Ice - You're right; now it was I who was imprecise. It's a theorem that a periodic function is harmonic. I guess what I meant was that "musical" sounds are not only periodic but tend to have the power concentrated in not-too-high multiples of the fundamental. (But, as we've said before, "music" may have important "nonmusical" transients as well as sustained "musical" tones.)
I don't really know the physics of bells, if that is what you are asking. I gather that by virtue of their shape they must be able to vibrate in modes other than the relatively simply related ones of a string or the column of air in an organ pipe, which produces sounds that are not perceived as having a definite pitch. Obviously this is more true of a gong than of a tubular bell. So, leaving the electronics out altogether, my hypothesis is that if anything would sound different from the front and the back, in an anechoic chamber, it might be a gong (which is a nice dipolar radiator, too, isn't it?) As for listening - no, I haven't. I'm a professional mathematician but at my age I can scarcely hear thunder, which makes the accusation of "know-it-all," if he meant me, perhaps on target; though if ever there were a case of the pot and the kettle ... -- tom permutt ------------------------------------------------------------------------ tom permutt's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=1893 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=23759 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
