Prosound News - April 2008 - (Page 12)

[12] The Greening of Auralex by Frank Wells INDIANAPOLIS, IN—At this year’s Winter NAMM convention, Auralex announced its commitment to reformulating its foam acoustical products to rely on renewable and environmentally friendly raw materials. The new line will soon be swapped for the existing line, with additional new products expected to follow mid-year. Even packaging materials are part of the initiative, moving to recycled materials. During a visit to the Auralex headquarters in Indianapolis, Dave Paxton, director of operations for Auralex told PSN that the “whole process really got started about three years ago the first part of it was conceptualizing what was going to have to happen.” The initial stage of the process was to eliminate CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons) from a blowing process during the baking of the foam materials, a process that required expensive and tedious reclamation of residual gasses under EPA regulation. CO2 is now used as an alternative, which “blows cooler,” giving a more uniform cooling process. With CO2 now the off-gassing byproduct, it can be recycled within the manufacturing process. The next step was to begin experimenting with a soy/petroleum blend for Auralex’s foam products, beginning with a 20 percent soy blend and discovering that it was practical to take the ratios to the point that the soy base dominates the blend. Another pleasant discovery was that the organic soy-based foams have natural flameretardant properties. Paxton: “We were able to back off some of the added fire retardants,” and still meet all the flame-retardant codes, including “some of the more stringent and slightly different fire-retardant codes that are European-based or overseas.” Currently, the soy-based raw materials are “slightly” more expensive than their petroleum counterparts, while Paxton reveals that petroleum-based materials have “gone up roughly about 35 percent” since Auralex first began working with soy formulas. Being domestically produced, with a current market surplus, soy materials should be less subject to the market volatil- Auralex founder and president, Eric Smith (left), looks on while Dave Paxton addresses a NAMM gathering during the announcement of Auralex’s Studiofoam-eco environmentally sensitive, acoustic treatment products. Sean Bowman (left), regional manager, and Dave Paxton, director of operations, stand in front of an Auralex fabric wall system in the upscale theater room at the company’s headquarters. ity that the petroleum markets have experienced in recent times. Paxton calls Auralex’s materials requirements a “miniscule” part of the overall market for the commodity. Paxton says the newly formulated foams have “exceeded every expectation that I had going in. What we’re now doing is we’re actually playing a little bit with the formula, different ratios, just seeing what I can do and that’s part of the next three years—going from a 60/40 blend to a 100 percent blend.” Paxton says that he can forecast costs more consistently, and with the new CO2 blowers and recycling in place, “if anything, that cost is actually going to come down a little bit—eventually those blowers pay off and you begin to drop your production cost down because you’re recycling.” Auralex expects to maintain consistent pricing with the old formulations. Additionally, Paxton says there’s less waste in the new process. For example, the waste materials that occur during a color change when running a line can be remixed with the raw materials for the next batch. Overall, preliminary tests suggest that the new Studiofoam-eco line of products will have a longer life-expectancy, that color retention is better with the new formulations, and the new formulas allow for higher-density foams. The Indianapolis office is the base for Auralex’s engineering, client phone consultation and international sales. The facility houses management, sales and marketing offices, as well as a demo studio, a showcase home theater, test and measurement space, trade-show support and international shipping. Auralex products are manufactured and most shipping is sourced from the company’s factory about two hours north of the HQ. Exceptions include the off-shore-made, wood-based products like the Auralex/Russ Berger co-developed pArtScience SpaceCoupler and SpaceArray. Paxton says the facilities actually give them a taste of what its customers can face, such as, they can’t cut the concrete slabs for isolation. What the company can then show to its customers is, in terms of “expectations. This is what you can reasonably expect by doing any project with the best possible practices, if you’re building in an existing structure Because the hardest thing that we find is having a customer have expectations that are not rooted in reality.” Auralex www.auralex.com prosoundnews.com April 2008 http://www.thatcorp.com http://www.auralex.com http://prosoundnews.com http://www.thatcorp.com

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Prosound News - April 2008 Sound Business Contents Sound Retail Mojo’s Working at NY Noise Studio Showcase: Jungle Room Studios Software Tech Tracks Sessions Nomad Takes Root TCB at NYC’s JSM SoundScreen White Space Turning Gray Audio for Video and Broadcast Field Reports:Sony PCM-D50 Linear PCM Recorder; Holophone H4 SuperMINI Surround Microphone Sound Innovations: Earthworks Audio PianoMic System Frozen Liquid Live Sound Showcase: Jill Scott Centerstage Soundcheck Sound People View From the Top Product Spotlight Advertiser Index Company Index Classifieds Music, Etc.

Prosound News - April 2008

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