[linuxid10t]

This might sound totally crazy, but a friend of mine and I, are looking to make "plasma" headphones.  I am not sure who has seen plasma speakers, but they look pretty cool, and we want to make a headphone version of them.  I was just wondering if anyone has any ideas for them.  BTW, I know the dangers involved in creating such a contraption.  Is it a good idea, probably not.  Doesn't matter to me, I want to create them for the hell of it, not for much of a legitimate use.  Although, if they will work legitimately, all the better.

 

[Uncle Erik]

If I recall, there have been some plasma headphones. I think nikongod knows more - hopefully he'll notice this thread.

As for safety, run a few searches about Nelson Pass' experience with DIY plasma speakers. That was enough to put me off them. I wouldn't want an ozone generator on my head.

 

[Alcaudon]

I was curious about Nelson Pass's plasma speakers story and did a search. I just wanted to reproduce one of Nelson's phrases:
 
"It was the perfect high end audio product: Exotic, inefficient, expensive, unavailable, and toxic."
 
lol

 

[nikongod]

I dunno.  
 
I think the last thread on this topic was one using "normal" atmospheric air with some sort of ionic drive. 

 

[IPodPJ]

Quote:

This might sound totally crazy, but a friend of mine and I, are looking to make "plasma" headphones.  I am not sure who has seen plasma speakers, but they look pretty cool, and we want to make a headphone version of them.  I was just wondering if anyone has any ideas for them.  BTW, I know the dangers involved in creating such a contraption.  Is it a good idea, probably not.  Doesn't matter to me, I want to create them for the hell of it, not for much of a legitimate use.  Although, if they will work legitimately, all the better.

Why don't you jump out of an airplane at 10,000 feet without a parachute first?  It's not safe either, but the impact will "look pretty cool."

 

[kevin gilmore]

Here you go.  Relatively easy to build.  Not really sure about a total of 90 watts of RF on your head...
 
http://gilmore.chem.northwestern.edu/ionovac1.gif
http://gilmore.chem.northwestern.edu/ionovac2.gif
 
A little bit of ozone never hurt anyone.
 
A lot of ozone is a problem however.

 

[JohnFerrier]

Kevin,
 
Leave to you to find something to post on topic. I'm not ready for plasma headphones. However, the pictures you posted look the same to me.
 
 
John

 
Quote:

Here you go.  Relatively easy to build.  Not really sure about a total of 90 watts of RF on your head...
 
http://gilmore.chem.northwestern.edu/ionovac1.gif
http://gilmore.chem.northwestern.edu/ionovac2.gif
 
A little bit of ozone never hurt anyone.
 
A lot of ozone is a problem however.

 

[walangalam]

I saw the schematic using the link title that Kevin did: 
 
http://gilmore.chem.northwestern.edu/ionovac2.gif
 
 
 
Quote:

Kevin,
 
Leave to you to find something to post on topic. I'm not ready for plasma headphones. However, the pictures you posted look the same to me.
 
 
John

 
Quote:

Here you go.  Relatively easy to build.  Not really sure about a total of 90 watts of RF on your head...
 
http://gilmore.chem.northwestern.edu/ionovac1.gif
http://gilmore.chem.northwestern.edu/ionovac2.gif
 
A little bit of ozone never hurt anyone.
 
A lot of ozone is a problem however.

 

 

[spritzer]

There was once a "commercial" plasma headphone...

 

[linuxid10t]

Thanks everyone for the ideas.  I had never seen anyone build something like this before, so thanks for the links to them.  There is one thing though, even if they take 90 watts, just a tiny fraction of it is actually going to produce sound.  Trust me though, this isn't the first time we have used dangerous amounts of electricity for crazy things.  As for the ozone problem, really, how much ozone can these things put out?  I will definitely try these outside first, but I am really not sure that on headphones it could create a dangerous amount of ozone.

 

[nikongod]

 
Quote:

Trust me though, this isn't the first time we have used dangerous amounts of electricity for crazy things.  

 
you and who?

 

[jamesbobo007]

This is a neat project, might be a starting point ?
 
http://teravolt.org/Plasma_Speaker_2.htm
 

 

[MomijiTMO]

Haha nicely done .
 
[size=medium]

Quote:

you and who?

 ​

[/size]

 

[buffalowings]

Quote:

 
Quote:

Trust me though, this isn't the first time we have used dangerous amounts of electricity for crazy things.  

 
you and who?

 

ben franklin being the first example that comes to my mind, anywho, spritzer, that website had a bunch of ad's and such that I doubt would be good for anyone's comp
Quote:

There was once a "commercial" plasma headphone...

 

[linuxid10t]

Quote:

This is a neat project, might be a starting point ?
 
http://teravolt.org/Plasma_Speaker_2.htm
 

Thanks.  This is an excellent starting point.  BTW, for those wondering, this friend of mine wouldn't be caught dead in any sort of audiophile forum.  In fact, he hates high-end audio in general.  He does however LOVE high voltage electronics.  There is a bit of a silly attraction of high voltage electronics.  Anyway, I am going to college for computer engineering, so I do have a bit of experience in electronics like this.  When this thing is done, I will definitely review it next to another pair of headphones.  I will also take plenty of pictures of the build process.