Placement tips for Synergistic Research HTFs

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.

geoffkait,

You stated, "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."

Why "take any diagrams with a grain of salt" -- with the added inevitability of "thus"? Why not think for yourself and try them out? If you have panels, what have you got to lose? The 4 manufacturers who have published diagrams may not be wrong, or totally wrong, in the case of panels. And you may want to email them and get their opinions. They may in fact have experience with panels. So, my advice is to take the various diagrams any way you wish. They may work for you or not. Or parts may work for you. Unless you have actually gone to the trouble and done the work, and not simply speculated about how things will "thus" turn out, it could go either way. The proof of the pudding is in the eating. 

You stated, "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."

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. And who is to say his diagrams will not apply to other resonators, as well? In fact, his diagrams work very well for my DIY resonators. YMMV, of course. So, I suggest keeping an open mind by using the diagrams without any preconceptions. After all, what have you got to lose? They will either work for you or not. It is also possible that parts may work for you. Until you do the work, making a statement about grains of salt is simply an "in my opinion" kind of thing. Each person needs to do the work in his/her system to find out if this is true or not. And, as I said earlier, there is a lot of trial and error here after you experiment with the diagrams.

You stated, "Of course the best way to locate the ideal positions for any resonator(s) is to employ a test tone and SPL meter." If you add "in my opinion" here, as well, I do not think anyone's feelings would be at all hurt. IMO. Lol.

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.

@ozzy thanks a million! It's nice to have something productive pop up between the bickering.

I just checked out the tiny metal bowls... They're for fly tying! That's great! I used to tie flies and go fly fishing a lot in middle and high school.. I never wrote have thought to look for tiny bowls there. How the heck did you find them, Ozzy?