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[Chris Edwards]

I've been contemplating purchasing some JBL and Soundcraft products but am a bit hesitant because of Harman's recent acquisition by Samsung.  My main concerns are warranty and parts supply as well as future firmware and software upgrades on the products.  Should I be concerned?  Are current Harman product owners concerned? 

I am also curious if they will just keep the JBL Automotive side of things and just sell of the other pieces.  Thoughts?

[Tim McCulloch]

I've been contemplating purchasing some JBL and Soundcraft products but am a bit hesitant because of Harman's recent acquisition by Samsung.  My main concerns are warranty and parts supply as well as future firmware and software upgrades on the products.  Should I be concerned?  Are current Harman product owners concerned? 

I am also curious if they will just keep the JBL Automotive side of things and just sell of the other pieces.  Thoughts?

Harman is indirectly in lots of markets, a few of which Samsung is not.  If those are making money I'd guess Samsung would keep them, if they're marginal or running losses expect them to be sold or closed.

We've got a bunch of money in JBL & Crown and we're not concerned yet.  Transducer parts seem readily available but hardware/mechanical items can be spotty.  That's been SOP for the last 10 years, though, so I don't read much into it.  The same with Crown - current models seem to have parts availability, legacy products are always a guess.  Crown is particularly helpful with parts inventory info and their projected turn around times tend to be spot on.

If you have a significant Harman inventory and/or clients that want JBL/Crown/AKG/Soundcraft, I think whatever ROI standards you have should be applied.  You can't run a business based on blind speculation.

[Renard Hurtado]

[/quote]i was discussing this with a friend also some other major brands that has been sold or bought by other companies and burried ( SWR etc).

His answer was "Yamaha is forever", maybe he's
right !

Renard from Curacao

[Jeff Bankston]

18 sound bought Ciare but nothing has changed, yet

[Marjan Milosevic]

18 sound bought Ciare but nothing has changed, yet

If by that you mean no Ciare product is yet available since the purchase, then yes, you are right.

[Bob Leonard]

The list of manufacturers under the Harman umbrella seems to be almost endless at times, and Samsung, like any other uuuuge company will weed out the marginal products and non money makers. The JBL, dbx, Soundcraft, and Harman's other premier brands have names synonymous with quality  and customer loyalty. I haven't heard of any issues, and based on what I know about Samsung, don't anticipate any radical changes in support or quality. My best guess would be that Samsung will leave most of the Harman brands alone with either business as usual or more money spent for improvement of those brands.

[David Sturzenbecher]

The list of manufacturers under the Harman umbrella seems to be almost endless at times, and Samsung, like any other uuuuge company will weed out the marginal products and non money makers. The JBL, dbx, Soundcraft, and Harman's other premier brands have names synonymous with quality  and customer loyalty. I haven't heard of any issues, and based on what I know about Samsung, don't anticipate any radical changes in support or quality. My best guess would be that Samsung will leave most of the Harman brands alone with either business as usual or more money spent for improvement of those brands.

Looks like they are doing pretty well.
http://www.androidauthority.com/samsung-highest-operating-profit-world-781407/

[John Roberts {JR}]

Probably won't make much difference to end users, but Samsung in Korea is dealing with a bribery scandal. May not be that unusual for large companies in the PAC RIM countries.

JR

[Dave Pluke]

My best guess would be that Samsung will leave most of the Harman brands alone with either business as usual or more money spent for improvement of those brands.

The acquisition still puzzles me.  The original Press Release seemed to indicate Samsung was most interested in the Car Audio and Home Theater segments.  It wouldn't be hard to imagine them eventually spinning off the Pro Audio offerings.  I hope, for the sake of competition, that Mr. B. isn't cracking open his piggybank as we speak...

In any case, today's Products should continue to be supported for the next 3 - 5 years (i.e. the warranty period and timeframe we might base ROI calculations on).

Dave

[John Roberts {JR}]

The acquisition still puzzles me.  The original Press Release seemed to indicate Samsung was most interested in the Car Audio and Home Theater segments.  It wouldn't be hard to imagine them eventually spinning off the Pro Audio offerings.  I hope, for the sake of competition, that Mr. B. isn't cracking open his piggybank as we speak...

In any case, today's Products should continue to be supported for the next 3 - 5 years (i.e. the warranty period and timeframe we might base ROI calculations on).

Dave

Harman is (was?) huge in automotive sound and increasingly more as cars become more computerized. The brand still has some juice in consumer audio, which these days means home theater. Pro sound is unlikely to be of interest to Samsung unless they use it for marketing consumer gear (like JBL has for decades).

caverat lector.... pure speculation on my part...

JR

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