Axis Network Horn Tested (C3003-E)

Author: Ethan Ace, Published on Apr 18, 2017

We bought and tested the Axis network horn C3003-E, examining setup and calibration, event audio, VMS integration, and sound pressure levels (tested with a dB meter, shown below) at ranges up to 100'.

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Comments (27)

Michael Miller

04/18/17 05:51pm

I agree these horn speakers are louder than I expected and super simple to install.

Michael Miller

In reply to Michael Miller | 04/20/17 01:54pm

I also ordered one of the Axis A9161 I/O modules to use as a trigger input module to fire off recorded messages from the horn. Hoping to have it soon to test.

Undisclosed Integrator #1

04/18/17 06:21pm

Brilliant design and product. We use a lot of them. Also the internal speaker is even better allowing radio stations etc

Dave Arnould

In reply to Undisclosed Integrator #1 | 04/19/17 02:48pm

What radio stations do you integrate into the internal speakers. I was sold on these would work with Pandora or Spotify almost a year ago and still no integration. when contacting support they are very obscure about what it worked with. the only example i could find was some small Norwegian MP3 company.

Avatar

Joe Mirolli

IPVMU Certified | In reply to Dave Arnould | 04/21/17 03:12am

That's an interesting use case, I havnt seen any IP speakers have built in entertainment platforms. I suppose if you had a source and a means to encode the audio this IP speaker could be a receiver of a sip audio stream, but I would not hold your breath for this to have built in Pandora or the like. Pandora has been online for many many years and there is still only one legal platform for streaming it, and that's by Muzak with an 8ohm output.

John Honovich

IPVM | In reply to Dave Arnould | 04/25/17 12:32pm

Dave,

Axis response on your radio station integration question:

The AXIS Audio Player is an audio application for playing background music and announcements with support for MP3 streams in M3U or PLS format.

The AXIS Audio Player comes preinstalled on every AXIS Network speaker (C1004-E and C2005) and enables the Axis network speaker to connect to any free available radio station that supports MP3 streams in M3U or PLS format.

Axis Communications will, in an upcoming firmware release for the network speakers, give more flexible ways to play audio clips by extending its MediaClip VAPIX API. There will be possibilities to play random audio clip that matches a given pattern, to adjust the audio clip volume and to play audio clip repeatedly. By combining name pattern that matches several audio clips and playing on repeat will result in different audio clips played in sequence. In addition, a web page in the product GUI will be provided for making it easier to use the new audio clip features.

As for today Axis does not support professional background music providers like Pandora for Business and Soundtrack Your Brand with products Spotify for Business/Soundtrack Business. Axis ambition is to over time add support for at least one global provider of professional music. Note that Pandora and Spotify has consumer offerings that won’t get support in Axis audio products.

Dave Arnould

In reply to John Honovich | 04/25/17 12:41pm

Thanks for the follow up. I was sold a few of these for an outdoor ice skating ring. the reason we went with these is the option to add SIP outdoor mass notification to the area and the sales rep said it would work with Pandora or Spotify "Soon".

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John Bazyk

IPVMU Certified | 04/18/17 06:51pm

Do you have any sample clips of what the audio sounds like? I would be interested to hear the quality of audio and how it would compare to something from a voice evac system.

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Ethan Ace

IPVM | In reply to John Bazyk | 04/18/17 07:08pm

I'm getting a couple of samples together. It won't be 100% accurate to standing next to it, obviously, since we'd be recording with our video camera which doesn't have the same pickup range or sensitivity a human has. But it'll give you an idea.

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Ethan Ace

IPVM | In reply to John Bazyk | 04/18/17 07:15pm

Oh and anecdotally, I did a lot of voice evac systems back in the day. I'd say sound quality is similar here. It's pretty mid-rangey, but it's meant for voice, not music.

Undisclosed Integrator #1

In reply to Ethan Ace | 04/18/17 09:50pm

I agree on the sound of the internal speaker if that's what we are talking about, it needs a rear baffle for bass reponse but tbh it's designed for offices , retail areas where you are looking for general background music and information. I like it just works and has a lot of great flexible features.

The horn speaker is just like any normal 100 volt horn speaker system from a sound quality, well I would say slightly better quality than a "normal" horn, less sharp at the high end.

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Ethan Ace

IPVM | In reply to John Bazyk | 04/18/17 10:05pm

John, here are a couple of sample clips (added to the report above, as well). These weren't taken at max gain, simply because I did it indoors to avoid the traffic noise from outside and didn't want to blow out my eardrums or the camera's mic.

Undisclosed #2

In reply to Ethan Ace | 04/18/17 10:50pm

John, here are a couple of sample clips...

This would be my choice of alert:

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Ethan Ace

IPVM | In reply to Undisclosed #2 | 04/19/17 12:03am

Good one. The only song I have uploaded is A-ha's Take On Me.

