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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
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
Tgb wrote,

"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."

But that's not really true. For ten years, ever since the Franck Tchang tiny silver bowls came out, detailed instructions for placement have been discussed ad nauseum in the many rave reviews, most notably the 6 Moons Review by the two PhDs. I provide simple instructions for my ceramic bowls, which, not very surprisingly, mirror the instructions for other tiny bowls. Now I'm starting to see why you didn't have much luck with the Moingos. Lol
sabai
2,027 posts
 
Mapman,

Been there, done that -- with a very expensive Tibetan bowl -- about $300. It killed the sound. I use it for other purposes.
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,363 posts
 
"Mapman, why would you place them on top of the OHMs. What would you hope to prove? Have you not been following the discussion with respect to the proper locations for the singing bowls? "

Geoff, I suppose I'm just a rebel at heart...

Is there a blueprint for how to use them best with Walsh driver based omni-directional speakers like the OHMS?

They might work best the same with these speakers as others, but my experience over the years has been that OHMs and omnis aare different beasts acoustically and have to be addressed as such.

Listening to the room and not the speakers IS always the key with OHMs though, so that's a good omen. I'm very used to doing that and advising others who listen to do the same as well.

Don't worry...I have a plan. If I put them on there and they do not work, then I will...remove them and put them somewhere else where I can admire them at a minimum even if they do nothing for me audiophile-wise.
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,363 posts
 
My basic assumption would be that sound pressure levels would largely determine the magnitude of the bell ringing effect of gadgets like these bowls. Placing bowl on top of OHMs would be interesting to try, if nothing else. SPLs above teh Walsh driver are probably greater than most speakers designs but still much lower than horizontal plane, where most of the sound is directed.

IT would be a unique configuration and test.

Otherwise, I could see where prime reflection points on rear wall relative to primary listening position might be the best spot in most cases and still relevant even with omnis/OHMs.

OHMs + tibetian bowls.......truly going perhaps where no man has gone before?

Or maybe best to keep such things and stereos apart from each other for use on the more typical terms of each?

Dunno. When I scap up an extra $60 bucks for a pair of bowls, I'll provide an update.
tbg OP
5,263 posts
 
Mapman, so you are going for a shot in the dark. I would rather depend on Zilplexe's efforts to deal with all of this. I would love to have back the countless wasted hours when I tried quartz in various applications, isolation feet of various materials, power cords, cartridges, etc. Even in retirement my time is worth something and, of course, limited.
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