Placement tips for Synergistic Research HTFs

toddverrone
I’m interested to hear how your experiments turn out. As soon as a saw what these things are, my first thought was that there should be different sizes for different frequencies and their harmonics.

A very perceptive question, why shouldn’t there be different sizes? Why are all of the original Tchang tiny bowls all the same diameter? Why wouldn’t he have a whole range of sizes? And why are all tiny bowls from other manufacturers all approximately the same diameter as Tchang’s? Did they all just blindly copy his? And why is bass performance affected so much by the tiny little bowls? Answers at 11

Sabai, sorry but you’re wrong. See below for examples from Franck Tchang’s website diagram and instructions for using HIS acoustic resonators. The steps of the diagram are specific to his gold, silver, platinum and basic models. Even if resonators are in the same shape and geometry as the original Acoustic Resonators (which your cheap knock-offs almost certainly aren’t) different materials, metals, ceramics, whatever, will have different reactions in different positions. Of course it’s your option to guess but IMHO there are simply too many variables for guessing to be a good choice. That’s why the only logical and reasonable approach is to use a SPL meter and test tone(s) of your choice. This probably explains why you had to use SO MANY resonators. Eventually you will find the ideal locations by accident. Wake up and smell the coffee! 😀

[Also, note that caveats are provided in his instructions, such as this location is good for small room with big speakers. So, obviously his diagrams are NOT intended to be universal.]

Step 4 should only use the Silver or Gold Special models. This position is very effective to open up the corners. The wooden base must be installed on the sidewall but butt right up against the front wall. It should sit slightly lower than the center resonator of Step 3 but no lower than 5cm from the ceiling.

Step 6 should use the Gold or Platinum versions. Install these units on the side walls as high as possible. Relative to your listening position, these resonators should align within a plus 100cm, minus 50cm window in front of and behind your chair. These two units cancel the sidewall reflections and reduce low-frequency resonance.

The Silver or Gold Special models are suitable for Step 8. This pair should be installed as high as possible on the sidewalls and butt right up against the rear wall. This location is very useful for smaller rooms with big speakers.

If you check Franck’s site you will see that this statement is simply incorrect. His 8 diagrams clearly pertain to all of his "tiny" bowls.

Exactly. And his bowls are gold and silver and platinum. His diagrams don’t apply to cheap DIY knock offs. Hel-loo! Your comments remind me that you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink. Look within, grasshopper.

One of Newton's Laws: For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Sealed box speakers have no way to react to the speaker driver motion except to vibrate the cabinets. Planar speakers use the back wave to offload energy, thus resonators will probably not be very efficacious on planar frames. There is no energy in the vertical directions or the horizontal directions in the plane of the diaphragm.

If you’re using panels the acoustic waves will obviously set up in the room quite a bit differently than conventional box speakers. Thus take any diagrams with a grain of salt. Also keep in mind Tchang’s diagram is indicated on his web site as pertinent ONLY to his Silver and Gold tiny bowls, so I suggest using the diagram with that in mind. Of course the best way to locate the ideal positions for any resonator(s) is to employ a test tone and SPL meter.