If you’re looking a challenge then this is the project for you!!

What is a plasma speaker?

 

A plasma speaker is one seriously crazy speaker that has no moving parts. I originally got the idea from a web page (Ulrich Haumann) and plan to develop the concept to the point where it can be used reliably in a hi-fi system.  Another really good site on DIY plasma speakers construction can be found here.

 

Unfortunately, this path to hi-fi utopia is fraught with many perils:

 

1) Ozone (a carcinogen)

2) Lethal High voltage

3) Almost uncontrollable R.F. radiation (ie. ruins TV reception and screws with anything, such as CD players)

 

The challenges that I’ve yet to over come are:

 

-Mains hum suppression (this speaker produces a loud 50Hz buzz)

-R.F. supperssion

 

Anyway, enough of the boring stuff. This is what it looks like using different lighting conditions whilst playing with time lapse photography :)

So what does it sound like?

My first attempt (shown above) was really just a prototype to see if it would work.  Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, it does not sound anything like HiFi.  To be honest, it sounds really bad!  Also, there is a significant amount of 50Hz mains hum and hiss included in the output.  I'm working on ideas to improve the speaker however this project is a low priority and has been on hold over the last 4 years.  

February 2002: Stay tuned as I've slowly been accumulating ideas and parts for the second revision.  Hopefully this new version will be a bit closer to HiFi!......