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HARMAN Luxury Audio Japan:
New Products Press Event and Awards
By Naoki “Nick” Hamada
Product Marketing
October was a very special month for HARMAN Luxury Audio in Japan, as we hosted our own product launch event with extensive press coverage and we were also honored with seven Luxury Audio wins in this year's Autumn/Winter Hi-Fi awards.
Shortly after the Luxury Audio team hosted the global “Mark Levinson Reveals” virtual product launch, HARMAN Japan held a press and dealer event in Tokyo on the 19th and 20th of October. The event provided the opportunity for people to experience a number of exciting new products from the HARMAN brands, showcasing how we are a one-stop solution for high-performance audio products during the COVID-19 situation. Designed to generate rich press coverage for the new launches, the event included a wide variety of consumer and luxury audio products to allow attendees to experience the best sound from the HARMAN group.
To avoid any potential COVID-19 infection, special care and attention was given to the layout of the space to allow socially distanced listening and provide a great view from the venue on the 18th floor. In the center of the lounge, we exhibited the brand new Mark Levinson No5101 streaming SACD player and No5105 turntable together with the No5805 integrated amplifier and the new JBL 4349 Studio Monitor loudspeakers. A special demo room was set up to provide a sneak peek of the range of Arcam products that will be coming to Japan. JBL L82 Classic loudspeakers were also on display along with a wide selection of the latest JBL consumer audio products.
Over the course of the two days, nearly 70 people comprised of dealers, partner companies and audio press came to the hosted sessions. Traditional media outlets including Phileweb and AV Watch wrote long articles with photos of our new products at the event venue. In addition, mass media (My Navi News) picked up the news from Luxury Audio and distributed it to major online news sites including Yahoo! Japan, Excite news, and others. Last, but not least, Stereo – one of the most prestigious Hi-Fi magazines in Japan – showcased the JBL 4349 Studio Monitor on the cover of the November issue with a special eight-page article inside.
In addition to the press event, HARMAN Japan sound evangelist Hiro Fujita introduced and demonstrated new products to the experts as part of the famous Audio Excellence and Grand Prix Autumn/Winter 2021 Hi-Fi Awards. Awards are selected by prominent experts and representatives of major specialty audio stores nationwide. This year we were honored with seven awards for our new Luxury Audio products.
Audio Excellence Awards 2021
• Silver Award – Mark Levinson No5101
• Silver Award – JBL 4349 Studio Monitor
• Bronze Award – JBL L82 Classic
• Analog Disc Related Category Award – Mark Levinson No5105
VGP Grand Prix Awards 2021 – Pure Audio Category
• Gold Award: Bookshelf Style Speaker 400-500K JPY – JBL L100 Classic
• Pure Audio Category Award – JBL 4349 Studio Monitor
• Pure Audio Category Award – JBL L82 Classic
The winners of these awards are promoted as “Recommended Models” at the retail stores, helping to drive sales of these exciting new HARMAN Luxury Audio products.