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Brian Rhodes

IPVMU Certified | In reply to Ethan Ace | 04/19/17 02:04am

I personally would like to see the rap airhorn standardized as a warning sign. 'Something is about to get wrecked.'

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Campbell Chang

In reply to Brian Rhodes | 04/19/17 05:32am

Frankie Goes to Hollywood - Two Tribes

It has the air raid siren as backing.

Liam Shanahan

IPVMU Certified | In reply to Ethan Ace | 04/19/17 07:53am

We have recently specified quite a few of these for a project on an Genetec system, presuming that the audio clips would be possible (Axis is usually very well integrated with GSC, maybe even the best of all the manufacturers).

While being able to able to trigger audio clips using virtual triggers is not the primary function, it would be a nice feature to have. I get slightly annoyed when certain features are missing on a VMS that are possible on the manufacturers platform, but its even worse that it's possible on Milestone.

Ethan, have you (or anyone else) heard anything about Genetec making updates in a CR/SR to allow enable these features?

Undisclosed Integrator #4

In reply to Liam Shanahan | 04/19/17 08:46am

You could write a macro to trigger the virtual input with a CGI string from your script.

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Joe Mirolli

IPVMU Certified | In reply to Liam Shanahan | 04/21/17 03:20am

There's a workaround if your using other axis cameras with I/O where you can trigger the I/O from that camera to send a message to trigger a recorded announcement in the speaker. For instance the p33xx series is integrated for I/O with most vms if you can loop a physical wire on that cameras I/O you can then trigger it to send a string to the speaker to play the announcement.

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Fredrik Ahlsen

In reply to Joe Mirolli | 04/23/17 08:36am

Anything that is able to send HTTP Generic Events can trigger the clips in this speaker. I use NX Witness (DW Spectrum in US I think) witch is able to send this directly. So I`m able to set up rules like Input X on Camera X > Send HTTP Event to Speaker (Trigger clip X)

You can also use the Axis P8221 I/O Module and set it to send the HTTP event to the speaker when an input is triggered.

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Ethan Ace

IPVM | In reply to Liam Shanahan | 04/23/17 11:38pm

Sorry, I didn't see this question. I have not heard plans from Genetec to update the integration to include the virtual triggers.

Like others said it can be done with a macro, if you're familiar with them.

The syntax of the CGI command is:

http://IPADDRESS/axis-cgi/virtualinput/activate.cgi?schemaversion=1&port=N

Where N is the virtual port number. You also need to run the same command only "deactivate.cgi" before it can be triggered a second time.

There are actually other Axis products that have virtual inputs, now, I believe, maybe including cameras, so I'll see what Genetec's stance is on adding that support.

Undisclosed End User #3

04/18/17 11:02pm

Nice stuff, would love to have one mounted in my vehicle w/ VOX activated while driving so they actually can hear me, and not only guessing what I'm saying...

Shannon Davis

TED Systems | 04/19/17 01:29pm

We haven't used one of these yet but it seems like it will work really well. Much better than firing an output from an Axis camera to a hot mess of relays, power supplies and horns to play a recorded message.

Undisclosed Distributor #5

04/23/17 08:38am

Do any of you know about any other network speaker like this on the market?

I have only seen the one from Axis. I really like it, but as a distributor (Not for Axis) I would really like to find an alternative.

NOTICE: This comment has been moved to its own discussion: Alternatives To Axis Network Horn?

Undisclosed Integrator #6

04/18/19 01:50am

I know this is an older post but do you have information on which version of ACC and the firmware version for the c3003 you were using to get this device to integrate with Avigilon? Also did both the speaker and mic functions work on ACC? I can only get the speaker working at our shop server. It works perfectly on Exacq but only the speaker works on Avigilon. Any info would be very helpful.

Avatar

Ethan Ace

IPVM | In reply to Undisclosed Integrator #6 | 04/18/19 02:05am

Funny timing, we were just trying to get the horn working on Exacq today for testing and it was more difficult than I remember. Except I could only get the mic working, not the speaker.

We have the firmware and software versions listed at the bottom of the report:

Test Parameters

The Axis C3003-E was tested using 1.25.2.1 firmware.

VMS versions used:

  • Avigilon Control Center Standard 5.10.8.2
  • ExacqVision Enterprise 8.4.2.111542
  • Genetec Security Center Enterprise 5.5.670.1080
  • Milestone XProtect Corporate 11.1a

I do believe two way audio worked in ACC. I believe it worked in all VMSes we tested, which made the annoyances I went through today even more annoying.

Undisclosed Integrator #6

04/18/19 02:15am

Thank for for the fast reply, much appreciated! I'm going to try said firmware and see how it goes. I spoke with Avigilon support and they said only the speaker would work with ACC and not the mic. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

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