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Aug 10, 2011 -
Oct 9, 2011
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- Website: studentrnd.org
Pledge $5 or more
12 backers
Thanks for supporting us! We'll include your name in the instruction manual as a thank you!
Estimated delivery: Nov 2011Pledge $20 or more
6 backers
For $20, you get the circuit board itself. This will allow you to use your own electrical components to build your own plasma speaker (part specs will be included in the instruction manual).
Estimated delivery: Nov 2011Pledge $40 or more
8 backers
For $40, you can get the printed board and the components that go in it. You will still need a 12V power supply and flyback transformer to complete the plasma speaker. This level isn't recommended if you're new to putting together circuits, since we won't be able to offer much guidance on connecting the power/transformer.
Estimated delivery: Nov 2011Pledge $60 or more
59 backers
For $60 you get everything but the 12-volt power supply. This includes the printed board, electrical components and flyback transformer.
Estimated delivery: Nov 2011Pledge $80 or more
85 backers
For $80, you get the complete kit - everything you need to build your own plasma speaker. This is perfect for people interested in learning more about electrical engineering first-hand.
Estimated delivery: Nov 2011Pledge $100 or more
58 backers
For $100, we'll assemble the plasma speaker for you. One complete kit, delivered straight to your door.
Estimated delivery: Nov 2011Pledge $320 or more
0 backers
For $320, we'll send you five kits. This is perfect if you're running a workshop or class in electrical engineering or circuit design. This is a savings of $80; essentially one free kit!
Estimated delivery: Nov 2011Pledge $400 or more
2 backers
For $400, we'll send you five fully assembled speakers; a savings of $100. You could build a 5.1 surround sound system (hey, more ridiculous things have been done!), use them to demo electrical concepts to a physics class, or just leave them in the box, satisfied that you have more plasma speakers than 99.9999% of the population.
Estimated delivery: Nov 2011
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Show older commentsCreator Eric Falsken on December 5, 2012
For all the backers of this project who are feeling abandoned, I've posted some questions about repairing the troublesome diode in this StackExchange question: http://electronics.stackexchange.com/q/50579/6346
Creator Karl Lautman on September 14, 2012
Here's the vid of my repackaged speaker: http://www.youtube.com/watch… .
Creator Tobias Stehle on August 20, 2012
Hey,
after 3 months of shipping my kit arrived, i am going to buy the replacement diode today and hope everything will worke from there.
Shipping to Europe/Germany seems to be really hard, maybe kickstarter shoud help the creators of projects, chinese retailers are able to ship goods that const 2$ free of charge within aq week to Germany and here 3 months form the US to Germany.
Creator Chris Gladman on July 24, 2012
Hi guys,
Any idea when these will be dispatched?
Creator John Mayo-Smith on July 15, 2012
Here's a version of the plasma speaker modified for the Google Nexus Q:
http://youtu.be/LBPxfX7xiXg
Creator Tobias Stehle on July 15, 2012
Same here, i tried to contact you direct. (Waiting in Germany for my Plasma Speaker)
Creator Derek Agee on July 14, 2012
Recieved an email 3 1/2 months ago for my shipping info but have yet to recieve anything. Whats the hold up?
Creator Bludrayp on July 12, 2012
dudeeeeee been nearly 2 months and i still havent got mine yet... sad panda :(
Creator jordan benabou on June 22, 2012
I just finished assembling the kit and it's great!
I was just wondering if there would be an explanation of the functioning of the circuit posted at some point. This project looked awesome because it said it was for those that wanted to learn about electrical engineering first-hand.
Creator Gavin Maxwell on June 16, 2012
Dead impressed with the quality of the sound from this little guy! I was expecting something far more robotic sounding. My kit worked first time and is currently pumping out numerous bad 80's songs...!! Thanks guy - good job!
Creator Lian Yuanlin on June 13, 2012
Well, almost a month and I still don't have my kit. I'll just write myself off as one of the unlucky few who got their parcels lost at sea.
Creator Jon Finkelstein on May 28, 2012
As per your request, I took apart the speaker and have posted the pictures. They are posted at:
http://imgur.com/a/uw9xp
My speaker did the same as the one in the video but I don't think the arc was quite as bright and I don't recall the color. Any idea what is being done about the malfunctioning speakers. There are too many people reporting the same exact issue for it to be a fluke or assembly issue.
Creator StudentRND on May 27, 2012
Due to the direct relationship between arc length and sound intensity with the plasma speaker, you'd need millions of volts to have any notion of a bass driver, as the dielectric strength of air is about 33 kV/cm :)
(And by that point you will have much bigger problems than just trying to find that much voltage)
Creator Chris Robson on May 27, 2012
that would be bass, mid-range,and high frequency.
Creator Chris Robson on May 27, 2012
Thanks for the response.
It's truely phenominal that this works! we're so used to the standard concept of sound reproduction through a vibrating cone that most can't conceive of any other way.
It would be interesting to have one plasma speaker for each of trifecta of sound: tbass, midrange,
Creator StudentRND on May 25, 2012
Chris: Improvement would be negligible. The arc tends to grab whatever metal's closest; unless they're REALLY misaligned (like by 20 or more degrees), as long as they're close enough they will work just fine.
Creator Chris Robson on May 24, 2012
Received my Plasma Speaker today in Toronto.
Have had no problems with the unit, works pretty amazing.
One question though, does it matter if the two screws used for the arc gap are not aligned?
Mine are crooked, doesn't seem to effect the sound but could the sound reproduction be better if they were directly opposite each other?
Creator StudentRND on May 23, 2012
Upload the pics to imgur or something.
Also, what I meant by "fireball" is that the arc should be purple instead of orange and flaming. I will add that to the instructions, and I hope it will get re-mirrored to the official StudentRND hosted instructions properly this time as well.
