I agree, it takes many hours to dial them in. At first it was a bit frustrating, but after I got the basic formula figured out, it was a lot of fun. What a nerd I am. My wife just shakes her head :-) as we go through the local antique marts looking for the right containers.
Helmhotz resonators for audiophile at almost no cost and without calculus...
The importance to treat the room if you have speakers, even in nearfield listening like me, is imperative ...
Here is my advice:
Buy some big empty wine bottles, or drink them before, it is optional....Or use some carafes, the kind that some display at the center of a table....I use plastic wrapping sheets to tightly seal the aperture of the bottles and the carafes after pouring in them around 10 % of water in their volume space...You must listen and experiment for your taste and room to determine the exact amount of water to boost the frequencies that will benefit….After that I peirce the plastic sheet with a needle and I insert a thin straw with only the extremity of the straw at the top... That its! You know have an Helhmotz resonator...
You now have one of the more astounding tweak for a room that will transform your listening space in sound heaven ...I use more than 15 of them in my little audio room and trust me that is one of a kind upgrading...
I wrote that for those who want to experiment, the others can stay silent...My best to all...
Here is my advice:
Buy some big empty wine bottles, or drink them before, it is optional....Or use some carafes, the kind that some display at the center of a table....I use plastic wrapping sheets to tightly seal the aperture of the bottles and the carafes after pouring in them around 10 % of water in their volume space...You must listen and experiment for your taste and room to determine the exact amount of water to boost the frequencies that will benefit….After that I peirce the plastic sheet with a needle and I insert a thin straw with only the extremity of the straw at the top... That its! You know have an Helhmotz resonator...
You now have one of the more astounding tweak for a room that will transform your listening space in sound heaven ...I use more than 15 of them in my little audio room and trust me that is one of a kind upgrading...
I wrote that for those who want to experiment, the others can stay silent...My best to all...
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Thanks Boxer... I think that relatively to the particular room, and relatively to one another, the carafe,bottles,containers, may complement each other in the cleaning of the acoustic field frequencies, modulo some little expriment with volume and the length and perimeter of the straws or the equivalent device... |
boxer12Boxer how many flasks do you use? I beat you for the price, I use 20 containers, plastic, glass, wine refiner, carafe, 2 with 5 gallons volume 2 with 3 gallons, the others between 500 milliter and 1 liter... The effects on the dynamic and clarity and bass depth are astounding... |
The glass 500ml volumetric flasks work great. They are a bit more sensitive than the other containers I've used. Filling them 16% full (with cutting oil) while using a .140 hole an inch & a half in length. I bought the flasks on amazon at 4 for $32. I believe individually they are around $10. Pretty cheap tweek indeed! |
For the moment my experiments were very conclusive with thin staw compress to half of their original diameter,not more than 2 or 3 inches long, inserted in the plastic wrapped sheet at the nozzle of my varied carafe,bottles,or 3 or 5 gallons plastic and glass container+ only a minimal volume of water 1 inches...The results are so great that I will wait a bit to replace all that, cost is almost nothing...The impact on sound was so great that any other upgrade is probably less an upgrade than that cheap resonators room’s tweak...This thread is only to inform the newcomers about that... I am thankful for any suggestion about improving that for sure...Thanks then to Ozzy for that... |
Some of my tips for this tweek. 1. Instead of using the "slush" straws how about using tubing perhaps the size used for ice maker's?. Or some teflon tubing used for interconnects. That way you can experiment with the length and/or the diameter of the tube. 2. For a container, perhaps use PVC pipe with reducers, caps etc. for further experimentation. You can even coat the inside/ outside with Graphene. 3. Perhaps use some oil in sealed pouches inside the PVC pipe cannisters that won't evaporate as easily. BTW, tweak1 you need to get some netting... ozzy |
I gain some better results by cutting the diameter of regular straw in half and shorten the regular straw to around 2 inches in many of my carafe or in some of my big glass container 3 or 5 gallons but not all of them...It is necessary to experiment in your particular rooms to go for the best.... I will never listen music in a room without resonators now...Great impact... my best to all... |
boxer12 mahgister, Yes thanks Boxer that's help much to figure the idea....My best to you... |
mahgister, I don't think there is anything wrong with your method, so I hope you didn't take it that way. My only problem with the straw was the hole diameter being to large for the results I was looking for. I have a small metal working machine shop in my basement so all I'm doing is machining caps (or plugs) for the bottles & drilling a .125 hole (1/8") in the solid cap then placing a chamfer on both ends of the hole. The chamfer is about 60 degrees and approx. .100 deep & should help the air move in and out of the bottle a little more efficiently. Total length of the cap is about 1.5" to 2" long. It also appears that the fat bottom long neck bottles work best, as you already discovered. Hope this helps. |
mahgister Very Interesting, I also have, years ago, a small platic cube, with a hole, fix to the back of my speakers and only just a half inch, up or down the back of the speaker would transform the sound ! May be You should post a video on YouTube: Helmholtz Bottle with straw. Thank you |
boxer122,282 posts06-06-2019 9:22pmI think I've got the formula worked out for my room now. I'm at 8 of them right now & it's sounding better than ever. Great "tweak". It appears that the straw wasn't working well for me so I'm using a .125 hole (with a large chamfer at both ends) at about an 1 1/2 in length. I'm also using cutting oil (very thin) instead of water. Will you explain more what you said? I am not sure to understand...I use thin straw inserted I a wrapped plastified sheet at the nozzle...It seems you proceed not in the same manner... I will appreciate a more detailed description... |
I think I've got the formula worked out for my room now. I'm at 8 of them right now & it's sounding better than ever. Great "tweak". It appears that the straw wasn't working well for me so I'm using a .125 hole (with a large chamfer at both ends) at about an 1 1/2 in length. I'm also using cutting oil (very thin) instead of water. Geoff & Mahgistar, Thanks for bringing this one to the forefront! |
I used a box about the size of a USPS box size 18x12x4 or any medium size box will work. 200-500 cu. in. Sealed. Cavity resonance. You will feel the box vibrate in your hand when the box enters a standing wave zone or other pressure peak zone. The average volume in the room should be moderately loud since a certain level of energy is needed to make the box vibrate. It would not work for low volume. |
That's explain the Frank Tchang resonators efficiency : http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/acousticsystem/resonators.html |
Aren’t tiny little bowl resonators really Helmholtz resonators with very small volume, relatively large nozzle cross sectional area A and very small nozzle length L? The resonant frequency of the Helmholtz resonator is directly proportional to the square root of the cross sectional area of the nozzle A and inversely proportional to both the square root of the length of the nozzle L and the square root of the volume V. Thus, very small volumes can have very high Fr. |
I think I am done now... All is better, the dynamic, the natural instrumental timbre of instruments, the successive holographic layers of sound in an enveloping fashion (I am in nearfield listening but the final result are way better also for room listening anywhere in the room)... I think that the varied bottles,carafes, jerrycans, and glass buckets, correct mutually each other their deficiencies and the final results are at my amazing satisfaction, with for example a bass clarity and depth incredible for my 7 inches Mission Cyrus 781 drivers...One year ago I dreamed to add a sub to my system, it is no more necessary, and absolutely without any more interest...I am done and bewildered more than yesterday...It is the end of this story...My best to all... |
For those with enough disposable income, there are sets you can buy if you google it. Here's a link to a complete set of resonators but these are not for sale: https://utsic.utoronto.ca/wpm_instrument/helmholtz-resonators/ Just click on the photo to get a better view. All the best, Nonoise |