by DrZarkov » Tue Apr 10, 2007 8:02 pm
In the early 20th century there was in Germany the "Flammophon", a grammophone using gas for reproducing the sound! A gas valve was controlled by the needle, the gas-flame changed, modulated by the needle. Hot air expands, so the air was directly "modulated" with sound by the changing flame.
The sound was not better than a normal grammophone, and it costs more, so this idea was not very succesful. But maybe a "club-standard" monitor would be possible with this system, the flame could be modulated by a magnet, which needs of course electricity. I wonder why nobody tried it in the age before neon-lamps.