New CEA Mobile Loudspeaker Logo Program Benefits Both Manufacturers and Consumers
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| Late last year, the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) published CEA-2031, Testing and Measurement Methods for Mobile Loudspeaker Systems, which defines measurement and reporting requirements for mobile loudspeakers. Shortly thereafter, CEA announced the launch of an associated mobile loudspeaker rating and logo program that is designed to feature products that comply with the CEA-2031 standard and provide consumers with a reliable way to compare mobile loudspeakers. It is the second such logo program CEA has developed—a few years earlier, the organization rolled out another one to help manufacturers demonstrate compliance with CEA-2006-A, Testing and Measurement Methods for Mobile Audio Amplifiers.
Jason Kemmerer, project planning manager for Alpine Electronics and co-chair of the working group that developed CEA-2031, discusses what the standard and logo program mean for the electronics industry.
Q: What is CEA-2031?
It's part of a suite of standards that the R6 Mobile Electronics Committee developed in an attempt to tighten up definitions and information for consumers on how to make informed purchases of audio equipment in general. Over the years there have been growing abuses with the specifications that are printed on carton boxes, which often seemed to be pulled out of the air or just quite exaggerated. So it was the industry's and CEA's goal to come up with standardized test methods and measurements for printing specifications through the logo program to really define what is the usable and pertinent information that a consumer needs to see.
Q: What drove the development of CEA-2031?
It's long been apparent to the manufacturers who have always printed reasonable specifications that it was becoming increasingly difficult to effectively communicate value to the consumer. There was simply no way for the consumer to know which specifications to believe and which to ignore. We felt that in this competitive environment, the consumer really wasn't being well served by all the confusing information that was out there. The same situation led to the development of CEA 2006, which provides guidelines around measuring mobile audio amplifiers. Once we developed that one, it opened the door for further kinds of projects like this.
There's another standard in the works right now that has to do with cabling diameters and copper content [CEA-2015]. While there is an American wire gauge standard (AWG) already, as copper prices have increased significantly, many overseas manufacturers have simply compensated by skimping on the copper content. This put the well-established wire manufacturers in a difficult situation with pricing. They were adhering to the true specifications while these other brands were not, and the consumer didn't know they weren't the same thing. The end result was that consumers weren't getting the performance they thought they were purchasing.
Q: While these documents do sound like they could help standardize the publishing of specifications, they are voluntary. So what keeps companies from fudging the information they print on their product packages?
That's the point of the logo program. Once the dealers get so used to seeing these CEA logos, they realize that if this product doesn't have a logo on it, then it's not really a good product. And that's what all of us were really trying to establish with this series of standards.
Q: Are dealers used to seeing logo?
Yes. The logo program for CEA-2006 has been in place for several years, and CEA-2031 is almost the same logo style. Instead of a transistor built into the logo, it's a loudspeaker outline, so it's really simple to identify what it is.
Q: Are consumers familiar with the logo?
Of course anything directed at consumers is hard to gauge without doing a massive survey. But there are certainly some broad advertisements that do incorporate it, such as through Crutchfield, which distributes millions of catalogs each year and strictly utilizes CEA ratings. Car Audio and Electronics magazine has also been incorporating these standards into the products they review. So I think there is definitely consumer awareness.
Q: What does it take for a manufacturer to get involved in the logo program?
They have to submit a list of products that they want to have the logo identified on and to comply with the basic rules of testing and specifications and information reporting. There's also a minor annual fee for participating in the program.
Q: Are a lot of manufacturers involved in the logo program?
On the amplifier standard, yes-certainly most of the major brands and even a few minor brands. The loudspeaker logo program wasn't available until fairly recently, so there was very few of us that were able to react quickly enough for 2007 model year products. I believe there are only three of us that currently have product in the market under the logo program.
Q: What do you think manufacturers should be aware of when it comes to CEA-2031?
The standard itself doesn't really establish totally new types of testing or anything. We have mostly taken already well accepted test methods from a variety of sources and combined them into one master document. There are one or two new things that needed to be developed where there wasn't a previously accepted standard, but we've tried to simplify things to make it easy so that even the smaller brands can comply with the standard.
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