They’re apparently real, and judging from this Instructable, look wicked as hell. I can’t imagine that it’d be good for any electronic gear to be close to them, and you’d probably want to put some kind of enclosure around them to keep small children and animals from trying to touch the streams. Still, I keep staring at the corners in my living room and thinking that it’d just be fucking awesome to have giant plasma speakers in them. (Not that I could afford the electric bill for that, I’m sure.)
Awesome! (in several senses of the word)
Brian
A set-up of these in surround sound would be pretty neat to have, but then I’d have three dead cats too. Somebody will release a commercially viable plasma speaker soon.
They are real, and real expensive. As acommercial product, they sell for about $56,000 a pair.
Not particularly new either - people have been messing with the idea for 30 or so years. One primary difficulty is in matching plasma tweeters to conventional woofers and midrange drivers. Then there’s the whole high voltage and high frequency RF generation to drive the arc, and more often than not, ozone. Earlier designs, such as the Plasmatronic, also suffered from needing a steady supply of compressed helium.
Can I just say that if I’m going to be plunking down that kind of bank, I want my speakers to not look from a distance that they’re made out of particle board.
I was about to get pissed at Tuckerfan for even posting this, but at 56 K a pair, I’ll live without them. (even with burlwood enclosures)
You’d better not click this link, then.
Apparently, when you stand next to these, you can really feel the air moving. One of their demos is said to be that of a helicopter taking off.
All I have to say is: Hill Plasmatronics Type V.
Leave it to a machinist to find the really cool stuff.