05 July 2000

Can flat panel speakers scoop UK's biggest engineering prize?

Huntingdon-based NXT plc has been shortlisted for this year's £50,000 Royal Academy of Engineering MacRobert Award, the UK's most coveted prize for engineering innovation, for its revolutionary SurfaceSound™ flat-panel speakers, derived from some obscure aircraft research. Henry Azima, Martin Colloms and Neil Harris have spent five years perfecting the world's first diffuse flat panel loudspeaker, which is now being licensed by companies around the world.

The beauty of NXT's new speakers is that they can be made from almost any material, from cardboard to carbon composites, in sizes to fit every application. They can be hung on the wall like pictures, made transparent to fit in the screen of a mobile phone or even built into the doors of a car. Invisible NXT speakers, concealed in the fabric of the structure, serenade visitors to the Millennium Dome's Faith Zone. A new version called SoundVu™ integrates the speaker into the screen of a TV or computer, giving high-quality sound without separate speakers.

What each NXT speaker has in common is non-directional, perfectly modulated sound reproduction, which means listeners hear a true sound wherever they are in the room. These radical new speakers work in a completely different way to conventional electrostatic and moving coil loudspeakers, whose sound is only true in certain directions because it 'pushes' sound out into the room. They also need multiple drivers - woofer, midrange and tweeter - to cover the frequency range of high quality recordings.

An NXT panel generates sound through seemingly random vibrations over its entire surface. The vibrations are non-linear and complex, and are stimulated by a transponder attached to the panel. As the entire panel resonates it diffuses sound in all directions. This behaviour persists at all frequencies, avoiding the interference problems of conventional 'cone' speakers.

As is so often the case, the flat-panel speaker technology stems from a development in a completely different field. NXT's Chief Technology Officer Henry Azima picked up the work in an advertisement by the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA), inviting companies to examine a transducer principle he had discovered while investigating noise cancellation in helicopters and tanks using flat panel acoustics. Working with DERA's Professor Ken Heron prompted Henry Azima to apply the principle to a loudspeaker, which NXT has pioneered and licensed to companies all over the world.

"Modern moving coil loudspeakers use better materials but they're essentially the same as Rice-Kellogg's original 1924 design, which became the standard," says NXT Chief Scientist Neil Harris. "Although our new speaker produces sound in a completely different and far more efficient way, it can use the same engine as a conventional loudspeaker, so they are interchangeable."

The practicality and versatility of NXT's new speakers, coupled with their willingness to work with licensees to develop individual applications, has made the company a commercial success. NXT has over 170 licensees and its license income this year is up to £0.5 million.

ends

Notes for editors

1. The Royal Academy of Engineering MacRobert Award is Britain's premier prize for engineering. It is given annually for outstanding innovation of benefit to the community. First presented in 1969, the award consists of a solid gold medal and £50,000 prize.
   
2. The outright winner of the 2000 Award will be announced in November 2000.
   
3. The four finalists will receive certificates from the Academy president, Sir David Davies, at the Academy's AGM on Monday 10 July 2000.
   
4. The three other finalists this year are BAE Systems in Edinburgh for the ECR-90 radar for Eurofighter, Thermomax in Newport for their solar water heating system, and Johnson Matthey in Royston for the CRT™ continuously regenerating trap to control diesel pollution.
   
5. The Royal Academy of Engineering aims to pursue, encourage and maintain excellence across the whole field of engineering in order to promote the advancement of the science, art and practice of engineering for the benefit of the public. The Academy comprises the UK's most eminent engineers and is able to use their combined wealth of knowledge and experience to meet its objectives.

For more information please contact:

Jane Sutton at the Royal Academy of Engineering
tel: 020 7227 0536 (direct), email: jane...@...org.uk

or Jon Vizor at NXT plc
tel. 020 7343 5050, mobile: 07720 555762, email: marketing@nxtsound.com

Links:

www.nxt.co.uk

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