Hydrosonic subwoofer II review (1 Viewer)

[JessPrice]

Ahhh, I was wishing this was a water-bladder-subwoofer and I could toss it in the pool and "feel" the bass while swimming But then I would have to find a way not to electrocute myself :frowning:

 

[MikeKaz]

john that link is a little outdated. the website is at

http://www.soundrelatedtech.com/frame_consumer.htm

 

[Jaime B]

Pleeeease! Give me a break. These claims are all wet! Vibration from the bladder hitting your body before the sound waves!!! Einstein is screaming from the grave!!!

I was about to explode with laughter until I checked their website and found they also manufacture the HYDROSONIC RELAXATION TABLE. WOW!
Forget Home Theater, stress is killing us and this is the solution! This is SERIOUS stuff!
According to the manufacturer it is used by Physicians, Trainers, Elite Athletes, Celebrities (me), Psychologists, Resorts, Spas, Personal Care Salons, Cruise Lines, Massage Therapist, Corporate Stress Reduction Programs, Pain Reduction Centers, and many more.
If you dig further, you'll find out it is also used by lunatics, crackpots, mafia hit men, drug-addicts, psychopaths, whores, bitches, Fred Flinstone, Power-Puff Girls, and God knows who else.

Velodyne - be forewarned, you are dead on the water....

JaimeB

 

[Brett DiMichele]

Wonder if IBS will make some full range speakers? I really
could use a pair of full range units with a "Liquid Midrange"

Ohh and hey Jaime watch it with the Mafia Hitmen pot
shots.. I ain't whacked anyone in a week or two!

 

[Chris Tsutsui]

I think I'm gonna be sick...

 

[Mike Sloan]

Thus, a sinusoidal input to the SRT/IBS system will produce a sound pressure in air, as well as, a vibratory displacement in liquid/solid at the same driving frequencies with little or no distortion.

So the mystery is solved...it's a conventional sub coupled to a "Butt Kicker" type system utilizing water badders that couple to the floor. Most of the time we are trying to "decouple" the sub from the floor through the use of spikes or other heavy dampening material. Does low frequency travel through the floor, walls, furniture (to us)...quicker than through the air? I know with Oceanagraphic studies...low frequencies travel farther, faster, and sustain their energy longer in water than they do in air. "Bathythermograph" studies support this. The speed of sound and duration of trace are effected by temperature, pressure and salinity. In analyzing the results of these tests, they discovered a channel across which sound waves could travel thousands of miles with minimal loss of signal. The U.S. Navy exploited this to devise a system called SOSUS which allowed them to detect and get information about submarines. I don't think I will run out and buy one yet...interesting to read, however!

 

[Steve_D]

Since we are all laughing about water systems now...I read once in an article about Bill Gates house where he has a pool with an underwater speaker system and electronics that compensate for the speed of sound in water so that whatever is being played and heard in the system above water can also be heard in the water....

???

 

[MikeKaz]

sound waves (vibrations) travel much faster through water and solids than they do through air which is much less dense. it's because air molecules are more widely spaced out. if for example someone dropped something on the floor you would definately feel it before you would hear it even if you couldnt perceive the delay.

speed of sound in air 350 m/s
speed of sound in oak (like in floors) 3000 m/s
speed of sound in water 1480 m/s

the bill gates system makes sense. its just so there isnt like a half second delay in the music from when you have your head underwater to when you're at the surface

 

[Robert_Gaither]

I have an interesting question if a spl meter can't measure it, how does one calibrate this to blend with one's music or hometheater correctly to get an accurate and meaningful comparison to the other products out there?

I hate to say this John, but the claims you're posting seems very much like marketing hyperbole to me. I don't know about others but I'm always suspicious when a company comes with a self patented copyright and try to market completely from that "HydroSonic® systems" which means absolutely nothing to me unless you give us clearly defined technical details (after all, they seem to own the patent so if someone copies it after they disclose some details they'll get their cut). When SVS was introducing their products they gave numbers in the form of frequencies and decibles at those frequencies and even what a few cuts from some of the movies that most of us are familiar with for reference. If this company has such a remarkable performance a few numbers for some of us inquiring minds will only help and not hurt their reputation here (unless they're afraid).

I'm not stating these things to be harmful but the "my dad can beat up your dad" arguments we see so much on every audio forum of the gear most of us have chosen for our own theaters can be compared by at least meeting the minimum requirements of at least meeting reference levels, then comparing with another item of merit that does also.

 

[Andrew Pierce]

Isn't this enough?

[...]without the discomfort of excessive sound pressure levels.

