Auralex goes green with Sustain
Dec 10, 2010 4:17 PM, By Jack Kontney
When packed with absorptive material, the Auralex Peak Pyramid can act as both a diffusor and a bass trap.
Indianapolis-based Auralex Acoustics introduced its new Sustain line of diffuser products at the recent AES Convention in San Francisco. The Sustain product line includes several form factors, including the Peak Pyramid Diffusor, Wave Prism, Wave Lens, QuadraTec and KeyPac. All are designed to improve a room’s sound quality by helping scatter sound more evenly throughout the acoustical space, which is especially critical in recording studios. What makes them unique is the material used: bamboo.
In an interview on the show floor, Jeff Lantz, general manager, explained the use of bamboo as part of the company’s commitment to environmentally responsible products and operation. “Auralex has a long history of using ecologically friendly product, like the soy content in our Studiofoam and our EcoTech line, which uses recycled cotton fiber,” he said. “Using bamboo for our wood products is a natural extension of that approach.”
Because bamboo is a fast-growing grass, its sustainability is much easier to maintain. “Bamboo can grow up to a foot a day and grows on its own, unlike trees, which take years to replenish,” Lantz said. “Its acoustic properties are equivalent to our previous wood products, with absolutely no sacrifice in performance. It’s beautiful, it’s sustainable and it works great acoustically. That’s why we developed the Sustain line of diffusors.”
The Sustain series includes three new products. The QuadraTec is a lightweight panel, roughly 2sq ft, which works on the quadratic residue theory; they are sold in pairs. The Peak Pyramids, sold in four-packs, is a diffusion panel light enough to be dropped into a suspended ceiling grid. Its can also double as a bass trap function by filling the inside of the pyramid with absorptive material. The KeyPac diffusors, available in three patterns, are perforated covers designed to “tune” the response of absorptive materials to balance to resulting frequency response.
Auralex has also converted two of its existing wood diffusor products, the Wave Lens and Wave Prism, to be produced exclusively in bamboo. All the wood is sourced in China from a variety of bamboo that is not, Lantz stresses, the type eaten by pandas. To assist customers, Auralex has five applications specialists on staff to make product selection and deployment recommendations.
“Auralex has a long history of innovation in the acoustical design space, so this is a natural extension of our approach. The Sustain line is a great example of form meeting function in a responsible way,” Lantz said. “It looks beautiful, it sounds great and it’s at a very accessible price point. We’ve had incredibly enthusiastic response here at AES.” The Auralex Sustain line of diffusors is now shipping.
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