# Whatever Happened To Harman Kardon?



## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

Many of us remember this hi-fidelity heavyweight. 

Shift From Sound To Software Pays Off For Stamford's Harman International


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## Granny Gremlin (Jun 3, 2016)

They stopped being hifi in the late 90s when they refocussed their business on computer speakers.

Also they became a bit of an umbrella company, owning a bunch of other audio companies (including some studio/instrument companies like AKG, JBL, Lexicon, dbx, DigiTech, Martin, Soundcraft, and Studer) so the Harman/Kardon brand became less of a priority (which is handy cuz they debased it with the whole comp speaker thing, though I'm sure that worked out well financially at least for a few years; they bought Infinity , the hifi company not the car company, t compensate), which itself is actually owned by Samsung, so the software focus totes makes sense. Harman/Kardon is actually a sub of Harman International vs one and the same. Yeah, corporate structures are bullshit like that.


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## Diablo (Dec 20, 2007)

I still have an older (mid-2000's) receiver powering my home theatre. Sounds great, wish it had more modern inputs/outputs though. Still looks pretty sexy.

As a publicly traded company, it was acquired by Samsung.


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## Lincoln (Jun 2, 2008)

I was a Harman/Kardon man way back in the 70's. Still have a 430 receiver, a Citation 17 preamp and a Citation 16 power amp. Wish I had one of their much earlier tube power amps, Citation 2? They are worth a small fortune these days.


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## dtsaudio (Apr 15, 2009)

Granny summed it all up pretty nicely, except for two things. While Harmon got big into automotive, they never abandoned home theater. Also, the whole of Harmon International is now owned by Samsung.


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## Sneaky (Feb 14, 2006)

dtsaudio said:


> Granny summed it all up pretty nicely, except for two things. While Harmon got *big into automotive*, they never abandoned home theater. Also, the whole of Harmon International is now owned by Samsung.


Yup. My car, 2014 335xi, has a Harman Kardon sound system. Excellent sound.

Harman was making a big splash at CES last week, but yeah, not so focused on hi fi anymore.

CES 2018 Media Kit


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