AKM Factory fire...

J

Jim MacArthur

Guest
Sorry, this is week-old news, but I just found out about it, so maybe others are similarly in the dark:

https://www.prosoundnetwork.com/business/akm-factory-fire-shakes-up-pro-audio-industry
 
On Saturday, November 7, 2020 at 9:53:57 AM UTC-5, Jim MacArthur wrote:
Sorry, this is week-old news, but I just found out about it, so maybe others are similarly in the dark:

https://www.prosoundnetwork.com/business/akm-factory-fire-shakes-up-pro-audio-industry
Click to expand...

I heard about it pretty quick because I use one of the parts made there. Not that the company or disti contacted me right away. A component broker found an AKM part number that linked to my product and wanted to buy any inventory I might have.

In an effort to prevent issues like this I used a part that was a superset of another part. That way I could use whichever part was cheaper and easier to get. However, both parts are made at that factory.

I have no current orders, but I informed my customer about this immediately.. They are expecting to win at least a portion of the FAA FENS contract and will be placing an order in the new year. I hope they have restored supply by then.

The article talks about the facility building itself burning. What the heck was it made of?

It always makes me wonder what it is that burns in a place like that. I worked in one facility that had nice, wide hallways, then when running out of office space started storing file cabinets in the hallways. WTF? Don\'t they have fire codes? The fire marshal oked it saying there was still room for two people to walk by in the hall. I guess the fire codes are not very strict.

The fire marshal did make them unlock both of the double doors at the entrance. The lobby was fed by two hallways and for an unknown reason the company was keeping one of the two exit doors locked at all times. I had mentioned to the receptionist that it wasn\'t allowed under code to do that and her reply was that they didn\'t have to follow fire code because it was a classified facility. lol


--

Rick C.

- Get 1,000 miles of free Supercharging
- Tesla referral code - https://ts.la/richard11209
 
Am 07.11.20 um 16:50 schrieb Rickster C:
On Saturday, November 7, 2020 at 9:53:57 AM UTC-5, Jim MacArthur wrote:
Sorry, this is week-old news, but I just found out about it, so maybe others are similarly in the dark:

https://www.prosoundnetwork.com/business/akm-factory-fire-shakes-up-pro-audio-industry

I heard about it pretty quick because I use one of the parts made there. Not that the company or disti contacted me right away. A component broker found an AKM part number that linked to my product and wanted to buy any inventory I might have.
Click to expand...

I read that audio manufacturers are in panic. A/D D/A prices have
multiplied if anything is still available at all.

Gerhard
 
On Saturday, November 7, 2020 at 11:47:05 AM UTC-5, Gerhard Hoffmann wrote:
Am 07.11.20 um 16:50 schrieb Rickster C:
On Saturday, November 7, 2020 at 9:53:57 AM UTC-5, Jim MacArthur wrote:
Sorry, this is week-old news, but I just found out about it, so maybe others are similarly in the dark:

https://www.prosoundnetwork.com/business/akm-factory-fire-shakes-up-pro-audio-industry

I heard about it pretty quick because I use one of the parts made there.. Not that the company or disti contacted me right away. A component broker found an AKM part number that linked to my product and wanted to buy any inventory I might have.

I read that audio manufacturers are in panic. A/D D/A prices have
multiplied if anything is still available at all.

Gerhard
Click to expand...

The AKM parts are certainly no longer available, but it\'s not like it won\'t take some time to redo designs to use another manufacturer\'s part. I picked the AK4556 because it was simple to use. No SPI, no I2C, four pins to select a mode and it just works. CD quality. How many devices are out there like that?

--

Rick C.

+ Get 1,000 miles of free Supercharging
+ Tesla referral code - https://ts.la/richard11209
 
Am 07.11.2020 um 15:53 schrieb Jim MacArthur:
Sorry, this is week-old news, but I just found out about it, so maybe others are similarly in the dark:

https://www.prosoundnetwork.com/business/akm-factory-fire-shakes-up-pro-audio-industry
Click to expand...

yeah it\'s a pity, the AKM stuff has highest quality and low prices, lots
of them are automotive validated.
However it was always difficult to buy these parts, at least digikey
lists them but had nothing on stock, prices were as low as 50ct for
decent 24bit ADCs or DACs @1k pieces.

