Today we’d like to introduce you to Jim and Kim Aud.
Jim and Kim, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Jim: Purist Audio Design grew out of love for high-end audio and quality engineering. We started Purist in the garage, and I have always been fortunate enough to have family by my side. Well, I guess you could say it really started in the Air Force. You could say the Air Force was my first family. I learned a lot from them, and passed it on. They used to call me a “Avionics Sensor Systems Specialist, for Electro-Optical Sensors.”
Kim: We, dad and I, built my first system at an early age. It was always something we did together: in fact, the one in my current office is one he and I worked on. Today, I work as the CFO for Purist Audio Design, although when I started it wasn’t Purist Audio Design yet. It was an idea in the family garage. I would work crafting and making cables by hand. I worked every stage of the process, from soldering to shielding and design. When we developed our first major revision, RevA, I was part of that team. It was only later, with my education solidified, that I would move to managing finances and travel for Purist.
Jim: Our first shielded cable was called the “Texas Water Cable” by reviewers, and was the first fluid-shielded cable in high-end. We set a trend that you see a lot of manufacturers follow, today. What led us to specialize in cables was looking forward into the future. I realized back in 1986 that problems we’d be facing in high-end audio were RF, EMI, and vibration. At that time, I really did not see that anyone offered a solution for these problems. So, that’s when I introduced the first cable, the Aqueous. The first Aqueous had a fluid base surrounding the conductor, that was the “Texas Water Cable.”
Kim: We’re headquartered in Texas, and use American-made products. We sell around the world, and we do a lot of travel as part of that. Working with an international business is something I’d known I wanted to do since I was 4. Now when we travel, I bring my daughters, ensuring the love of travel, and music, is passed on to a new generation.
Jim’s degree is in Electronics Engineering, and he served as an “Avionics Sensor Systems Specialist, for Electro-Optical Sensors” in the Air Force. He did a two-year study in Computer Science at Westinghouse, and then studied at South Texas Nuclear.
Kim has a degree international business with an emphasis in emerging markets from University of Houston. She has traveled all her life, and is responsible for much of Purist Audio Design’s overseas development. Kim was one of the first women to break into the high-end audio industry.
Purist Audio Design still makes high-end audio cables by hand, down in Texas.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Building a small audio company that uses American made products and that is hand assembled and manufactured here in Texas to compete in the world market was tough.
Also, finding the right people to put on your team and hiring quality people to work for you. Not having taken business courses, We had to learn allot along the way. Just running a small company for over 30 years can be a challenge on its own.
Purist Audio Design Inc. – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
We started a lot of the trends that you see in audio cables, today. Shielding was something new to the industry; we invented the “Texas Water Cable” back in the 80s, which is what reviewers called it. Today, we use three types of shielding. The first is Fluid, which helps block out EMI (Elector Magnetic Interference), or RF (Radio Frequencies). We also produce a shielding called Ferox, which is a doped silicon-based granular material, with superior proprieties of EMI and RF rejection, resulting in excellent vibration characteristics. The third shielding is CONTEGO, which is Latin for: to cover, shield, protect, and defend. CONTEGO, a semi-fluid slurry of doped silicon and a propriety fluid. It is the primary technology used by Purist Audio Design in RF suppression and mechanical damping. By combining the best attributes of our two notable Purist Audio Design technologies, “Fluid Shielding” and “FEROX Shielding,” we exploited the bold solid bottom-end and the detailed extended ranged top-end of the FEROX Shielded products and the seductive midrange and spatial depth of the Fluid Shielded products. The net result was an increased performance in the already superior EMI and RF rejection, and excellent vibration rejection characteristics by lowering the noise floor of our cables by another 2dB. Sonically, CONTEGO, now used in the Aqueous Aureous and Purist Canorus cable lines provides for an airy crisp extended top-end, a smooth and seductive midrange, and with a rich, tight and solid bold bottom-end.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
Customer satisfaction and returning for new products that are made right here in the USA. I love hearing about customers’ systems, and goals. Being an audiophile isn’t just a business, but being part of a greater community. It starts in Texas for us, but goes all over the world.
Contact Info:
- Address: Purist Audio Design Inc.
1606 Old Angleton Rd.,
Clute, TX 77531 - Website: http://www.puristaudiodesign.com/
- Phone: 9792655114
- Email: info@puristaudiodesign.com
- Instagram: Purist Audio Design
- Facebook: Purist Audio Design
- Twitter: Purist Audio Design
- Yelp: Purist Audio Design
- Other: Purist Audio Design
Getting in touch: VoyageHouston is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
