Wireless handheld microphones: Functionality, design flexibility underscored

China suppliers are making more compact microphones with improved acoustic properties, and targeting greater ease-of-use. They carry out such endeavors through the use of new technology, which facilitates design flexibility and ultimately reducing the overall time to market.

Makers choose components that are cost-effi cient to maximize their price advantage over foreign competitors.

To ensure that functionality is not compromised, they source transducers, sensors and wires only from established local suppliers with whom they have longterm relations. Controller ICs, however, are mostly from overseas providers such as C-Media, Philips, Samsung, Sony and TI.

Plastic, specifi cally ABS, is the mainstream but various types of metal and alloys are utilized for upscale models. Makers are increasingly employing electroplating for a sleek fi nish. The process also protects against everyday wear and tear.

Since the manufacturing technology is quite mature, an R&D breakthrough is unlikely. Companies focus instead on diversifying the application scope. They have started harnessing MEMS to engineer microminiature microphones for mobile phones, PMPs, personal electronic games, Bluetooth and navigation devices, and laptops.

With its high threshold, however, this relatively new technology is still unsuitable for mass production and is limited to OEM and ODM designs.

The range of microphones from China is diverse, covering both home and professional applications. It includes conventional cabled and cordless types, which are of the dynamic and condenser kinds. Ultraportable microphones, typically electret, are also available.

Wired versions comprise 60 percent of the aggregate output. The line, however, is going wireless as demand for embedded devices applied in next-generation personal digital electronics continues to rise.

Moving upmarket, producers of cabled units are turning out more professional-use models, which generate higher profits. A 20Hz to 20kHz frequency response range, cardioid pickup, 3.5 or 6.35mm XLR jack and USB port are staple.

Low-end wired microphones usually have a TPC cord and plastic housing. An omnidirectional pickup, recording function and OFC or OCC cabling materials, meanwhile, are characteristic of midrange and high-end products.

Wireless models come in VHF, UHF and infrared types although suppliers are gradually moving away from the last due to low demand. Units classified as entry level are usually on a VHF band with a 150 to 280MHz range.

Popular overseas are the upscale 500 to 960MHz UHF types, which generally have a recording function.

All noncorded products have a 20Hz to 20kHz frequency response, 10 to 150m operating range, and LCD screen. Depending on the price, the housing can be made of plastic or metal. High-end versions run digital phase locked loops or DPLLs but PLLs are more common.

Exports have tumbled in recent months and a 10 percent drop is likely within the year due to the financial slump. Easing up on their traditional markets Europe and North America, many suppliers are expanding to Southeast Asia and the Middle East. Others are advancing their business on the domestic front.

Competition from major overseas industry players, including Sony, Sennheiser and AKG, meanwhile, compelled exporters to cut prices by 5 to 10 percent in 2008. With quotes already at rock bottom, margins are expected to thin further in the next few months.

With the escalating overhead, mixed production is common. Makers, particularly entry-level enterprises, also offer other electroacoustic lines, including amplifier systems, loudspeakers and mixers. Many are reluctant to enter into OBM business due to high costs, concentrating instead on boosting their customization capability.

Plastic injection, silkscreen printing, mold making and assembly are done in-house. Companies, most of which are ISO-certifi ed, find it more economical to subcontract SMT and PCB engineering to local providers. Many have acquired signal generators, spectrum analyzers and oscilloscopes, allowing them to implement stringent QC without the additional outlay. As such, most China-made microphones have gained 3C, CE and FCC approval. Units made to RoHS requirements are also offered.

About 80 percent of China’s 400 to 500 microphone suppliers are in Guangdong province. Three hundred of these companies, mostly small and midsize, are located in Enping, a country-level city administered from Jiangmen.

Enping accounts for about 70 percent, or 100 million units, of the country’s total turnout. The city’s exports of electroacoustic products, including microphones, reached $64.9 million in 2008, up by 25 percent YoY.

Enping boasts a comprehensive supply chain and an overhead lower than in most cities. Enping Lane Dexun and Enping OKSN are among the companies there that promote in-house brands and have secured IPR for a number of models.

This article "Wireless handheld microphones: Functionality, design flexibility underscored" is originally posted in Global Sources.

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