~How Aston Microphones Revolutionised their Design with Smalley Crest-to-Crest® Wave Springs~
Customer Challenge
Aston Microphones, the only mainstream microphone company manufacturing in the UK, sought to develop a unique product that stood out from the “me-too” designs saturating the market. They aimed to create a microphone that combined aesthetics with practicality, specifically requiring a bespoke solution for protecting the fragile capsule within the gauze core of their Origin microphone range.
TFC Solution
To address Aston Microphones’ challenge, TFC supplied a bespoke design of the Smalley Crest-to-Crest® type Wave Spring. Aston’s designers were captivated by the spring’s appearance and construction, made by edge-coiling pre-tempered flattened round wire, reminiscent of the Slinky® toy. This wave spring was produced from a single coil of material tailored to exact specifications, including squared shim ends for full support and axial seating within the assembly. When compressed, the spring formed an attractive and robust protective outer shell for the microphone’s delicate electronics without affecting the sound quality.
Customer Outcome
The incorporation of the Smalley Crest-to-Crest® wave spring allowed Aston Microphones to create the Origin microphone, a competitively priced large-diaphragm condenser microphone that redefined the company’s ethos of innovation, creativity, and precision engineering. This unique design not only protected the microphone’s fragile components but also allowed for easy manual straightening if distorted. The Origin microphone set new standards for Aston Microphones, quickly gaining fame among top artists like Noel Gallagher, Stevie Wonder, Radiohead, and Kylie Minogue, as well as engineers and producers, both on stage and in the studio.
