The HARMAN Luxury Audio Group hosted a pre-CEDIA event for the media at their Northridge facility in southern California on September 15th.  We started our day in the flagship Experience Center that was purpose-built to allow for a focused engagement on HARMAN products and technology with customers and media.

The refreshing topic that started off our day was “Trends & Data — A Science-Based Approach to Development”.  The theme of research done at HARMAN and how it shapes product development emerged several times during the day.  HARMAN has developed a rich intellectual property portfolio over the years, and its patented technologies find their way into many.

Jim Garrett, Sr. Director of Product Planning & Strategy, getting us started for the day.

We also got to hear how consumer demographics are studied and their influence on both form and function.  HUEMAN, HARMAN’s in-house design agency focuses on this aspect.  Jason Gokavi, a Principal Designer discussed differences in trends between Millenials and Zoomers.

Engineering Presentations

We got to hear from several key engineers about various stages of the design process ranging from horn and transducer design to building prototypes.  Improved simulation and measurement tools combined with high-resolution 3D printing have allowed for quick iteration during the design phase.

An Nguyễn showing horn design simulation tools.

Mark Glazer talking about transducer design.

Larry Brown showing us the 3D printed JBL Stage2 prototype, an IP67 design that is field serviceable.

We got to see 3 out of the 7 Anechoic chambers at the HARMAN Northridge facility.  Anechoic chambers are important as they remove the influence of the room.  The microphone therefore only picks up the direct sound energy as the room reflections are all absorbed.  By moving the microphone and/or loudspeaker, one can collect the sound energy radiated by the loudspeaker at different angles and synthesizing all these measurements leads to the so-called Spinorama plot.  Research done over the years by the likes of Dr. Floyd Toole and Dr. Sean Olive has shown that listeners tend to favor loudspeakers that have a smooth off-axis response. The reason for this is that reflections don’t have a “deleterious” effect on the on-axis response.

First up was the 2-Pi chamber which is used to measure in-wall and in-ceiling transducers.  Pictured here is the new JBL Stage 2.  Raw transducers also get measured here (woofers, tweeters & mid-range drivers), and the collected data is then fed back into the simulation tools to model driver interaction.  Below the floor is a large pit, allowing for even the largest in-wall loudspeakers to be measured in this chamber.  Cutouts for different loudspeakers are available, allowing an engineer to easily change out loudspeakers.

The largest Anechoic chamber at HARMAN measures flat down to about 80 Hz. With EQ, it can measure down to 30Hz. This 4-Pi chamber is used to measure conventional loudspeakers.  The microphone height is adjustable, and the measurement angle is altered by spinning the turntable that the loudspeaker is placed on in both the upright and sideways configuration.

An Nguyễn talking about the 2-Pi Anechoic chamber.

Large 4-Pi Anechoic chamber.

The Burn Chamber

All new systems go through a torture test where the system is played back at ridiculously loud levels for 4 days to test for system reliability.  David Glaubke mentioned that “sometimes we get a cabinet burning, and you’ll also see the result of what happens when sprinklers go off in that side of the room.  With the soot … And the soot is very hard to clean off, and so you’ll notice that as well.  But yeah, when we have something fail before its time, what we do is go back to the drawing board.  We adjust … we put better materials, we do better design work, and we make it to get to the point where the product is expected to go … it’s all iterative.”

We were given safety earmuffs before we entered the room where 3 subwoofers were playing extremely loudly: the SPL meter within AudioTools on my iPhone registered 112dB!  These were JBL Pro subwoofers that have not been released, so we could not get any details on them.

Burn Chamber Warning Sign.

Chris Hagan and David Glaubke talking about stress testing transducers and handing out ear protection.

The Burn Chamber.

Historical Products

We walked past several historical products.  The oldest speaker in the collection we saw was the “Iconic”.  David mentioned that the version of the loudspeaker pictured here, was a pro version and that it pre-dated JBL—back to the Lansing days.

Lansing Iconic Loudspeaker.

Vintage JBL Model 4310 Control Monitor.

Vintage JBL Speaker.

Next, David Glaubke gave us the history of how JBL got formed.

David Glaubke discusses JBL’s history.

