Services

We provide customers with acoustic consulting services for consumer audio products.

Our services include product acoustic design and tuning, component sourcing and qualification as well as manufacturing setup and management.

Acoustic Design and Tuning

When beginning a new project or product design the ideal scenario is for the acoustics engineer to get involved at the initial design concept phase. Many of the early design decisions will impact the audio performance in profound ways. Having an acoustics consultant provide guidance on the dos and don’ts of audio product design as well as being able to spot potential design flaws early will usually lead to massive cost and time savings down the road. With robust design fundamentals in place the nitty-gritty of executing the design becomes low risk and straight forward. The reality of acoustics engineering is that the job involves taking care of the portion of mechanical engineering that relates to the acoustics as well as the portion of electronics that relates to the audio, ideal acoustics engineer is in fact one who is fluent in all three disciplines, hey that’s us!

Components

For audio products the components we generally are talking about are drivers, microphones and earpads. These parts have the most influence over the audio performance of a product and are the most difficult to quantify. Often the standard specification document for these components really does not tell us anything about the real performance character and so it is necessary to get hands on validate components by sample testing. The field can of course be greatly narrowed by having a clear set of requirements but the last step is always to test directly component samples to guage the performance. We help customers to build a clear requirement for components based of the goals of the product and then to find the right suppliers for those components. In combination with ZUMI’s measurement and quality control tools we can put in place a tight controlled supply for a given component and eliminate the risks of bad batches or quality fade.

Manufacturing Setup

The best way to ensure that you receive quality products is to have some involvement in the manufacturing setup. Most reputable manufacturers do a great job but it is always difficult for a manufacturer to really understand what is important to a customer as opposed to what is expedient for themselves. We always recommend that customers engage a consultant like us to visit the factory and check that everything is looking tight before beginning to build products. It can be a disaster if there is a failure at this stage of a project due to some small oversight or lapse in concentration.

We have a huge depth of experience, especially with manufacturing in South China. Having worked on a very broad range of audio products also gives insights into the nature of the supply chain, the basis for costings as well as the shortcuts to to getting great products built with the least risk.


Get in touch now to find out more…