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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 45º 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
salectric
751 posts
 
Tbg, When the bowls are placed at the optimum places, do you notice any change in tonal balance? For instance, is there any brightening or accentuation of the treble? Or possibly some leaning out of the bass?

I have started experimenting with some DIY resonators and they are indeed quite interesting. Based on how this experiment goes, I may follow up with either the Synergistic Research ART or Basik, or alternatively the Zilplex.
tbg OP
5,263 posts
 
Salectric, having sat through multiple demonstrations in my two rooms and at THE Show done by Zilplex, I cannot say that I hear any change in the frequency response. I hear a great collapse of the sound stage as well as becoming much less involved in the sound field.

I still vividly remember how unsettled I was when I first got all of the Zilplexes installed properly in my small room. I had the distinct feeling that had I stood and walked three feet in front of me that I might fall into a void and that a few foot in front of that I would be on the 50 feet wide stage with Diana Krall. That doesn't bother me much anymore but I am still aware when one of the bowls is not at the 45º angle. I can also say that I have learned that having one Zilplex on the left wall slightly below that on the right wall, moves the sound away from the left side. I also only have experience only with symmetrical rooms. But I did hear an L shaped room with the speakers on the long part of the L, get treated to remove the bottom of the L part.

Although I also heard improvements with the Syn. Res. Arts in their demonstrations, they never had me so unsettled by their impact. While I am curious about why I got this impact, I still enjoy the benefits of the Zilplexes.

I should say that I have no money invested in Zilplex and don't sell them. I only would love to know why they have such impressive impact on the sound.
salectric
751 posts
 
Thank you Tbg. Your reviews of the Zilplex are why I am presently leaning in that direction. I just wanted to make sure there weren't any tonal irregularities being introduced.
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
Csontos wrote,

"If anything, they are probably just effective as a form of eq. Gearing the size to accommodate a certain freq. band and then focusing the reflection in particular directions stands to reason."

That can't be right since the tiny bowls are (intentionally) placed in locations where there are high sound pressure levels such as room corners, first reflection points, second reflection points. Nothing so mundane as focusing certain frequencies. The tiny little silver bowls have been fairly well understood for at least 10 years, ever since Franck Tchang introduced his Acoustic Resonators, just as Helmholtz resonators have been understood for, what, 150 years?
davidpritchard's avatar
davidpritchard
866 posts
 
Salectric. Your post demonstrates what a small world it is. Like Tbg I have listened to the Zilplex and Synergistic Research Acoustic Arts system. I do not think Tbg auditioned the "full" Arts System. However he is using a full Ziplex system, and I am using and quite happy with a full Synergistic Acoustic Arts system.

My common bond with you is our use of horns, tube amps, Dulands and Northcreeks. I would suggest trying the new Synergistic Research HFT- FEQ system. A tremendous improvement in allowing the sound from the speakers to interact with the room acoustics. They have a 30 day trial, are easy to set up using the You Tube tutorial, and no damage to walls. The Zilplex and Acoustic Art systems are labor intensive to optimize the room sound. However the time is worth it.
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