“[James Lansing] was making radio speakers. And so, his family would assemble speaker parts at night in their house, and they’d go to the factory and then do the assembly the next day. So, when talking pictures came around 1928 or 29, there were just these one-way speakers that were frankly, just old radio speakers they were using for the cinema ’cause there was nothing else.  Western Electric started creating some of the early speakers for cinema and the MGM Sound Department so hated the product that they pulled together, a conglomeration of engineers to create the Shearer-Lansing System with the Shearer Horn at the center of the system.  Lansing was in charge of the manufacturing part of that development. So, Western Electric got broken up by the federal government and the antitrust. They had to spin off the sound department. The engineers actually got together and bought the IP and the sound part of the engineering, and that became Altec.  James B. Lansing went another direction, but he had a venture that was underwater financially, and so Altec went and bought out Lansing.  So that’s how it became Altec Lansing. Lansing’s next move was ultimately starting JBL in 1946, and he couldn’t put his last name with it because it was still attached to Altec Lansing. So that’s how it became James B. Lansing Sound.  That was okay with Altec, but then he evolved it to just plain JBL. That’s how he got there.”

Lunch & Learn

Over lunch, we got a presentation from Kevin Kent and Chris Hagen on the inner workings of compression drivers, horn design, and acoustic integration.  The 2nd presentation, titled “The Science of Sound” was given by Dr. Sean Olive.

Chris Hagen talking about compression drivers & waveguides.

“The Science of Sound” by Dr. Sean Olive.

Product Introductions & Demonstrations

The JBL Classic series has a new look with a black high gloss finish complemented by gold badging.  The “Black Edition” will only be available for a limited time.  The L100 and the L82 also receive transducer and crossover refinements.  There is a premium for the performance, looks, and exclusivity of the limited edition.  The L52 is priced at $1250/pr; the L75 goes from $1500/pr to $1650/pr; the L82 is priced at $3300/pr; and finally, the L100 in the black edition is priced at $5200/pr.  In addition, there are some new stands that will be offered.

Classic Series Black Edition Loudspeakers.

Classic Series Black Edition Loudspeakers.

The JBL 4305P, an active loudspeaker, defied its size for the generous amount of bass that it reproduced.  Before we got to hear these speakers, someone asked about the low-frequency extension, to which An Nguyễn replied, “let’s hear some tracks first!”  The -6dB point for these speakers is at 45Hz.  With room gain and placement close to a boundary, one would likely see a lower extension.

This loudspeaker was developed during the pandemic when people started doing home content creation (podcasts, making videos, recording music).  As a result, the product team decided to add “Some prosumer connectivity on the back of the product. So, it’s got a TRS quarter-inch balanced input on the back of it, which you can do in addition to some legacy analog, and digital connectivity in addition to all the wireless connectivity. So, it’s got, Google Chromecast, enabled airplay, and Bluetooth capabilities, but then if you want to use it as a production tool at home, you can do it.

When you’re done, it’s also your Hi-Fi system, so you could connect them to your television, you could connect them to nothing, they could sit out and just be your system, or they could be a near-field monitor on a work desk situation where you’re creating content at home. So, it’s a cool product from that standpoint.” (Jim Garrett) They are priced at $2200/pr.

An Nguyễn demoing the JBL 4305P.

JBL 4305P active loudspeaker.

The JBL Stage XD Series outdoor loudspeakers are IP67 rated, and they are repairable.  There are 2 models, the XD-5 with a 5.25” woofer, and the XD-6 featuring a 6.5” woofer.  Black and white finishes are offered.  The waveguide is optimized for wide dispersion.  The Stage XD-5 is priced at $449/pr, and the XD-6 is priced at $599/pr.

JBL Stage XD Series outdoor loudspeaker.

JBL’s Stage2 series of architectural loudspeakers is all about price/performance.  We heard a 7.4 system that cost about $1700.  The in-ceiling speaker comes at a 20-deg angle.  For small-sized rooms, this system offers an incredible value.  A lot of engineering know-how from the more expensive designs has trickled down into this series.  Prices range from $150-$250 per loudspeaker.

JBL Stage2 In-ceiling loudspeaker.

JBL Stage2 In-wall loudspeaker.

The Studio 6 Architectural series loudspeakers will be available in 5 models.  These in-wall loudspeakers feature Polyplas woofers, compression drivers, and HDI waveguides.  All speakers feature acoustic controls to tailor the treble and bass response.  Prices range between $400-$1000/ea.

JBL Studio 6 Architectural series loudspeakers.

JBL Studio 6 Architectural series loudspeakers.

The Conceal Speakers

The Conceal speaker line was launched back in 2019 by JBL in partnership with Stealth Acoustics.  As the name implies, this line of speakers once installed are “invisible”.

Conceal speakers installed in a conference room.

We got to hear these speakers in the adjoining conference room.  They sounded surprisingly good given that the room was untreated and no RoomEQ was being applied. And yes, these speakers blended seamlessly with the drywall.  I could only detect their location by feeling where the wall was vibrating.

There are 3 speakers in the Conceal line: C62 ($660/ea); C83 ($1100/ea); C86 ($2200/ea).  The C82W ($1200/pr) is the partnering subwoofer.

