaker bring?

    I'm curious to know what frequency range you can achieve with that.
  • W9GFOW9GFO Posts: 4,010
    edited 2014-03-03 00:05
    Heater. wrote: »
    Hardly a new idea.

    For many people it is something that they have never seen or heard of before.

    The advantages are that it is an opportunity to learn something, to gain an understanding of electricity and sound and to enjoy something that you made yourself that very few people have experienced.

    Audible frequency range is from about 150Hz to over 15KHz. Usable frequency range is more like 300Hz to 2000Hz, measured at up to 85dB at 3ft. The lower you set the volume, the higher frequency range you will get - but then the lower frequencies become too quiet to hear well.
  • GadgetmanGadgetman Posts: 2,436
    edited 2014-03-03 01:25
    That's weird...

    No 'Stereo Pledge level'...

    What's the use of having ONE awesome speaker these days?
  • Clock LoopClock Loop Posts: 2,069
    edited 2014-03-03 01:41
    Gadgetman wrote: »
    That's weird...

    No 'Stereo Pledge level'...

    What's the use of having ONE awesome speaker these days?

    And multiple sizes made for different frequencies so loud volumes and quiet volumes work.

    And, subwoofers... cmon guys, wahts taking you so long... whats up with this two nails speaker stuff..

    I want full circle plasma arc speakers with full range tweets, mids and kicks..

    I already have ideas on how to accomplish mentioned items.. but i don't have the spare cash and workshop to make a proto, which i could put on kickintheheadstarter and start a new business.

    I'd name it LETHAL AUDIO.
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    edited 2014-03-03 04:13
    W9GFO,
    The advantages are that it is an opportunity to learn something, to gain an understanding of electricity and sound and to enjoy something that you made yourself that very few people have experienced.
    All very good reasons to me.
  • potatoheadpotatohead Posts: 10,261
    edited 2014-03-03 09:03
    One other advantage is a plasma will reproduce one bit type music really well! The distortion seen in that technique aligns well with the characteristics of the plasma. It all works!

    For stereo, the radiation pattern being less directional means improved spatial placement and that contributes to the sense of immersion. If you have a high noise content, psychoacoustics are a lot of fun! Moving an object around, for example, with eyes closed will present differences to the listener they can hear easily.
  • Dave HeinDave Hein Posts: 6,347
    edited 2014-03-03 11:05
    Just out of curiosity, does the plasma speaker emit ultra-violet like an arc welder does? It may not be a good idea to look at it for an extended period of time.
  • Tracy AllenTracy Allen Posts: 6,664
    edited 2014-03-04 10:57
    Rich, I've been one of those curious about plasma these and have followed ExcelPhysics after you brought them up in the context of their radiation detector.

    As has been pointed out, or should be, this technology goes back quite a few years. Here is an informative audio site, which includes a DIY project using a TL494 PWM controller to drive the flyback transformer. It doesn't have a demo to show how it sounds though. For historical background, follow the page to the links at the bottom. A Prop might drop into that circuit and do the PWM and much more.

    Here is another site that has a plasma speaker, ball lightning generator, and other stuff that Erco would love...
    http://www.angelfire.com/electronic/cwillis/

    It seems to me that there should be a distinction made between arc speakers and corona tweeters. Both plasmas. The former modulate an arc maintained between two electrodes at a relatively low carrier frequency ~100kHz, using something like a flyback or ignition transfomer. The later use a RF corona flame generated by a Tesla coil at a relatively high frequency, ~30MHz. The former can generate audio to lower frequencies but with quite a bit of noise from the arc itself. The latter are intrinsically silent but fall off rapidly at frequencies below about 10kHz, but are flat above that well up into ultrasonic.
  • Tim-MTim-M Posts: 522
    edited 2014-03-04 11:14
    Interesting subject that I've followed for some time too. The folks at Eastern Voltage Research produce high voltage kits - tesla coils and others. The page below has two corona discharge audio speaker kits, both the standard and a high power version... be sure to watch the video clips. The corona discharge is a bit of a different take on the audio subject than the Kickstarter type that started the thread.

    http://www.easternvoltageresearch.com/audio_classe.html

    Some of their tesla coils are audio modulated also.
  • Duane DegnDuane Degn Posts: 10,588
    edited 2014-03-04 12:03
    Dave Hein wrote: »
    Just out of curiosity, does the plasma speaker emit ultra-violet like an arc welder does? It may not be a good idea to look at it for an extended period of time.

    I was wondering the same thing.

    My experience making sparks was fun until later that day when my eyes started hurting.

    Here's the video of the sparks (sparks don't start until 1:20).

    I think it would be a good idea to find out if the plasma speaker can be harmful to eyes.
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