TubeNet

I played on one at the last ITEC and was instantly sold. 2 weeks later I ordered one. Trust me, these things make a huge difference. My horn is easier to focus, my high range is easier to control, and my low range is more steady. Now, some people don't like the effect an Acousticoil has on their horn, but I love it. Besides, if I remember correctly, they have an awesome return policy, so you really don't have anything to lose.

I just read all the information on the site but I still don't understand the product completely. Where does the coil go in the horn? It says it is easy to put in and take out. How is this done? Thanks for the replys, it sounds interesting.

TMB

I believe it is supposed to go inside of the main tuning slide. Pull the slide, coil it up and slip it in, and put the tuning slide back in. The supposed best part I thought was that if you didn't like it, you could send it back for a full refund.

I have a friend that recently purchased an older Alexander tuba, and the previous owner swore that the Acousticoil made a difference. My friend has now purchased one and will be trying it out. Likely, I'll get a chance to try it out at some point. Who knows, perhaps it makes a differnce, perhaps it doesn't. Maybe it's all in your head.....

Rob

Despite all the mumbo-jumbo, I think the main difference is that it makes the bore smaller in one area, which will tighten up the response on the horn. Bottom line - it adds a small amount of resistance. I bought one for my 1290 some years back and messed around with it for solo lit on that big horn, but didn't like it for any other use. Lee Stofer made a brass sleeve that went inside one leg of my MW2155R tuning slide that basically did the same thing; I ultimately liked the way that horn responded without it better.
If your horn plays "too open" and you want it to blow like a smaller horn, then I say go for it. Otherwise, it may not be what you are looking for.

The coil goes in any slide that you want to have an effect on. It most often is placed in the tuning slide so it effects more of the horn. I have used it on a small BBb and liked the effects it had on the horn, I have not tried it on my CC.

I've used one for years on my 1290 and I think it makes the horn a bit easier to play. It is not a cure all but I think that it is worth trying. Don Novy who invented and sells his product is a true gentleman and a wonderful person. You will get your money back without any problems if you so desire. You've got nothing to lose but a little time by giving it a try.
Good luck, Phil

I wonder if that would fix my stuffy G/Gb bottom of the staff?

Ever hear of the placebo effect?

It's just a piece of somewhat thin plastic that is a little springy, that you coil up inside the tube. I imagine a lot of tubas have solder blobs inside them that are bigger than this thing; the edge of a slide would seem to offer as much or more resistance than this thing, and a dent would seem to offer a lot more change in the way it plays, if put in the same place. Of course dents are more permanent.

I bought one; tried it; saw zero difference; sent it back. Got a bit of a reply on sending it back...they said fewer than 2% ever sent it back, but they did refund my money. Probably most people are embarrassed to have spent that amount of $$ on a little piece of plastic. YMMV.

MA

I do know that Don Novi invested a lot of time and energy into research and development of the Acousticoil. I believe he collaborated with scientists with one of the major universities in Colorado (CU, I think)

I used to have one -- I did not like what it did to my main horn (my 186 CC), but at the time I was also playing an F that was kind of a dog (the usual "issue" notes were particularly bad on this one) and the Acousticoil helped focus notes like the low Bb a fair amount. A friend and I tried it in a number of different horns, and in most of them the results were not desirable or unnoticeable, but on this particular "so-so" F, I felt that it helped compensate for those type of inefficiencies a fair amount.

So for a horn like that, it may be a good and inexpensive way to deal with those issues... and make a dog horn semi-playable.

The only problem with the current coils is that they are too lightweight.

Coming soon: heavyweight coils with stainless steel nuts attached. Applied correctly, these will smooth out the airflow, provide that needed bit of resistance, dampen unwanted vibrations, and turn your tuba into a tambourine.

If I put one of these in the fuel line on my pickup will it improve milage, give better throttle response and more horsepower?

Will it make my Selman sound like a Wilson?

Will it make this guy's smile any bigger?

Before you do this experiment, be sure to file all the necessary Human Subjects forms...

sloan wrote:Before you do this experiment, be sure to file all the necessary Human Subjects forms...

Just in case I choose to ignore Wade's sage advice, just which governmental department would that be, Dr. Sloan?

sloan wrote:The only problem with the current coils is that they are too lightweight.

Coming soon: heavyweight coils with stainless steel nuts attached. Applied correctly, these will smooth out the airflow, provide that needed bit of resistance, dampen unwanted vibrations, and turn your tuba into a tambourine.

I have heard of similar items being prerequisites for a really strong low range ...

I have talked to the creater of the acousticoil and he told me that it will have negative effects if you use more than one in a horn, even if in different slides

Instead of buying an AcoustiCoil, why not just put a big dent in your horn where the coil would go?

Greg wrote:If one will improve playing by 5%. Then that would mean two is 10%. I ordered two for each tuning slide and three for my main tuning slide. Since that number comes out to a total of 13. That's bad luck. Cant have that so I ordered another one to use in the lead pipe. According to my numbers, that means they should improve my playing by 70%. Now if I could find my mouthpiece....

Good news: if you can expect an independent improvement of 5% per coil, 14 will give you a 98% improvement!

I seem to be lost somewhere in the numbers....

nxt2laststarfighter wrote:

TubaRay wrote:I seem to be lost somewhere in the numbers....

numbers...shumumbers....

After a session of TM, I have determined that the optimal number of coils is:

Floor(e/pi)

Remember: pi r round.

sloan wrote:Remember: pi r round.

Not always!