Creator Karl Lautman on May 19, 2012
So I enjoyed my plasma speaker (kit, including power supply and transformer) for about 30 minutes before frying it (I presume). Now when I turn it on, the power supply light just blinks, like others have reported. FWIW, I was going to share a video of my triumph with the group, but now it's a video of shame catching the moment of death: http://www.youtube.com/watch…. I was aware the circuit could "break," but StudentRND's idea of a "fireball" and mine are clearly very different. What next? I'm happy to photograph the PCB, but where should I send the pix?
Creator StudentRND on May 17, 2012
We just shipped all of our international packages on Tuesday!
Creator Kevin Miller on May 17, 2012
Any shipping made it out to Canada yet? I haven't seen or heard anything yet.
Creator StudentRND on May 16, 2012
To those of you having problems with flickering power supplies: I may be able to help if you take a picture of the top and bottom of your circuit board and perhaps the whole setup as well.
Creator Lian Yuanlin on May 16, 2012
Still waiting for the arrival of my $80 kit.
Creator Jon Finkelstein on May 14, 2012
hey guys. used the send message but no reply. same thing happened to me as eric posted below. looked on reddit, nothing really there. had the control knob turned all the way down and music was maybe at 25% volume. arc was small yellow straight and then just died after 15-20 seconds. nothing looks burned out. light on power supply just flashes.
also. when i got my kit, the back panel of enclosure (with the vents) was missing. whats the next step?
Creator George Talbot on May 8, 2012
Just got mine yesterday. This thing is really cool! Thanks for doing it!
Creator StudentRND on May 6, 2012
Eric: we're trying to get everyone using http://www.reddit.com/r/plasmaspeaker
Also, it is possible to burn out the plasma speaker by turning it up too high -- where the arc looks more like a flame than a clear purple arc. Could that be the case in your scenario?
Creator Eric Falsken on May 4, 2012
Is there a place that we can set up "debugging" threads? mine worked for a few minutes, but then the light on the power supply starts blinking as the transformer makes short buzzing sounds. (and no spark) Broke it all down again, and nothing looks fried. Polarities are all correct on the caps, ICs and diode. Ideas?
Creator Alex Phillips on May 4, 2012
Great job designing the on the kit. Got it today and just finished putting it together.
http://youtu.be/RXxJyDU2a8k
Creator John Mayo-Smith on April 30, 2012
http://youtu.be/IAV9TtOy_uc
Creator StudentRND on April 24, 2012
Eric: we accidentally printed a batch of shipping labels twice, and your group was affected. No worries though, we should ship yours on Thursday.
Creator Eric Falsken on April 24, 2012
I've received a shipping notification...2 weeks ago. I'm a little worried, but there was no tracking number on the email. Can you help me find my lost plasma speaker?
Creator Eric Falsken on April 11, 2012
I got a shipping notification!
Creator StudentRND on April 10, 2012
Here's an in-progress guide: http://displaynone.us/static/ps
There are some spelling errors and not all of the steps are very clear right now.
Creator Richard on April 5, 2012
Hey, Student RND!
Thanks for being so good about communicating everything that's been going on! When should we be expecting tor receive our kits?
Creator LTorsher on April 1, 2012
What documentation/assembly/troubleshooting instructions will come with the kit? Is it available on line so I can study it wihile I await the arrival of the kit?
Creator StudentRND on March 28, 2012
I don't have any pictures of the enclosure right now, but here's a screenshot of the design: http://i.imgur.com/7uSY5.png
We've cut it already, and it looks good.
Creator Gavin Maxwell on March 22, 2012
Hey guys, any update on the laser-cut enclosure? Any pics?
Creator StudentRND on March 12, 2012
Eric: The longest I've run it for was about 4 hours at our hackathon a couple weeks back. I had to leave after that so Ed turned it off, but it ran perfectly solid for the entire time.
-- Marshall
Creator Eric Falsken on March 11, 2012
Have you guys done any kind of long-duration test? Will it last all night at my party? How many useful hours should I be able to get from a single speaker?
Creator StudentRND on February 29, 2012
@Involute and @Richard:
Yes. Tonight, we're ordering what should be the final set of components. They should arrive within 1.5 weeks and if they work well, we'll be able to order several hundred and then ship them.
We've had problems in the past where the test components did not match the production components in capabilities. Those have caused the delays.
As we've iterated, we've gotten a better kit. Our original version consumed about 60W and required a huge heatsink. This newer version should consume about 25W, and doesn't require a heatsink (for the same output).
This set should work, and if our testing goes well, we're internally talking about shipping within 4 weeks.
Thanks,
Edward
Creator Karl Lautman on February 29, 2012
The "timeline" in your latest update isn't much of a timeline. How about just giving us an estimated ship date?
Creator Richard on February 24, 2012
Hey, StudenRND! I know you've been posting updates and whatnot, but I'm curious as to your projected shipping date. Thanks!
Creator Alvaro Peralta on January 16, 2012
I do not mind waiting for 1.0 to get a more stable working speaker,
Creator John Whitson on January 15, 2012
Prefer to wait for it to be right rather than right now (within reason).
Creator Justin on January 15, 2012
1.0
Creator Karl Lautman on January 15, 2012
1.0
Creator Sarcalistic on January 15, 2012
I've waited a few months. I can wait a few more. I'd rather have something that works well. Maybe version 1.2
Creator Darren Field on January 15, 2012
I would prefer version 1.0. I would not be confident in my skills to tweek it correctly.
Creator Bernd Krüger on January 15, 2012
1.0
Creator Gavin Maxwell on December 19, 2011
Any updates coming soon? It's been pretty quiet the last couple of weeks...