Competitors are more expensive like AD, Cirrus Logic and TI, but offer
more I2C/SPI functionality (even integrated DSPs) or reasonable priced
eval boards like TI.

I wonder if there is a need of further improvments in these audio codecs
since there is already a maximum of practical sound quality achieved.

Integrating audio ADC/DAC into SOCs may be not the right answer due to S/N.

--
Mike Randelzhofer, OHO-Elektronik
 
On Saturday, November 7, 2020 at 2:40:59 PM UTC-5, Mike Randelzhofer wrote:
Am 07.11.2020 um 15:53 schrieb Jim MacArthur:
Sorry, this is week-old news, but I just found out about it, so maybe others are similarly in the dark:

https://www.prosoundnetwork.com/business/akm-factory-fire-shakes-up-pro-audio-industry



yeah it\'s a pity, the AKM stuff has highest quality and low prices, lots
of them are automotive validated.
However it was always difficult to buy these parts, at least digikey
lists them but had nothing on stock, prices were as low as 50ct for
decent 24bit ADCs or DACs @1k pieces.

Competitors are more expensive like AD, Cirrus Logic and TI, but offer
more I2C/SPI functionality (even integrated DSPs) or reasonable priced
eval boards like TI.

I wonder if there is a need of further improvments in these audio codecs
since there is already a maximum of practical sound quality achieved.

Integrating audio ADC/DAC into SOCs may be not the right answer due to S/N.

--
Mike Randelzhofer, OHO-Elektronik
Click to expand...

I\'m surprised you say that about inventory of AKM parts. Years ago I was trying to build a batch of boards with a 14 week lead time from the AKM factory. The disti arranged a meeting with the AKM factory guy and he bragged about their 14 week lead time. I explained to him I quote my customers a 10 week lead time and they complain that is too long. He was a bit taken aback by that, but the next time I needed AKM parts they were in stock at Arrow, I believe. Since then I stopped checking as there always seemed to be some ten\'s of thousands on hand.

I found it interesting that they had a lesser CODEC in a 16 pin package and a more capable part in a 20 pin package with footprint compatibility, but the 20 pin part was also always cheaper. Go figure.

I hope they get back up and running soon. A lot of folks depend on these parts. It has got to be a huge blow to the company as well.

--

Rick C.

-- Get 1,000 miles of free Supercharging
-- Tesla referral code - https://ts.la/richard11209
 
On Saturday, November 7, 2020 at 12:20:11 PM UTC-8, Rickster C wrote:
On Saturday, November 7, 2020 at 2:40:59 PM UTC-5, Mike Randelzhofer wrote:
Am 07.11.2020 um 15:53 schrieb Jim MacArthur:
Sorry, this is week-old news, but I just found out about it, so maybe others are similarly in the dark:

https://www.prosoundnetwork.com/business/akm-factory-fire-shakes-up-pro-audio-industry



yeah it\'s a pity, the AKM stuff has highest quality and low prices, lots
of them are automotive validated.
However it was always difficult to buy these parts, at least digikey
lists them but had nothing on stock, prices were as low as 50ct for
decent 24bit ADCs or DACs @1k pieces.

Competitors are more expensive like AD, Cirrus Logic and TI, but offer
more I2C/SPI functionality (even integrated DSPs) or reasonable priced
eval boards like TI.

I wonder if there is a need of further improvments in these audio codecs
since there is already a maximum of practical sound quality achieved.

Integrating audio ADC/DAC into SOCs may be not the right answer due to S/N.

--
Mike Randelzhofer, OHO-Elektronik

I\'m surprised you say that about inventory of AKM parts. Years ago I was trying to build a batch of boards with a 14 week lead time from the AKM factory. The disti arranged a meeting with the AKM factory guy and he bragged about their 14 week lead time. I explained to him I quote my customers a 10 week lead time and they complain that is too long. He was a bit taken aback by that, but the next time I needed AKM parts they were in stock at Arrow, I believe. Since then I stopped checking as there always seemed to be some ten\'s of thousands on hand.

I found it interesting that they had a lesser CODEC in a 16 pin package and a more capable part in a 20 pin package with footprint compatibility, but the 20 pin part was also always cheaper. Go figure.

I hope they get back up and running soon. A lot of folks depend on these parts. It has got to be a huge blow to the company as well.

--

Rick C.

-- Get 1,000 miles of free Supercharging
-- Tesla referral code - https://ts.la/richard11209
Click to expand...

