Last week, in dramatic fashion, Harman (part of Samsung) brand Mark Levinson announced the launch of an entirely new 5000 series family of products, whose lower price tag is designed to appeal to an expanded share of the market of audio enthusiasts. In a combination of well-produced video segments, coupled with live presentations to the industry media, Harman executives laid out their vision for the brand and presented the details of the engineering and craftsmanship behind their new line of electronics and sources that included a preamp, power amp, turntable and streaming SACD player
Harman
Samsung Starts Selling Harman Audio Brands in South Korea
This past Tuesday, Samsung Electronics began launching Harman audio brands in South Korea through their company owned locations. According to the Korean press, Samsung is “looking for business synergy” by combining its strength in distribution network, marketing, and world-class service, with Harman’s strength in manufacturing competitive audio products. It is an initiative, the local media says, that is expected to “have significant impact on South Korean audio markets.”
See more on Samsung’s Harman audio strategy in Korea… [Read more…] about Samsung Starts Selling Harman Audio Brands in South Korea
Factory Tour: James Loudspeaker, The Inside Story
Factory Tour Shows James Loudspeaker To Be More Than You Realized
In our work lives, we all try to project the most positive image of ourselves. Sometimes the only way to really get to known someone is to visit them in their home. Here, you can find a lot of clues to their true selves.
So it is with companies as well. Polished marketing and great looking products can give you an impression of a large, professional, smoothly-running operation. But, as we can attest from direct experience, that simply is not always the case.
And sometimes, as in the case of James Loudspeaker, you get surprised.
See James Loudspeaker in a whole new light… [Read more…] about Factory Tour: James Loudspeaker, The Inside Story
AVAD Sold to Private Equity Company
BREAKING NEWS
Industry Veteran Tom Jacoby is AVAD’s New CEO
News comes this 4th of July holiday week that Ingram Micro, itself just recently acquired by a Chinese shipping company, has sold off AVAD, LLC and AVAD Canada Ltd., to Kingswood Capital Management, a private equity company. In an announcement from Kingswood, the company says it has brought in a new upper management team – including a new CEO, industry veteran Tom Jacoby.
See more on the sale of AVAD to private equity… [Read more…] about AVAD Sold to Private Equity Company
Harman Acquires Headphone Maker Yurbuds
Harman International Industries, Inc. announced today that is has acquired St. Louis-based Yurbuds, LLC., a manufacturer of headphones. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The acquisition seems surprising, given the fact that Harman already owns brands such as JBL and AKG that already offer headphones.
Why would a company that already offers headphones, acquire a headphone company? See more… [Read more…] about Harman Acquires Headphone Maker Yurbuds
Harman Takes Control; Acquires AMX
The release came across the wire at 8:00AM this morning and caught the industry totally off-guard – Harman International Industries, Inc. announced that it has signed an agreement with privately-held The Duchossois Group, Inc. to acquire its AMX, LLC subsidiary for $386 million. The move was not an immediately obvious one for Harman, which has been largely focused on building its automotive electronics division into a worldwide powerhouse.
But Harman did say it had a reason for taking this dramatic step… [Read more…] about Harman Takes Control; Acquires AMX
Seeing Through to the Essence of ClearView
Sometimes making no impression is the way to make the biggest impression of all! Massachusetts-based ClearView® Audio (www.clearviewaudio.com/) launched an innovative transparent music system at CES 2014 and is enjoying a great response from dealers, domestic and international. Called Clio, this first product stands just over 9 inches tall, streams over Bluetooth, and has an MSRP of $349. [Read more…] about Seeing Through to the Essence of ClearView
Eli Harary, Ex-D&M, Launches AudioXperts
Well-known industry personality Eli Harary, formerly with D&M’s Boston Acoustics division (which he left in June 2011), announced today that he is forming a new company called AudioXperts. AudioXperts will offer a “collection of unique designer/consumer-friendly high performance audio solutions.” Harary, the new company’s President, has assembled a team of…presumably…audio experts, to assist him in this endeavor.