Green Speakers: A Field of Dreams?
When it comes to sound at festivals we all want to experience a field of dreams.
Green speakers and a green approach to sound isn’t merely a dream – it is achievable. Perhaps the best way to explain this more clearly is by using the memorable and appropriate quotes from Field Of Dreams. After all, that is what festivals are to many of us…
Go the distance
Ease his pain
If you build it they will come
Go the distance
Transportation and Energy
Often, in order to deliver festival sound, imported speakers are packed into numerous HGV’s and trucked across the country until they reach their Zion at the side of a main stage and in delay towers [consuming a great deal of energy and] pumping out the sound to hundreds of thousands of happy festival goers.
It is the way it has been done for years. We would all like to do our bit by buying locally grown fruit and vegetables. We know what we should be doing. However, when it comes to manufacturing many still outsource parts and technologies from much further afield without too much thought.
If a loudspeaker is designed with care and attention then it is possible to utilise local craftsmen and manufacturers to produce many of the parts needed.
The trucking and fuel costs related to sound transportation are enormous as is the size of the carbon footprint that is left in their wake.
Power consumption of loudspeakers at festivals is an area that is largely unaddressed in discussions of energy savings. With sound being one of the primary areas of energy consumption for a festival and the amount of energy consumption by the loudspeakers varying widely, the efficiency of the speakers selected is highly important.
Locally manufactured, smaller and lighter speakers coupled with a much more efficient use of power would mean: less cargo, less transport requirements, less fuel and a much smaller carbon footprint.
Ease his pain
Hearing Damage
Everyone who attends a festival appreciates good sound. A few people say they don’t notice – but everyone notices and remembers poor sound. It stays with you forever and taints the experience.
Sound is damaged through resonance and internal reflection within the loudspeaker cabinet. The more a sound waveform is damaged the less accurate the information contained within it. This lack of information and detail ‘colours’ the original sound, making it feel lifeless and dull.
Often you will find that when a loudspeaker delivers muddy sound and sound lacking in clarity the sound levels are turned up in an attempt to improve the situation. Naturally nothing is improved – the amount of noise is increased and often you are left with ringing or muffled ears after the event.
Hearing damage can be avoided: increase the audio quality and reduce the noise pollution.
If You Build It He Will Come
But what if a speaker could be built that was a fraction of the size of comparable speakers yet was so juicy in its power / size ratio that fewer speakers were needed? Flare Audio speakers deliver more power and detail at a fraction of the size and weight of typical festival speakers.
Flare loudspeakers use Space Technology – a radical construction method which eliminates the need for outsourcing enclosure parts from overseas. A Flare loudspeaker is both conceived and created on the South Coast of England. Our technology is uncomplicated and pure and has come from the desire to deliver the best sound possible; it means that we are able to keep the manufacturing process local to us – wherever we may be.
Flare Audio believes that loudspeakers should provide ‘as pure a sound as possible’, to enable an unaltered reproduction of the sound created by the musician. In this instance a sound is defined as ‘pure’ if it loses none of its detail in the transmission from artist to listener in the process of audio reproduction.
Flare speaker construction means less energy is required to produce accurate waveforms thus less energy is required to achieve the desired sound levels.
All Flare Audio speakers are built to maintain the integrity of the true sound waveform (its Waveform Integrity) and we believe it is the solution to successful sound propagation and a way to produce pure controllable sound.
A speaker that is both green whilst delivering absolute audio quality and integrity is not just a dream.
Flare Audio has produced two White Papers on Waveform Integrity and Sound Propagation that are available to read. Please contact info@flareaudio.com for more information. For a demonstration of these technologies and for further information please visit www.flareaudio.com Flare Audio: 01903 761 000