Even if AKM takes their masks to another fab it will take a minimum of 3 months to get the first parts out. And that assumes that there is unused fab capacity somewhere with compatible processes. Rebuilding the plant will take at least a year.
 
On 11/7/20 5:53 PM, Flyguy wrote:
On Saturday, November 7, 2020 at 12:20:11 PM UTC-8, Rickster C wrote:
On Saturday, November 7, 2020 at 2:40:59 PM UTC-5, Mike Randelzhofer wrote:
Am 07.11.2020 um 15:53 schrieb Jim MacArthur:
Sorry, this is week-old news, but I just found out about it, so maybe others are similarly in the dark:

https://www.prosoundnetwork.com/business/akm-factory-fire-shakes-up-pro-audio-industry



yeah it\'s a pity, the AKM stuff has highest quality and low prices, lots
of them are automotive validated.
However it was always difficult to buy these parts, at least digikey
lists them but had nothing on stock, prices were as low as 50ct for
decent 24bit ADCs or DACs @1k pieces.

Competitors are more expensive like AD, Cirrus Logic and TI, but offer
more I2C/SPI functionality (even integrated DSPs) or reasonable priced
eval boards like TI.

I wonder if there is a need of further improvments in these audio codecs
since there is already a maximum of practical sound quality achieved.

Integrating audio ADC/DAC into SOCs may be not the right answer due to S/N.

--
Mike Randelzhofer, OHO-Elektronik

I\'m surprised you say that about inventory of AKM parts. Years ago I was trying to build a batch of boards with a 14 week lead time from the AKM factory. The disti arranged a meeting with the AKM factory guy and he bragged about their 14 week lead time. I explained to him I quote my customers a 10 week lead time and they complain that is too long. He was a bit taken aback by that, but the next time I needed AKM parts they were in stock at Arrow, I believe. Since then I stopped checking as there always seemed to be some ten\'s of thousands on hand.

I found it interesting that they had a lesser CODEC in a 16 pin package and a more capable part in a 20 pin package with footprint compatibility, but the 20 pin part was also always cheaper. Go figure.

I hope they get back up and running soon. A lot of folks depend on these parts. It has got to be a huge blow to the company as well.

--

Even if AKM takes their masks to another fab it will take a minimum of 3 months to get the first parts out. And that assumes that there is unused fab capacity somewhere with compatible processes. Rebuilding the plant will take at least a year.
Click to expand...

Remember the Sumitomo fire of 1993 that destroyed a major fraction of
the world production of Novolac epoxy for IC packages? _That_ was a mess.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

--
Dr Philip C D Hobbs
Principal Consultant
ElectroOptical Innovations LLC / Hobbs ElectroOptics
Optics, Electro-optics, Photonics, Analog Electronics
Briarcliff Manor NY 10510

http://electrooptical.net
http://hobbs-eo.com
 
On 8/11/20 5:44 am, Rickster C wrote:
On Saturday, November 7, 2020 at 11:47:05 AM UTC-5, Gerhard Hoffmann wrote:
Am 07.11.20 um 16:50 schrieb Rickster C:
On Saturday, November 7, 2020 at 9:53:57 AM UTC-5, Jim MacArthur wrote:
Sorry, this is week-old news, but I just found out about it, so maybe others are similarly in the dark:

https://www.prosoundnetwork.com/business/akm-factory-fire-shakes-up-pro-audio-industry

I heard about it pretty quick because I use one of the parts made there. Not that the company or disti contacted me right away. A component broker found an AKM part number that linked to my product and wanted to buy any inventory I might have.

I read that audio manufacturers are in panic. A/D D/A prices have
multiplied if anything is still available at all.

Gerhard

The AKM parts are certainly no longer available, but it\'s not like it won\'t take some time to redo designs to use another manufacturer\'s part. I picked the AK4556 because it was simple to use. No SPI, no I2C, four pins to select a mode and it just works. CD quality. How many devices are out there like that?
Click to expand...

CD quality? A huge number. But if you want what AKM do well, there is no
equal. A friend is just finishing a 4-channel SDR design using four AKM
stereo ADCs at very high (for audio) sample rates. He has enough to
finish development, but none for production.

:(

Clifford Heath.
 