The Experience Center

The experience center is sectioned off into areas showcasing different HARMAN technologies.  The hallway leading into this section is adorned by lighting that is synchronized with a large Samsung, “The Wall”, display.  The lighting effects are controlled by the P3 controller, which is made by Martin, Harman’s lighting brand.

David described it to us, “So as we look at the end of the hallway, we have a Samsung display, and behind there is a content server that’s delivering that video that we’re seeing, and one signal is going to the display and the other one is getting passed through.  It’s called a P3 controller, and it’s made by our Martin lighting brand. And what that is doing is actually doing the pixel mapping and distributing to the video effects that you see here. So, what you see in the hallway are single line pixels that are being pulled from the video that you see.”

Experience Center Entrance Hallway.

Home recording studio with a pair of JBL 4305P loudspeakers.

Sound recording booth with AKG microphones.

Line of headphones.

Commercial lighting control by Martin Lighting; themes can be changed based on mood, time of day or demographic.

The Sight & Sound Show

In a large space within the experience center we “experienced” a light and sound show. The lighting show was orchestrated again by Martin Lighting.  Martin is a Danish company that HARMAN acquired back in 2013.  The moving head LED lamps are manufactured in Pécs, Hungary.  When I asked David Tovissi (Luxury Audio VP/GM) about the reasoning behind this acquisition, he mentioned that the two companies worked together closely all the time, and it just made sense for Martin to be under the Harman umbrella.

The final demo of the day was in the John Eargle theater.  This room showcases the best of what the JBL Synthesis line has to offer, and it received an “Elite System” certification, the highest offered by JBL.  The audio components alone in this room cost about $250k!

Before we entered the theater, the conversation focused on the design and output capability of the 15” transducer used in the SSW-1 subwoofers.

JBL SSW-1 measurements.

The loudspeaker configuration in this room was 13.4.13.  A trio of SCL-1s anchored the LCR channels.  The SCL-1 features the venerable compression driver used on the JBL M2.  Flanking the compression driver are 2 12” woofers.  The “subwoofage” came courtesy of 2 SSW-1s along the front wall and 8 SSW-3 in-wall subs in the back wall.  The rear subs were grouped together in 2 groups.  The 4 subwoofers were then optimized using Harman’s Sound Field Management which takes a series of in-room measurements at multiple locations and computes delay, gain, and a set of PEQs for each subwoofer to minimize seat-to-seat variation.

The remaining speakers were a mix of in-wall and in-ceiling speakers from the JBL Synthesis lineup.  The in-ceiling speakers are designed to be mounted 45 degrees off-axis.  The waveguide then extends the coverage 30deg up/down.   Amplifier wattage to drive all the speakers and subwoofers was about 20kW!  The SDP-75 handled all the audio processing.

Jim Garrett gave us the decoder ring for the Synthesis model numbers …

 

–       SCL => Synthesis Custom Loudspeaker

–       SSW => Synthesis Subwoofer

–       SDP => Synthesis Digital Processor

–       SDR => Synthesis Digital Receiver

–       SDA => Synthesis Digital Amplifier

All loudspeakers have a single-digit number, and they indicate a hierarchy.  “So, we start at one … that’s a flagship.  And we’re currently all the way down to eight, which is the least expensive product we offer in the range.”

We watched clips from: “The Greatest Showman”, “No Time to Die” & “Top Gun: Maverick”.  The 3D sound field was extremely cohesive, and the dynamic capability of the system seemed unlimited.  Bass reproduction was impressive.  The system as a whole was both bold and nimble.  I just wanted to skip dinner and watch Top Gun: Maverick in its entirety, a movie I have yet to watch.  The best demo was indeed saved for the end!

Jim Garrett talking about the John Eargle Theater remodel.

Equipment rack for the John Eargle Theater.

Jim Garrett providing details of the loudspeakers in the room.

Top Gun: Maverick clip played back via Kaleidescape.

We ended the day with a wonderful dinner which started out with a “Special Compression Driver Cocktail”.  As with the mighty subwoofers we heard in the John Eargle theater, this drink packed a punch!

Special Compression Driver Cocktail Card.

After a few years of canceled and lightly attended shows with limited attendance, it was refreshing to participate in this in-person event.  The experiential nature of this show ‘n tell event requires physical presence.  I would like to thank our hosts at Harman for bringing us together, for providing insights into the science-driven philosophy that shapes product development at HARMAN, and for providing a sneak peek at products that will be shown at CEDIA.  While COVID wreaked havoc on the supply chain, it has not squelched the innovation on the R&D side!

Our hosts at Harman and the media crew!

Photos Courtesy of HARMAN Luxury Audio Group; Photographer: Shai Harary.