With £300k investment from the Sigma Innovation Fund, SFX Technologies has launched a flat panel speaker product, which can make written notices or adverts talk. SFX Technologies is the new name for Harris Hynd, which started life as a product design consultancy in Rosyth four years ago (and is still active in this line of business). As a design consultancy, the company has undertaken a wide range of projects, from GPS tracking for animals and medical devices to satellite decoders.
Having had an interest in sound systems, the company embarked on a project to create a high quality DML loudspeaker. Quite early in the project, the company saw the potential and decided to create and market its own version of this technology. A DML (distributed mode loudspeaker) uses a flat surface as the amplifier of the sound signal, instead of the traditional round cones and diaphragms. Most flat panel surfaces can be used to transmit sound, using a specialised transducer fixed to the panel, which means that speakers can be designed into many types of machines or public spaces. The technology derives originally from the military, where flat panel speakers have been used in helicopters as part of a noise-reduction system (the speakers are used to create vibrations which cancel out the ambient noise). A typical current application would be in kiosks and ATMs, where the conventional design needs a speaker grille, which is subject to damage and vandalism; a DML speaker can use part of the housing as a speaker instead. Established products in this market using this type of technology uses it mainly for audio equipment, where the DML technology allows an attractive design but without particularly good hi-fi performance.
SFX Technologies has taken the potential of this approach and made substantial improvements. Working with academics at Napier University, and using the acoustic chamber testing facilities at Heriot-Watt University, SFX has developed a speaker with good quality across the full frequency range, and with output up to 40W/50W (competitors typically operate at around 6W). The company is in talks with a major hi-fi manufacturer, which is interested in incorporating the new speakers into its systems. Other applications for DML speakers using the same technology are in public transport networks and terminals, where current voice announcements are of generally poor quality; the advantages of flat panel design and good sound quality have interested a number of transport organisations, and SFX hopes to make an announcement about a sizeable deal shortly.
The other application being pursued by SFX is that of “speaking adverts”, where the speaker technology is integrated with a unit which includes a pre-recorded MP3 message and a trigger, which can be an infra-red device monitoring nearby movement, a push button, or a touch pad. This system can be used wherever it is desirable to add a spoken announcement or music to a visual display. The applications in advertising are virtually limitless, and will initially at least have the impact of novelty – SFX has launched a product named Turning Heads for this market, which aptly describes the intended effect. SFX has recently completed a successful project with Adshel (part of Clear Channel) using this system to provide an audio input to advertising campaigns in bus shelters.
However, there are many other applications, for example in tourist locations where spoken information may be easier to absorb than detailed information in writing. SFX sees major opportunities in helping organisations of every description to comply with the EU Directive on disability discrimination; spoken information, triggered either automatically or by choice, can be helpful to people with sight or movement disabilities who have difficulty in reading a written notice. Following the £300k investment by Sigma in November, SFX took on two new board members. Eric Scott, who assisted the company during Sigma’s due diligence process, and stayed on as CEO, and Brett Trafford, based in London, who as Marketing Director gained his marketing expertise with firstly the FT, then Benetton, then with Benetton’s F1 team before joining SFX.
The two founding directors, Norman Harris and Ian Hynd complete the management team as Design and Product Development Director and Technical Director respectively. Depending upon the timing of any one of several significant deals in the pipeline, SFX is hopeful of funding its own growth from this point onwards, but has arrangements with Sigma for additional funding if required; this could be a welcome development if demand is such that rapid growth needs funding. The company has recently moved from the REBIC Centre at Rosyth to its own well-appointed offices in Pitreavie Business Park in Dunfermline.