Hello everyone,
It’s time to update you guys after not one but two trips to China. We’re working really hard and pushing suppliers to make the assembly and deliveries happen as soon as possible. It looks like our hard work is paying off because currently, delivery before Christmas is on the table.
We will send an email this week to ask you to confirm your address and your colour choice one last time. So keep an eye on your inbox!
Second Sample & Pilot Build
On September 15, the three founders, Sten, Jorn, and Florent, flew to China to start a new Pilot Build. Immediately after landing at Guangzhou airport, Jorn and Florent travelled to our Assembly plan AMS in Foshan, while Sten headed for our PCBA manufacturer Boktech in Shenzhen.
Sten at Boktech for our Electronics
After arriving in Shenzhen, Sten got to work on finishing up the electronics for the Pilot Build. The most important task was getting the test equipment set up in the same way that it had been set up in Rotterdam. The tweaks that had been made in our office had to be copied on the ground in Shenzhen.
After a first (almost) sleepless night, the test equipment was ready to be used the next day. Almost effortlessly, we turned a stack of 90 finished untested boards into 84 tested and programmed boards. With our new test tools, it’s very easy to track down a problem in the mass assembly of electronics boards.
After a full day of testing and programming with our test equipment, Sten joined up with Florent and Jorn in Foshan with a big box of electronics.


Sample build
While Sten was in Shenzhen getting the electronics ready, Jorn and Florent focused on getting the Sample Build and Pilot Build ready.
Together with the QC (Quality Control) department of AMS, they looked at the function and the appearance of every individual part and sub-assembly that constitute the kien speakers. This helped to find some mistakes that had been made with the wiring, and it allowed to decide on the acceptance level in terms of visual defects.
After looking at the products on a component level, it was time for the Sample Build to start.
5 Subwoofers and 5 Satellites were first assembled. This is an important step that allows the production operators to fine-tune many processes and machines, such as the acoustic test and the glue robot.
After a thorough test of these 10 products, the Sample Build was signed off for what’s called the “Fit and Form”, and it was time for the Pilot Build to start.
Pilot Build
The Pilot Build is a very similar exercise to the Sample Build, except for a few differences. Products are made in larger numbers and in the final production conditions. This exercise allows the operators to get familiar with assembling kien speakers on a large scale in a relatively short amount of time. About 25 Satellites and 35 Subwoofers were then assembled in a couple of days. The products were also tested and amongst those tests is the acoustic test.




Acoustic Test
This is one of the most important tests in the whole production. We test the frequency response of each and every speaker that goes through the production line, to make sure that the products have the right quality. The process is very basic but efficient. The speakers are put in a box that’s covered on the inside with dampening foam.

Unfortunately, a small issue with the firmware that was flashed on the Satellites made it very difficult to perform this test. We were running out of time and had to fly back to the Netherlands. So the decision was made to go back to China the following week.
Second trip to China
Florent was designated as the person to go back to China, since he’s responsible for the acoustics of the kien speakers. After spending about 4 days in the Netherlands and having just enough time to get used to the Dutch timezone, it was time to fly to China again and spend the weekend there, from Friday 20 to Monday 23 September.
Florent flashed all the Satellites with new firmware, and the acoustic test was performed. All the speakers fell within an acceptable acoustic range. The Pilot Build was signed off for both the Satellites and the Subwoofers, and the second trip was a success!
After a couple of weeks, we received the shipments at our HQ in Rotterdam, and began testing the products again.

Fabrics
As mentioned in a previous update, we’ve had a lot of trouble with the fabrics around our speakers. In short, pulling the sleeves around the speakers made the sleeves behave unpredictably and leave gaps due to shrinkage. In other words, not the looks we were after. So, we spent more R&D hours finding and shaping a new solution. We figured that wrapping the sleeve around the products was the way to go. It allowed us to control the margins and unpredictable behaviour of the mesh fabrics, giving us the wished-for end result. The only extra we needed was a piece of material that could hide the ends of the sleeve. Jorn designed a strip that enhances the design of our speakers when fixed to the body. Anodized aluminium makes the strip stand out as an elegant design feature, as can be seen in the image below.

Planning
As stated in the introduction of this update, we’re working towards shipping all the pre-orders before Christmas. We’re currently waiting for the fabrics to be shipped to AMS. As soon as the fabrics have been received, we’ll start producing and assembling the first batch.
We will send our customers an email this week to ask you to confirm your address and your colour choice. So keep an eye on your inbox!
Stay tuned!
