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Can a tiny silver bowl affect music reproduction

I am speaking of the Ziplex one half inch wide silver bowls, but the same questions apply to the Synergistic Research ARTs.

About two weeks ago I had four audiophiles in my listening room. We were listening to the impact of the Tripoint Troy Signature. I was standing and noticed that one of the eleven Zilplexes in my room was laying flat on the three silver support rods on the wall. It was the one that is about midway down the left wall and about seven and a half feet off the floor. It is supposed to be at a 45ยบ angle facing the wall. As unobtrusively as possible I stepped on a foot stool that I leave there as this is a common happening and carefully inclined the bowl into a proper condition. I then returned to where I was standing.

Someone asked what did I just do, and I stated the above. They all were in disbelief about how it could have such an effect. I told them that Zilplex had been at CES and at the RMAF about a year or two ago, I repeatedly did their demonstration of removing all eleven Zilplexes. Always those in the audience said exactly what my four friends had said.

Having stumbled onto these a couple of years ago, I said that the inventor and owner really didn't have an explanation for the effect that it was all a trial and error process, which, of course, had taken countless hours. Synergistic Research also has a comparable bowl device, which Ted Denny attributes to his hear Tibetan monks and their bowls. There are of course Tibetan bowls. Syn. Res. ARTs are bigger than the Zilplexes but neither is the size of typical Tibetan bowls.

Tibetan bowls, of course, resonate when struck or rubbed at the rim. SR ARTs ring when knocked together. Zilplex don't ring. I asked Zilplex about this and was told they ring but at a frequency we cannot hear. My question is why would ringing bowls located variously in a room, greatly improve the apparent size of the rooms and the realism of the reproduced music?

All I can say is that they do, and I have heard no real explanation.
tbg
nonoise's avatar
nonoise
10,891 posts
 
When I attended the second to last Newport Audio show, one of the larger demo rooms had the Tchang acoustic bowls all over the place. There were some on the wall behind the speakers, on the equipment in the middle and right in front of the speakers. As I sat down, I noticed that one of the bowls in front of the speakers was knocked over. Music was playing and people were talking since the demo hadn't officially started. As I started to look away, someone righted the bowl and it produced a very dramatic change in the music. It actually startled me. The whole soundstage changed and everything locked in, so to speak.

To this day I can not figure out what happened. I mentioned it to one of the presenters of the demo and he couldn't explain why but offered that lots of dealers use them, so he does as well. There is something at play here and though it's an easy target to mock, I'll keep on straddling the fence on this one.

All the best,
Nonoise
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
They are Helmholtz resonators. They have a relatively low resonant frequency due to the wide, short "nozzle" of the bowl even though the volume is low. A clue to how they work is the placement of the bowls at first reflection points and standing wave locations. An empty coke bottle also exhibits a relatively low resonant frequency when one blows across the lip of the bottle. In fact, coke bottle resonators should work very well in a pinch.
buconero117
2,311 posts
 
Any and all the objects and their placement in a room will effect the sound the room producers for your unique ears. There is no way to predict how any object will react, including silver bowls. Best way to find out is to have them in your room and listen. Better sound? You be the judge, its that simple.
tbg OP
5,263 posts
 
Mapman, I didn't say that he cannot hear. I watched him ponder how to treat a room with a small side room on the speaker wall. It took him two days but then that room had no effect on the sound.

I also know that he tried many bowl sizes and metals and countless placements of the devices as well a many different numbers of those devices. Trial and error are the only alternative if there is no theory on which to base these decisions.

Buconero117, I agree but some objects have greater effects and trial and error is very time consuming. Just imagine designing a passenger aircraft by trial and error!
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,316 posts
 
I may bbuy a pair of $30 tibetian bowls, set them square center on top of my OHMs, and see/listen what happens.

OHMs are uniquely designed to enable placing objects on them and having a better than average chance of hearing something different.

If nothing good happens, well, like I said at least I have a nice pair of conversation pieces and yoga aids.
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