Posted by Harry
Audio-Video | 01 Feb 07 | Comments (5) | Stumble
Japanese “sound space designer” Kunihiro Tsuji will be presenting his MODAL Water Speaker at this year's Milano Design Week. The speaker system transmits sound via a resonance box filled with water. Tsuji was inspired by the human body, which is 70% water. "The loudspeaker is placed on top of the water surface as though floating. Its drop-shaped, transparent cone integrates in the aesthetic concept of the MODAL Water Speaker. The audio cable runs invisibly inside of one of the [support] legs and connects the MODAL Water Speaker to any kind of amplifier.".
MODAL Water Speaker.
it looks cool, but is there any vid or somthin' we could see it running?
It would be interesting to know a little about how much the audio quality has to suffer to make this obviously cool design possible.
Neat idea but I don't see it working so well. While water is an excellent conductor of sound, transfer of sound from water to air is notoriously bad. Ever hear a whale song or dolphin chatter above water? Nope.
Not to mention that you would have to re-fill it with demineralized water all the time. Simply using tap water would leave marks on the glass and speaker. Do you suppose the sound is meant to travel through the glass..?
Actually, a person who lives relatively close invented a prototype like this quite a few years ago. The demo was fascinating. It is quite disturbing to the unsuspecting person. It caused anything that contains water to resonate with it. A person literally vibrates internally! Sony affered to buy the patent and the guy declined. :-/ Now, someone I am acquainted with owns this prototype.