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Samsung buys Harman-Kardon (including JBL, Crown, Lexicon, etc)

Dr Tinear said:
In fairness to TAS, the latest issue also included a very favorable review of a Harman-built speaker, the Revel Concerta2 M16, that retails for only $900 the pair. I've heard these in my own system and agree with Neil Gader's impression of them. A novice audiophile could build a very credible entry high-end system around these speakers, an NAD integrated amp, and an Onkyo CD player without breaking the bank.
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The latest issue of Stereophile selected the ELAC B-6 bookshelf speakers as Budget Component of the Year at $280/pair. They're now available in a walnut color too. You can have very good sounding system for way less than $1k.
 
Samsung has come a long way in their quality. Back in the early 1990's I worked at Fretter, doing their Audio repairs. We were a Samsung dealer and everything that came in was crap. They sent us a wall clock that said Samsung on it and it didn't work. It was a running joke in the repair department. Now I have 2 Samsung TV's. The picture is fantastic and I've had no problems with them. I have a Samsung washer, which we bought when our piece of crap Maytag died after only 5 years. The Samsung had excellent reviews in Consumer Reports and it's been great. Works better than the stupid Maytag ever did.
Now I am hoping that Samsung wants to get into the Audio market with some quality offerings, but I doubt it. As has been said, the common people want surround sound and that's all they care about. I think there isn't enough money in high end anymore.
 
Time marches on. The reasons for making speakers these days are very different than the reasons they made them for back in the 50's 60's 70's and even 80's and 90's.
Myself, I like the era in which they worked hard at trying to reproduce the sound of acoustic instruments. Such units will always be available to the select few that appreciate them. Who knows. I may like whatever it is that Samsung will spew out into the world of sound, but I'm not gonna hold my breath.
 
JBL's marketing and cash focus seems to be earphones and portable bluetooth speakers if one goes by their facebook page. That's what the cashed up cool kids seem to buying these days.

The JBL pro FB page is for larger setups.

So no more of those glorious Made in California cabinets?
 
mech986 said:
You haven't heard about or read the rants about centrifugally exploding Samsung Top Loading washers then, here in the US and Australia: 34 different models sold over 5 years.
http://www.samsung.com/au/washingmachinerecall/
https://pages.samsung.com/us/tlw/index.html

Plus the litany of product faults, failures and lousy support of Samsung TV's, refrigerators, and other appliances.
To be fair, I agree that many US appliances are probably just as bad. Washers have gotten worse partly because of the Energy Efficiency mandates - my appliance guys say that the direct drive units that Whirlpool sold over the past 20 years were some of the best engineered and easily repairable designs out there but they had to abandon it about 5 years ago. I bought a Kenmore/Whirlpool Elite top loader used about 10 years ago (it was 2 years old at the time), and aside from one knob and one motor coupling set breaking within the last 4 months, there's been no other problem with it, and we do probably 7-9 loads a week.




Sadly, Paliwal has already done a lot of damage, and Greg Timbers, Doug Button (VP, R&D), Jerry Moro (transducer designer) have all been let go over the past few years - a combined 70 years of speaker and driver design expertise.



GPA has kept the vintage part alive, yes, but Altec as a continuing speaker maker and new designs, no. And JBL is way too big for a much smaller company to come in and keep it alive unless it gets split into a number of parts.



Very true about Harman, but I wouldn't put it past Samsung to start putting its stamp on Harman. IMHO, I'm guessing Paliwal will be out of Harman within 2, max 3 years, partly because he WAS the head honcho, and now he answers to someone else, and partly because Samsung will mess with Harman because in the Korean hierarchy-type culture and management structure, they will put their own people in and they don't much leave outsiders to do their own thing. Paliwal will likely end up with another company needing to be restructured.
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I was in the appliance industry for almost 30 years and worked for Sears for 20. Nobody "forced" WP to stop making top loader direct drive washing machines, in fact they are still in production. Most of them are sold as Maytags since WP bought Maytag a decade ago and sold as private label lower end units for Lowes etc. HE appliances are the result of many things but the biggest thing is that the market wants them. The old top loaders (there are some HE top loaders however) use 25-30 gallons a load of water and the new front loaders use around 6-9 and that is a HUGE difference. Government tax credits to help companies move to them helped as well. The direct drive units were introduced in the mid 80s and had many complaints when they first came out (I sold them) and it took about 10 years for them to get accepted by the techs that loved belt drive. Just like any other industry, the older techs hate the new stuff and love the old stuff.

Samsung appliances were pretty sketchy when they first came out, just like LG items and Korean cars. Just like with Kia etc shows, the Koreans learn at an incredible rate and given enough time will make a very competitive product. 5 years ago I would not have bought a Samsung product of any kind but now I have a Samsung phone and am impressed with it.
 
DaveVoorhis said:
There was a time when such poor English was a clear indication of overseas production. Now, as a university lecturer with students from around the world and ample opportunity to compare spelling skills straight out of international education -- particularly native English vs learned English -- I'm not so sure. It might be Chinese English, but it might be semi-illiterate native English and no interest in improving it, from either the writer or his/her managers.
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"Chinglish".
 
Alobar said:
Most languages evolve over time and with the rise of the global economy we could be seeing the end of individual languages and the beginnings of a one world language.
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I remember Esperanto on offer as such, not universally adopted.
 
Pio1980 said:
Fwiw & iirc, Speed Queen makes the best fabric washing machine presently available.
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Speed Queen is mainly a commercial brand with a very tiny % of the home market. They used to be owned by Ratheon which owned Amana. Ratheon sold Speed Queen when they sold Amana to Maytag which then was sold to Whirlpool. The American appliance business is very much like the electronic industry.....there has been a vast consolidation in the past 20 years. There are still a lot of brands but only a few owners of those brands.
 
I get dizzy trying to keep up with who bought who, and spun off what.
I like the way you can just hook Mac gear together, and it just works real purty.
So, I wonder if I'll be able to put Samsung amps or speakers in a Samsung front loading washer?
 
It's Monopoly for rich guys ...

I've had good luck with our Samsung stuff. But their previous audio was not much ... I'm sure they looked at starting clean slate or buying the technology and decided it was better to buy. No patent infringements, nada. Now they own the patents and designs. Let's see where they go :smoke:
 
soundboy said:
The latest issue of Stereophile selected the ELAC B-6 bookshelf speakers as Budget Component of the Year at $280/pair. They're now available in a walnut color too. You can have very good sounding system for way less than $1k.
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Neil Gader mentioned the Elac Debut B-5 and B-6 in his TAS review of the Revel Concerta2 M16. He said that these speakers, and the slightly more expensive Elac Uni-Fi UB5, own their class ... but then he went on to describe the Revel M16 as his choice for the compact monitor to beat in the one-grand-and-under class. I have not heard the Elac models, so I can't offer an informed opinion on how they would fit in an entry high-end system, but I have heard the Revels and am convinced that they offer high-end sound at a bargain price.

I sincerely hope that Samsung sees the strategic value in keeping Revel alive and competitive.
 
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