Synergistic Research Acoustic ART analogue room tr

Tbg, I'm sorry. The "they" I was referring to was the little bowls themselves. What physics tells us is that for a rigid object, rigidly mounted, to reflect a sound wave in air, it must have its smallest dimension at least half that of the wavelength to be reflected.

Working the math backwards, if the largest of these devices is half the size of a CD case (3 inches), then it could reflect a 6 inch (.5 foot) long sound wave. Sound travels at ~1100 ft/sec in air at sea level. 1100ft/sec. divided by .5 foot = 2200 Hz (cycles per second) the lowest frequency which that object could reflect (or be excited by to make it resonate.)

A wave front leaving a loudspeaker quickly grows to over a hundred square feet just a couple of feet out from the speaker. If these devices are roughly 9 sq. in. in area (1/16 of a sq. foot) it would take approximately 1500 of them in front of EACH speaker to significantly reflect (or be excited by) any frequency above 2200 Hz -- and that's just for the largest of these little devices.

The key word here is "significantly"! Sure, everything affects everything else. Cryogenics, pyramids, etc. I'm totally down with the "butterfly effect"; however, it takes a LOT of Monarch butterflies beating their wings IN UNISON across Mexico to affect the weather in China ;--)

If the people at SR had provided some test results showing the amplitude and frequency at which a single one of these devices resonated when excited ONLY by the frequencies generated by an audio system in a typical room, then I would consider them to be "active". However I would also probably conclude that one or two of them wouldn't be enough to SIGNIFICANTLY affect the sonics of of an audio system. To wit -- from the SR website, it says very clearly:

Ted visited Buddhist Temples and observed how Tibetan Prayer Bowls altered temple acoustics. These singing bowls affected a sudden shift in acoustics whenever they were activated, and when additional bowls of varying tone were also activated, the acoustics continued to change. Ted reasoned that a system of resonating bowls could be developed to discreetly treat room acoustics without the need for large unsightly tuning devices

Have you seen the THOUSANDS of bowls in a typical Buddhist Temple? Sure, they resonate all right, but as in the above quote, they have to be "activated" -- and NOT BY THE CHANTING OF THE BUDDHIST MONKS! They have to struck with a mallet!! Perhaps someone struck Ted with a mallet and he thought it was the bowls that were resonating ;--)

I hope that clears up the basis of my skepticism.

Neil

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Slipknot1, did you and your buddies not buy the ARTs because you were unimpressed with what they did?

Myself, I heard a slight difference for the better. I won't presume to speak for my friends however. In my case, I already have a Rives designed room treatment situation. The difference I heard in the room at the Marriott did not convince me that it would make a difference in my room. The "show price" was far too high (MSRP even more so), to justify the expense.

Why it is the one person who did purchase has not used them is a question you would have to ask him about.

I was not questioning the efficacy of the product as much as I was questioning your sweeping generalization that members of my audio group purchased the product based upon a brief demo in a crappy sounding hotel room.

I have never posted on any forum before this, but there is such controversy over whether resonators such as Synergistic Research ART and Franck Tchang's little bowls actually DO anything that I just feel I have to say something !!
Audiofeil and Nsgarch are ABSOLUTELY RIGHT !!!! . Resonators such as the SR ART can't possibly work because the laws of physics tell us that it is impossible.
And of course bees can't fly for exactly the same reason. So I know that when I see a bee flying it is is only an illusion. I see the bee flying because that is what I WANT to see and therefore I have convinced myself that the bee is in fact flying.
And then of course there is Xeno's turtle. Xeno mathematically demonstrated that nothing can move from point A to point B. So when I get up out of bed in the morning and move my butt from point A (my home) to point B (my work place) I am not really at work at all. I am actually still at home on my bed enjoying another hour or two of peaceful relaxing sleep. Or better yet, I am at home still enjoying my SR ART enhanced stereo, which in fact I can't hear at all because it doesn't make any sound due to the fact that, as Xeno showed, nothing can move. Therefore the sound waves do NOT, in fact, ever arrive at my ears. My being at work is just an illusion because that is where I WANT to be and therefore I have convinced myself that that is where I am.
Then there is the question of existence itself. Nothing can possibly exist because in order for anything at all to exist something either had to have always existed or something had to have just suddenly just sprung into existence out of nothing. Even the pea sized blob of concentrated matter that exploded at the big bang had to have always existed or had to have somehow just suddenly come into existence from absolute nothingness. (So too a creator). The ideas that something ALWAYS existed and/or just suddenly came into existence are both contrary to logic. They aren't even imaginable. (Try to seriously imagine something always being there without any beginning whatsoever. Bet you can't do it without asking yourself over and over again, ''But where did it come from?'')
So it looks like I have simply convinced myself that something exists because that is what I WANT to believe... but waaaiiiiit a darn minute!!! How can I POSSIBLY convince myself that things exist??? I DON"T EXIST !!
So... bees can't fly because the laws of physics and aerodynamics say they can't; I can't get to work because mathematics can demonstrate movement is impossible; I can't really hear my stereo for the same reason; and I don't exist because my existence is not logically possible...
AND, of course... Audiofeil and Nsgarch are absolutely right ... resonators can't possibly work !!!!
And since God has, as of yet, failed to provide me with any test results to prove that anything exists, It would seem that the whole universe is nothing but... SNAKE OIL!!
Oh, and by the way, I won't be participating in this forum ever again... not because I don't want to, mind you, but because I don't exist. Therefore I can't participate.
But then didn't Descarte say, ''I participate, therefore I am?''

Lolligager, well put post.