HARMAN Explore also allowed us to officially introduce the leadership team from Roon Labs which we had recently acquired. Attendees saw the first samples of the Roon Nucleus One and Nucleus Titan products. Feedback from the dealers and press allowed the Roon team to develop a roadmap of software improvements and new features. At that time, the company had not made any decisions on how the products would be distributed across the globe, and some of you know, there was some confusion that occurred later in the year as to whether the Luxury Audio team would take over the role of supporting and developing the Nucleus Titan products. Ultimately the company chose to create a separate Business Unit (Software Experiences) and keep all sales and support of the Roon products within that BU. Whilst the Luxury Audio BU did not ultimately wind up being responsible for the hardware development, our team did support the Software Experiences BU to allow for these products to meet the global compliance requirements. Roon is an integral part of our business, and we will partner with their team to bundle our products with Roon subscriptions and work with them on building a Roon Core into some future products.
Shortly after we unpacked from Las Vegas, our team traveled to Barcelona and supported our EMEA team at ISE. Thanks to our partners at the Adeo Group, we showcased two JBL Synthesis systems in the same demo room. ISE was also the first time we introduced our customers to the new JBL Synthesis SMA amplifiers that we were developing for the residential cinema market. BTW, these amplifiers will finally be starting production next month.
Later in February, the Brazil team hosted an event with Home Theater Magazine and the Japan team participated in the 39th Annual Nagoya Audio Festival.
In April, stakeholders from across the globe came to Northridge for a week of meetings and breakout sessions. This meeting hosted HARMAN talent from Product Development, Engineering, Sales, Marketing, Operations, Finance, Logistics and Manufacturing. We came together to look in the mirror at ourselves and to candidly discuss whether we were on the path to accomplish our CY24 and beyond goals. It was a time to error correct and double-down on our successful activities that were producing the results needed to support our customers. The Product and Engineering teams proudly demoed products that are in development and will be introduced next year CY25 at High-End Munich.
Speaking of High-End Munich, in May we proudly publicly introduced the 2nd phase of the ARCAM Radia line of products. It was the first time our customers were able to hear the improvements that John Dawson and the ARCAM team in Cambridge were able to accomplish on our new streaming products. With their new brighter and larger displays, the new ST25 Streamer, SA35, and SA45 integrated streaming amplifiers lit up the room. The ST25 is now in production and shipping in some of our regions. The SA35 and SA45 were slightly delayed allowing us to reengineer them with the latest Bluetooth 5.4 module. The Phase 2 Radia will be the first premium audio products in the market that will support this new Bluetooth format which allows for the products to transmit content via Auracast to one or more Bluetooth headphones or loudspeakers in the home. BTW, our team is currently developing a new training module for HARMAN Luxury Audio University to explain the difference of the many different Bluetooth modules being used by our industry. Look for that module to be available in our university early next year.
In July, the stars aligned at the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood, California where we publicly launched our new MA receivers and JBL Stage 2 loudspeakers. For those of you who saw these products way back in January, thank you for honoring our NDA and maintaining the secrecy around these products. The party on the roof top of the hotel could only have been eclipsed by the days that followed the launch event at the Center of Acoustic Excellence in Northridge. There we hosted over 30 members of the audio and lifestyle press to tours and listening sessions with our products and engineers.
Soon after the July launch in North America, the products were also debuted in our other regions on the globe to similar fanfare and accolades helping JBL go from 0% Global Market Share in the AVR category to a formidable competitor to the Japanese manufacturers that have dominated the category for years. As a recent reviewer in the Netherlands stated after spending time with these new products wrote, “New Sheriff in Town” and other companies better take notice!”
We all should recognize that the JBL brand will resonate with younger consumers than any other audio brand. With our fresh approach to the industrial design and a simplified user experience, our dealers and distributors will have a product line that will be able to attract new customers. Of course, we know that they will need to sell off the old and dusty black boxes that have been collecting dust on the shelves and in the warehouses first. But we are confident that these new, modern audio products will surpass the competition over time.
In August we partnered with Audio Advice to introduce for the first time at a U.S. retailer, the ARCAM Phase 2 Radia products and our new modern audio products from JBL. With the largest display space at the Raleigh Sheraton Event Center, we met with the invited press and Audio Advice’s staff and customers. It was a great event and compliment Audio Advice for taking a leadership role in hosting regional shows like Audio Advice Live.
After a busy summer of HARMAN Explores, the team set our sites on CEDIA EXPO and re-establishing ourselves as the leader in delivering cinematic experiences at home. Learning from our success at ISE in February, we redesigned our booth in Denver to accommodate four active home cinema demos. We engineered the JBL Synthesis Demonstrations Room to accommodate two systems. We were able to demo for the first time at CEDIA the Flagship SCL-1 LCR and the Flagship SSW-1 subwoofers in one system and another more affordable system with our expanded line of SCL loudspeakers and subwoofers.
The other active demos featured the JBL MA7100HP powering a 7.2.4 Dolby Atmos system comprised of a mix of Stage 2 box and architectural loudspeakers. The other system featured a 5.1.2 system comprised of the new Stage 2 loudspeakers featuring the Stage 240H Dolby Height Module sitting atop the Stage 260F tower loudspeakers in the front of the room and another pair hanging on the rear wall and switched to a standard loudspeaker and used as the rear surround. As a reminder, we have two crossovers in the 240H and have equipped the installers with numerous ways to use that loudspeaker in an installation.
These demos earned us several Best of CEDIA Awards and helped our dealers and distributors better understand the value proposition that HARMAN Luxury Audio brings to them.
Later in September, Jim Garrett headed up the response from the Audio Industry to the FTC challenging some new requirements required by resellers to specify FTC rated power ratings. Jim is writing an article in this month’s newsletter updating you all on his efforts to support the FTC concerns while also addressing the realities of how products are different and could never be measured the way the FTC was asking manufacturers to measure the power output. We are so fortunate to have industry experts like Jim and others at HARMAN representing our industry and your businesses.
In October, November and December our sales and product teams crisscrossed the globe supporting dealers and distributors at various Hi-Fi Shows and events. We also hosted additional JBL MA and Stage 2 Press Events in NYC at Republic Studios and in Santa Monica at Interscope Studios, both in conjunction with our partners at Dolby and Universal Music. Check out David Glaubke’s wrap-up on the Interscope event in this issue.
I am so proud of the partnerships that we have been developing with all of you and our industry partners. Without these relationships our jobs would be less fulfilling and would not have been as fun as it has been.
On behalf of the entire HARMAN Luxury Audio team, we thank you for your business and wish all of you a very happy holiday and a prosperous and healthy new year.
