Trio Of Harman HPAV Brands Launch Products from twice.com

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Trio Of Harman HPAV Brands Launch Products

By Joseph Palenchar -- TWICE, 9/23/2010



Atlanta - Harman's High Performance A/V (HPAV) group is coming to the CEDIA Expo with an expanded selection of Revel-brand custom-install speakers, Lexicon's first multiroom amplifier, a new JBL Synthesis in-room speaker, and a stepped-up marketing campaign.

Revel plans to launch 21 new in-wall and in-ceiling speakers priced from $200 to $1,749 each, expanding its selection with square and round bezel-less designs and a patented one-handed install process requiring no tools.

The Revel line incorporates technology from the brand's in-room speakers, including waveguides. It ships in December.

For its part, Lexicon is launching a 8x125-watt multiroom amplifier to join its selection of home theater amps, a home theater preamp/processor, and Blu-ray player. The $2,500 DD-8 amp uses the brand's new DriveCore technology developed in conjunction with Texas Instruments to deliver high power while using less energy in less rack space, the company said. The DriveCore chip is more than 90 percent efficient with a signal-to-noise ratio of 110dB.

The new Lexicon amp, shipping in January, will be single-rack-space in size, convection- cooled, and compliant with new half-watt standby-power-consumption standards. It's promoted as consuming less power while in use than most amps consume in standby mode. The DD-8 also features automatic switching to standby mode when not in use.

Other DD-8 features include four local inputs, bus input/output, selectable mono/stereo output, independent level adjustment for each channel, and selectable triggers

Under the JBL Synthesis brand, HPAV will show a new version of the flagship LCR-SK2 tower speaker used in the top three Synthesis electronics/speaker home-theater systems. It's available at $11,000 each.

To help support the product launches, HPAV plans what it calls an aggressive marketing campaign that will include trade advertising as well as ads in luxury magazines.

"Advertisements in CEDIA-channel trade publications are designed to educate dealers about Harman products and how they can be easily integrated into systems," the company said, "while advertisements in luxury publications show the benefits and superior performance of Harman's home audio products to end users."

HPAV will continue to drive its 1,000-square-foot truck with mobile showroom around the country to showcase its brands to dealers, distributors, builders, architects, interior designers, luxury consumers, and audiophiles. The truck logged more than 22,000 miles since it first hit the road at last year's CEDIA Expo, HPAV said.