On Saturday, November 7, 2020 at 3:20:11 PM UTC-5, Rickster C wrote:
On Saturday, November 7, 2020 at 2:40:59 PM UTC-5, Mike Randelzhofer wrote:
Am 07.11.2020 um 15:53 schrieb Jim MacArthur:
Sorry, this is week-old news, but I just found out about it, so maybe others are similarly in the dark:

https://www.prosoundnetwork.com/business/akm-factory-fire-shakes-up-pro-audio-industry



yeah it\'s a pity, the AKM stuff has highest quality and low prices, lots
of them are automotive validated.
However it was always difficult to buy these parts, at least digikey
lists them but had nothing on stock, prices were as low as 50ct for
decent 24bit ADCs or DACs @1k pieces.

Competitors are more expensive like AD, Cirrus Logic and TI, but offer
more I2C/SPI functionality (even integrated DSPs) or reasonable priced
eval boards like TI.

I wonder if there is a need of further improvments in these audio codecs
since there is already a maximum of practical sound quality achieved.

Integrating audio ADC/DAC into SOCs may be not the right answer due to S/N.

--
Mike Randelzhofer, OHO-Elektronik

I\'m surprised you say that about inventory of AKM parts. Years ago I was trying to build a batch of boards with a 14 week lead time from the AKM factory. The disti arranged a meeting with the AKM factory guy and he bragged about their 14 week lead time. I explained to him I quote my customers a 10 week lead time and they complain that is too long. He was a bit taken aback by that, but the next time I needed AKM parts they were in stock at Arrow, I believe. Since then I stopped checking as there always seemed to be some ten\'s of thousands on hand.

I found it interesting that they had a lesser CODEC in a 16 pin package and a more capable part in a 20 pin package with footprint compatibility, but the 20 pin part was also always cheaper. Go figure.

I hope they get back up and running soon. A lot of folks depend on these parts. It has got to be a huge blow to the company as well.
Click to expand...

Crapola! I had sent an email to my customer who had been talking about a very large contract that would not bear fruit until the end of next year at the earliest. Now I find out they have an opportunity mid year! So we need to get a contingency plan in place.

I\'m finding inventory at a number of international companies I\'ve not heard of other than through Octopart. One is Win-source. They offer samples, so I asked for a few. We can try them on some boards and see of the AK4552 parts work in the AK4556 sockets. We can also test some to see if the AK4556 parts work, period.

I have 2,000 FPGAs in inventory. I\'d hate to have to redesign the board because of the CODEC since the FPGA would get replaced as well as it has been EOL for half a decade.

--

Rick C.

-+ Get 1,500 miles of free Supercharging
-+ Tesla referral code - https://ts.la/richard11209
 
On Thu, 12 Nov 2020 10:27:41 -0800 (PST), Rickster C
<gnuarm.deletethisbit@gmail.com> wrote:

On Saturday, November 7, 2020 at 3:20:11 PM UTC-5, Rickster C wrote:
On Saturday, November 7, 2020 at 2:40:59 PM UTC-5, Mike Randelzhofer wrote:
Am 07.11.2020 um 15:53 schrieb Jim MacArthur:
Sorry, this is week-old news, but I just found out about it, so maybe others are similarly in the dark:

https://www.prosoundnetwork.com/business/akm-factory-fire-shakes-up-pro-audio-industry



yeah it\'s a pity, the AKM stuff has highest quality and low prices, lots
of them are automotive validated.
However it was always difficult to buy these parts, at least digikey
lists them but had nothing on stock, prices were as low as 50ct for
decent 24bit ADCs or DACs @1k pieces.

Competitors are more expensive like AD, Cirrus Logic and TI, but offer
more I2C/SPI functionality (even integrated DSPs) or reasonable priced
eval boards like TI.

I wonder if there is a need of further improvments in these audio codecs
since there is already a maximum of practical sound quality achieved.

Integrating audio ADC/DAC into SOCs may be not the right answer due to S/N.

--
Mike Randelzhofer, OHO-Elektronik

I\'m surprised you say that about inventory of AKM parts. Years ago I was trying to build a batch of boards with a 14 week lead time from the AKM factory. The disti arranged a meeting with the AKM factory guy and he bragged about their 14 week lead time. I explained to him I quote my customers a 10 week lead time and they complain that is too long. He was a bit taken aback by that, but the next time I needed AKM parts they were in stock at Arrow, I believe. Since then I stopped checking as there always seemed to be some ten\'s of thousands on hand.

