Tag Archives: harman kardon

Harman is redesigning its in-car audio systems specifically for electric vehicles

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I bet you didn’t know this but car stereos can often be power guzzlers. A decent car audio setup can pull anywhere from 200 to 500 watts RMS of power depending on the number of speaker units, the size of the car, and the bass module. That isn’t really much of a concern when you’ve got a fuel-powered automobile but in an electric vehicle, any sort of efficiency can go a long way in making a car perform better. Harman (which got acquired by Samsung in late 2016) is looking to redesign its audio systems for EVs, to help provide its signature quality of sound, but with a smaller power footprint. Its redesigned system, called the ECOTECT, is aimed at helping provide cars with high-quality audio while weighing less and using as little power as possible.

Traditional audio systems usually have audio units at the base of each door (often with a separate tweeter near the window), along with smaller drivers lined at the top, followed by the woofer right at the back. Harman’s Ecotect follows the same philosophy, but puts two drivers under the gearbox in front, rather than the door, followed by smaller drivers on the A and B pillars, and a woofer at the back, providing the same sound but also cutting down the number of components required. “Ecotect features high-efficiency speakers, a proprietary Prodigy Booster amplifier and Power Manager 2.0 technology, all layered in via a unique architecture that leverages innovative speaker locations, sustainable materials and sophisticated signal processing to deliver premium audio and communications experiences with EV-optimized efficiency”, says the product team at Harman. The Ecotect also leverages the use of software to help provide audio that matches traditional in-car sound systems… much like how phone cameras use computational photography to compete with DSLRs. To add to it, Harman’s even built voice-sensing volume fading technologies into it to help reduce audio to enable conversations in the car, as well as HALOsonic Road Noise Cancellation, which dampens and minimizes road noise to make your cabin quieter and your music experience richer. Pretty neat, eh?

Designer: Harman

Harman Kardon’s return to headphones includes true wireless earbuds

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Harman Kardon is coming back to headphones after a six-year absence, and it's making up for lost time by seizing on all the latest trends. It's introducing a new Fly wireless audio lineup headlined by the Fly TWS (above), a set of true wireless earb...

Samsung’s new soundbars detect what’s on screen to optimize output

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Samsung has announced its new soundbar lineup: the Q series, optimized for -- you guessed it -- the company's QLED TVs. The HW-Q70R and HW-Q60R are the latest offerings from Samsung's ongoing collaboration with Harman Kardon, with the premium HW-Q70R...

One week with Microsoft Cortana

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"Never mind it. Never mind," I cursed, looking down on the poorly formed monstrosity that gazed back at me with a singular pulsing eye. No, not at me -- through me. This was not my trusty Google Assistant, with whom I shared a deep logistical and day...

Harman Kardon makes an Alexa killer!

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So this happened. Just how Amazon suddenly debuted the Echo speaker with the Alexa AI assistant inside it and completely changed the smart-home game overnight (single-handedly cementing Alexa’s place in the AI Assistant battle between Google, Apple, and Windows)… this happened recently. Harman Kardon (a company recently acquired by Samsung) debuted its Invoke speaker, a large sound-pillar with Cortana, The Windows AI Assistant built in. We’re very eager to see how this will stand up to the Amazon Echo, simply since Harman Kardon have been absolute champions of audio for decades, and Cortana has been a lone-underdog with no one really using Windows phones.

On the design front, the Invoke is a lot like the Echo, with its matte metal vertical cylinder design crowned with the LED light ring on top. However, it completely destroys its opponent when it comes to audio, because no one really makes speakers quite like Harman Kardon! Unlike Echo’s single driver construction, the Invoke has 3 woofers and 3 tweeters, giving it a solid edge over the competition. We’re still really eager to see what the AI will be like and will it match up to Alexa (who’s known to be partial towards Amazon’s own products and services).

It also goes to show that Harman Kardon plays its cards well, choosing Cortana rather than its own parent company Samsung’s voice assistant Bixby. In all honesty, it has barely been weeks since Bixby’s launch, so we really can’t expect it to match up to Microsoft’s voice assistant that has been in development since 2009.

Designer: Harman Kardon

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All the places you can buy the Galaxy S8 and S8+

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If you're looking to make sure you're among the first to own Samsung's swanky new Galaxy S8 but don't want to line up outside a store on April 21st, you're in luck. Major and minor carriers alike have announced that they're running pre-order campaign...

Harman’s design harmony

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Aside from the Soundsticks and their transparent glory, Harman Kardon’s design language is rather established, and easy to point out. Once you get that, superimposing their design values on any product can make it “belong” to Harman Kardon, or any brand for that matter. In design parlance, we call this the product or the brand semantic. Or in simpler terms, the visual language.

The products designed by Gary Chang encapsulate Harman Kardon’s visual style well. However they aren’t audio devices! The products in question are an aromatizer, a projector, and an AI listening assistant. Just like Harman Kardon’s signature style, these products make use of cuboidal shapes with circular elements. The achromatic color scheme is strong, with use of gray fabric, black plastic, and a hint of anodized matte metal to add a premium touch to the gadget/appliance. All that’s left is Harman Kardon’s branding!

Designer: Gary Chang

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The audio my friend is blowing in the wind!

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It just seems poetic, that a speaker design be inspired by something that’s a ‘musical instrument’ itself. I say musical instrument in quotes because the instrument in question is a wind-chime, a self-playing autonomous instrument that channels breeze to produce beautiful and soothing random sounds. The Harman Kardon Wind Lantern speaker’s wind chime element lies in the way the remote hangs from the speaker body. The speaker itself holds a light within it, so that it can be hung from the ceiling and used to throw sound as well as illuminate the place. The remote in this regard has an interesting role to play. The controls on the remote are used to control audio, while the remote itself controls the light. Pulling the remote component down triggers the light, while swaying from side to side changes the color. An app allows you to do the same thing too, in case you’re too lazy or short to operate the remote! Wouldn’t it be interesting though, to have the wind blow the remote around, making the color of the light change?!

On the audio front it’s really just another Harman Kardon speaker, so you can expect it to not just live up to standards but set new ones too. The lamp’s ceiling-hung design means it can throw 360° audio and provide a truly immersive music experience… Pair that with the color-changing light and you’ve got yourself an autonomous discotheque in your very living room!

Designer: Lu Weijia

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The audio my friend is blowing in the wind!

Posted on by

wind_speaker_1

It just seems poetic, that a speaker design be inspired by something that’s a ‘musical instrument’ itself. I say musical instrument in quotes because the instrument in question is a wind-chime, a self-playing autonomous instrument that channels breeze to produce beautiful and soothing random sounds. The Harman Kardon Wind Lantern speaker’s wind chime element lies in the way the remote hangs from the speaker body. The speaker itself holds a light within it, so that it can be hung from the ceiling and used to throw sound as well as illuminate the place. The remote in this regard has an interesting role to play. The controls on the remote are used to control audio, while the remote itself controls the light. Pulling the remote component down triggers the light, while swaying from side to side changes the color. An app allows you to do the same thing too, in case you’re too lazy or short to operate the remote! Wouldn’t it be interesting though, to have the wind blow the remote around, making the color of the light change?!

On the audio front it’s really just another Harman Kardon speaker, so you can expect it to not just live up to standards but set new ones too. The lamp’s ceiling-hung design means it can throw 360° audio and provide a truly immersive music experience… Pair that with the color-changing light and you’ve got yourself an autonomous discotheque in your very living room!

Designer: Lu Weijia

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