HMDX Audio HX-P230A JAM Bluetooth Mobile Speaker Teardown

IHS Insight Perspective

This HMDX Bluetooth speaker is at the lower end of the pricing spectrum, retailing for $49.99. It is a mono speaker with no speakerphone capability.

• Available in 6 colors
• Single driver (not stereo)
• No speakerphone functionality
• Cheapest in range (~$50 USD retail)

Design Notes

• With its cylindrical, stand-up design, single-speaker mono operation, and branding and packaging resembling a jar of preserves, certainly the most unique and distinctive product in this group.
• At $40 retail, by far the lowest-priced unit of all the products being analyzed.
• In order to make this price point, bare-bones design elements are found throughout - no additional audio DSP/CODEC, no speakerphone functionality, lower-cost Bluetooth 2.o solution, and 2nd tier Chinese vendors used in some sockets.
• While we found the loudspeaker in the HMDX to be the costliest of all of the speaker drivers analyzed in this group of products at $2.124, keep in mind that there is only the single speaker, since it's a monophonic unit. So, the total overall cost of the driver solution is still actually less than the other units.

HMDX Audio HX-P230A JAM Bluetooth Mobile Speaker - Main PCB Top

Consumer

Released

2012 Exact date unknown

HMDX Audio HX-P230A JAM Bluetooth Mobile Speaker - Main PCB Bottom

$49.99 MSRP

Street prices found as low as $34.

Worldwide

Assumed to be worldwide availability: available from multiple e-tailers at the time of writing.

HMDX Audio HX-P230A JAM Bluetooth Mobile Speaker - Disassembly View 1

300,000 Annual Production Volume
3 Total Years

For the purposes of this teardown analysis, we have assumed an Annual Production Volume of 300000 units and a Product Lifetime Volume of 3 year(s).

Teardown volume and production assumptions are primarily used for our cost analysis in terms of amortized NRE and tooling costs, especially for custom components specific to the model being analyzed (mechanical components especially). Unless assumed volumes are different by an order of magnitude, minor changes in volume (say 1 million vs. 2) rarely have a large net effect on our final analysis because of this.

HMDX Audio HX-P230A JAM Bluetooth Mobile Speaker Cost Analysis

Component pricing reflects, in most cases, the volumes provided. Areas where specific production volumes may have limited effect include smaller passive components.

Total BOM: $15.27
Top Cost Drivers below: $11.94
% of Total BOM 78%

Main Cost Drivers below

Shenzhen Xinzhongxin Technology F-3089 Bluetooth Module - V2.0, w/ Audio Codec- (Qty: 1)
Loudspeaker - 3-Ohm, 3W, Full-Range, 35mm Dia. Paper Cone, Kapton Coil Form, 33AWG Copper Voice Coil, 3 25.0mm Dia. x 2.8mm High Rare Earth Magnets, Steel Pot, Pole Piece & Basket, Domed Mylar Dust Cap, Rubber Surround, Fabric Mesh Spider, & 2 Discrete Insulated Wires- (Qty: 1)
Voltix Battery Pack - Li-Ion, 1-Cell, 3.7V, 500mAh, w/ Charge Protection Circuit & Discrete Insulated Lead Wires- (Qty: 1)
Enclosure, Main, Bottom - Injection Molded Plastic, Printed- (Qty: 1)
Weight - Stamped / Formed Metal- (Qty: 4)
Packaging Insert - Injection Molded Plastic- (Qty: 2)
Jiaxing Heroic Electronic Technology HT6809MTER Audio Power Amplifier - Class D, Stereo, 3W/Ch, w/ 32-Step Digital Volume Control & Anti-Clipping- (Qty: 1)
Packaging Can - Clear Injection Molded Polycarbonate- (Qty: 1)
Enclosure, Main, Top Frame - Injection Molded Plastic- (Qty: 1)
Passive Radiator - Injection Molded Thermoplastic Elastomer Diaphragm & Stamped Metal Mass- (Qty: 1)

Not Included in Analysis

The total materials and manufacturing costs reported in this analysis reflect ONLY the direct materials cost (from component vendors and assorted EMS providers), AND manufacturing with basic test. Not included in this analysis are costs above and beyond the material manufacture of the core device itself - cost of intellectual property, royalties and licensing fees (those not already included into the per component price), software, software loading and test, shipping, logistics marketing and other channel costs including not only EMS provider and the OEM's margin, but that of other resellers. Our cost analysis is meant to focus on those costs incurred in the manufacture of the core device and exceptionally in some circumstances the packaging and literature as well.

We do provide an Excel tab 'Overall Costs' where a user can enter their known pre and post production costs to build a per unit cost reflective of theirs actual expenditures.

Country of Origin

For the purposes of this analysis, we are assuming the following country(ies) of origin for each level of assembly, based on a combination of 'Made In' markings, and/or assumptions based on our knowledge of such equipment.

Box Contents - China
Main PCB - China
Other - Enclosures / Final Assembly - China

Country of origin assumptions relate directly to the associated cost of manufacturing, where calculated by iSuppli. In the cases of 'finished' sub-assemblies (such as NFC modules), we do not calculate internal manufacturing costs, but rather assess the market price of the finished product in which case country of origin assumptions may or may not have a direct effect on pricing.

Labor rates are applied directly only to hand inserted components and systems in our bill of materials, and although regional assumptions do, these new rates do not have a direct effect on our modeled calculations of placement costs for automated SMD assembly lines. "Auto inserted components (such as SMT components) placement costs are calculated by an iSuppli algorithm which allocates a cost per component based on the size and pincount of the device. This calculation is affected by country or region of origin as well.

Design Complexity

Component counts by assembly and the number of assembly are indicators of design complexity and efficiency.

Component Qty: 39 - Other - Enclosures / Final Assembly
Component Qty: 141 - Main PCB
Component Qty: 11 - Box Contents
Component Qty: 191 - Grand Total

The average component count of the 5 dual-driver designs we looked at was roughly 415 components. Considering this device has 1 driver it's not surprising this features a very limited number of components - especially considering the price point they are going for with this model.

Design Notes

Electronics - In order to make the low price point of this device, bare-bones design elements are found throughout - no additional audio DSP/CODEC, no speakerphone functionality, lower-cost Bluetooth 2.0 solution, and 2nd tier Chinese vendors used in some The OmniVision part made us do a double-take - we were suprised they were doing a Bluetooth audio processor!

HMDX Audio HX-P230A JAM Bluetooth Mobile Speaker - Box Contents