I found it interesting that they had a lesser CODEC in a 16 pin package and a more capable part in a 20 pin package with footprint compatibility, but the 20 pin part was also always cheaper. Go figure.

I hope they get back up and running soon. A lot of folks depend on these parts. It has got to be a huge blow to the company as well.

Crapola! I had sent an email to my customer who had been talking about a very large contract that would not bear fruit until the end of next year at the earliest. Now I find out they have an opportunity mid year! So we need to get a contingency plan in place.

I\'m finding inventory at a number of international companies I\'ve not heard of other than through Octopart. One is Win-source. They offer samples, so I asked for a few. We can try them on some boards and see of the AK4552 parts work in the AK4556 sockets. We can also test some to see if the AK4556 parts work, period.

I have 2,000 FPGAs in inventory. I\'d hate to have to redesign the board because of the CODEC since the FPGA would get replaced as well as it has been EOL for half a decade.
Click to expand...

Another interesting site I had not heard of before. Thanks.

I see they use the Chinese search engine, baidu.com and the Russian
yandex.ru site too.

https://www.win-source.net/
 
On Thu, 12 Nov 2020 10:27:41 -0800 (PST), Rickster C
<gnuarm.deletethisbit@gmail.com> wrote:

On Saturday, November 7, 2020 at 3:20:11 PM UTC-5, Rickster C wrote:
On Saturday, November 7, 2020 at 2:40:59 PM UTC-5, Mike Randelzhofer wrote:
Am 07.11.2020 um 15:53 schrieb Jim MacArthur:
Sorry, this is week-old news, but I just found out about it, so maybe others are similarly in the dark:

https://www.prosoundnetwork.com/business/akm-factory-fire-shakes-up-pro-audio-industry



yeah it\'s a pity, the AKM stuff has highest quality and low prices, lots
of them are automotive validated.
However it was always difficult to buy these parts, at least digikey
lists them but had nothing on stock, prices were as low as 50ct for
decent 24bit ADCs or DACs @1k pieces.

Competitors are more expensive like AD, Cirrus Logic and TI, but offer
more I2C/SPI functionality (even integrated DSPs) or reasonable priced
eval boards like TI.

I wonder if there is a need of further improvments in these audio codecs
since there is already a maximum of practical sound quality achieved.

Integrating audio ADC/DAC into SOCs may be not the right answer due to S/N.

--
Mike Randelzhofer, OHO-Elektronik

I\'m surprised you say that about inventory of AKM parts. Years ago I was trying to build a batch of boards with a 14 week lead time from the AKM factory. The disti arranged a meeting with the AKM factory guy and he bragged about their 14 week lead time. I explained to him I quote my customers a 10 week lead time and they complain that is too long. He was a bit taken aback by that, but the next time I needed AKM parts they were in stock at Arrow, I believe. Since then I stopped checking as there always seemed to be some ten\'s of thousands on hand.

I found it interesting that they had a lesser CODEC in a 16 pin package and a more capable part in a 20 pin package with footprint compatibility, but the 20 pin part was also always cheaper. Go figure.

I hope they get back up and running soon. A lot of folks depend on these parts. It has got to be a huge blow to the company as well.

Crapola! I had sent an email to my customer who had been talking about a very large contract that would not bear fruit until the end of next year at the earliest. Now I find out they have an opportunity mid year! So we need to get a contingency plan in place.

I\'m finding inventory at a number of international companies I\'ve not heard of other than through Octopart. One is Win-source. They offer samples, so I asked for a few. We can try them on some boards and see of the AK4552 parts work in the AK4556 sockets. We can also test some to see if the AK4556 parts work, period.

I have 2,000 FPGAs in inventory. I\'d hate to have to redesign the board because of the CODEC since the FPGA would get replaced as well as it has been EOL for half a decade.
Click to expand...

I was looking around on win-source and put in TMS9918 which is a
video chip I designed into my old S-100 CPM system and noticed
something interesting but I don\'t quite understand.....

This one line...


Fake Threat In the Open Market 54 pct.

I was just thinking about counterfeit or recycled parts.
Not sure how this 54% figure relates. They do have a pop-up chat and
could probably ask.


ECAD Module
Manufacturer Texas Instruments
Win Source Part Number 374276-TMS9918ANL
Popularity Low
Fake Threat In the Open Market 54 pct.
Supply and Demand Status Limited
 
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