You can have the comfort of knowing that while the system is no doubt producing amazing bass output inside the bladder, you won't be inconvenienced by having too much of it transmitted to you by way of those irritating sound pressure waves!

 

[Cam S]

Good grief, those first couple of posts makes it all sound like a bad infomercial.

 

[JohnRuggiero]

I just gave my review of the most amazing subwoofer I have ever experianced. I have bass that I feel in my gut and on my chest that is simply amazing. I had a friend over my house and he said he felt the chair he was in move a half an inch with every bass note. I really enjoy my IBS-12s. These subwoofers are in many many theaters in the USA and they are just starting to get into the home theater area. I do not understand all the hate that seems to be invoked by my thead. I just wrote about my experiance with this product. I thought this was a forum for people serious about sound. I guess I was wrong.

 

[CurtisSC]

John,

What other subwoofers have you experienced or owned?

 

[JohnRuggiero]

I had the Paradigm PS-1000 and SVS 16-46PC with the new improved driver.

 

[Frank Carter]

I might be making a trip to the Virginia Beach area soon. I think I'm going to email the company to see if they will allow a demo at their HQ. If I go, I'll definitely post a review of my own too.

 

[DanaA]

I don't understand all the negativity either. I do recognize how people could be skeptical, but this seems to be moving beyond that. I, for one, was interested in your review and would be interested in hearing one of the subs, so I could judge for myself.

Thanks for the review John.

 

[Jaime B]

John:

My post was just to poke fun at this "new" technology, no hate whatsoever!!! The company makes a therapeutic bed which I did find VERY amusing, especially the way its claims are presented. EXAGGERATED!

Rest assured that air-borne vibrations cannot be felt before the (also) airborne sound pressure wave hits you, its one and the same. That doesn't mean it is not one heck of a subwoofer...

Remember, at one time people laughed at the claim that the Earth was round, then people laughed at the claim that the planet revolved around the Sun, later at the thought that Humans could eventually fly. Eventually people stopped laughing. Allow me to indulge in some fun now before my jaw drops at the performance of this sub (and maybe not).

NO HARM INTENDED!

Regards from a HTF friend,

JaimeB

 

[MikeKaz]

nah... there was definately a lot of hating and ridiculing of this product going on. i dont think the fact that the original link was a website full of pop-up ads helped. someone should email this company and see if they can explain their technology better.

 

[Andrew Pierce]

John,

My bad! I was under the impression you were posing as an end user to post messages in an attempt to shill a product with a ton of laugh-out-loud, scientificly unsound marketspeak. But I guess you're just wrote about my experiance with this product. So sorry!

If you are indeed earnest, you're doing a remarkably good impression of a spam marketer. And if the product we're discussing is in fact a terrific subwoofer, it's a shame that all of the marketing material makes it look so much like a scam.

There are a number of questions which the people selling this product (whether or not you're one of them) would need to answer to appear legit. First and foremost of which is if the sound waves don't reach by way of sound pressure waves through the air, how do thay reach you? Through the floor? Telekenesis? If it's the floor, how does one account for different materials? If it's the air, what frequencies is it capable of at what volume levels? If it is used in professional theater installs, where? How many units? All we would need is one location. I suspect there may be someone on the forum who could go and experience it firsthand, wherever it may be? Are there any patents on this technology and what are their numbers? The folks on our DIY forums get into some pretty esoteric stuff. If they've never heard of this type of subwoofer, why is that?

I don't expect you to be able to answer these questions. After all you're just this guy with no attachemnt to the company whatsoever, who happened to try out their stuff. But until someone answers one or two of the above questions, I don't suppose you'll find many uncritical responses to unproven, unsubstantiated, and somewhat iffy sounding claims.

 

[Robert_Gaither]

The ultra low frequency response improves cinema sound quality by providing high definition sound vibration that is felt by the audience. All bass speakers give you the noise, but not always the sound. It takes a special effort to capture these sounds. In other words, a special dedication to incorporate these sounds into a production. But no matter how much effort has been put into the sound, a bass speaker has been putting out the same old sound; until now.

Several questions: 1) What is high definition sound vibration, 2) If bass speakers give us the noise, but not always the sound, but has been put out the same old sound then if these were the reference subs (such as the M&K, Bag End, Velodyne, etc) that sound mixers used what will this sub do that some of these reference subs can't within the same frequencies? 3) Since I couldn't fit everything to quote from, seems each of these subs use drivers and vents but makes the claim that it doesn't make the loud and annoying level of sounds that it "Current bass speaker technology allows the listener to feel the sound by blasting the volume at uncomfortable audio levels" how does this do this accurately when a 105 db of 30 hz freq is going to sound/feel the same if a sub is reproducing it accurately?