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Post by timcampbell on Oct 16, 2017 1:00:02 GMT -6
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Post by jampa on Oct 16, 2017 1:03:34 GMT -6
Shid I hope this works out ok
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ericn
Temp
Balance Engineer
Posts: 14,940
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Post by ericn on Oct 16, 2017 7:49:47 GMT -6
I thought it was pretty much shut down years ago! Remember all the "but how can it get any worse under Samsung talk?" Well I guess it can! One of my reasons for being a Quested fan was how can you not love a guy who buy's his company back from Harmon when they buy the company you sold it to and trusted?
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Post by avgatzeblouz on Oct 16, 2017 8:43:38 GMT -6
Where are AKG main offices based, now ?
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Post by mulmany on Oct 16, 2017 9:34:01 GMT -6
In the Harmon building right next to Beringer ;-) JK 🤔
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Oct 16, 2017 11:07:33 GMT -6
This isn't all bad. Austrian Audio (https://www.austrian.audio) has spun off the Vienna AKG office and contains many (if not all) of the technical staff. It looks like they had some foreknowledge of this, since the new office space has been building out for a couple of months.
As a former long-term employee of Harman, some of this experience is quite familiar. And there's a very bright side to it. When Harman sent me packing, they kindly stood aside while I built up Exponential Audio. I think this was a strong indication of their lack of ongoing interest in the studio market. Now it appears that the former AKG employees are getting the same treatment. They've formed a business that will compete with the Harman studio business and Harman doesn't seem to be making a stink about it.
Harman/Samsung is a very different type of company than the group of pro audio brands that Sidney Harman put together 25 years ago. Their major business now is automotive and infotainment. Pro Audio is a tiny business next to that and it will become proportionally even smaller as Samsung grows in automotive. So why keep engineering staff on a product line that brings in, say, $20 million when they could bring in $100 million for the same engineering outlay. The sad thing is that it will be different engineers.
The bright side to this is that pro audio products are once again being made by smaller companies that can be more attentive to the market. You get better stuff. Sometimes that means that a brand won't exist forever. But that's always been true in audio. In the meantime, let's wish the best to Austrian Audio. I expect good things to come.
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Post by joseph on Oct 16, 2017 11:14:50 GMT -6
Yeah, I see this as good news too, in terms of potential for higher quality mics or headphones (or whatever is entailed) in future.
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ericn
Temp
Balance Engineer
Posts: 14,940
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Post by ericn on Oct 16, 2017 11:35:07 GMT -6
This isn't all bad. Austrian Audio (https://www.austrian.audio) has spun off the Vienna AKG office and contains many (if not all) of the technical staff. It looks like they had some foreknowledge of this, since the new office space has been building out for a couple of months. As a former long-term employee of Harman, some of this experience is quite familiar. And there's a very bright side to it. When Harman sent me packing, they kindly stood aside while I built up Exponential Audio. I think this was a strong indication of their lack of ongoing interest in the studio market. Now it appears that the former AKG employees are getting the same treatment. They've formed a business that will compete with the Harman studio business and Harman doesn't seem to be making a stink about it. Harman/Samsung is a very different type of company than the group of pro audio brands that Sidney Harman put together 25 years ago. Their major business now is automotive and infotainment. Pro Audio is a tiny business next to that and it will become proportionally even smaller as Samsung grows in automotive. So why keep engineering staff on a product line that brings in, say, $20 million when they could bring in $100 million for the same engineering outlay. The sad thing is that it will be different engineers. The bright side to this is that pro audio products are once again being made by smaller companies that can be more attentive to the market. You get better stuff. Sometimes that means that a brand won't exist forever. But that's always been true in audio. In the meantime, let's wish the best to Austrian Audio. I expect good things to come. The former gear pimp in me agrees ! I remember the AKG buyout all to well, the good news was priced would drop, so more people would want to buy, the bad news it was Harman so all those new buyers were going to be calling wondering where their new gear was. The common joke at the time was, they figured out how to keep AIDS from spreading, They had figured out a way for Harman to distribute the virus, that way nobody would ever get the virus!
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Post by johneppstein on Oct 16, 2017 21:07:24 GMT -6
This isn't all bad. Austrian Audio (https://www.austrian.audio) has spun off the Vienna AKG office and contains many (if not all) of the technical staff. It looks like they had some foreknowledge of this, since the new office space has been building out for a couple of months. As a former long-term employee of Harman, some of this experience is quite familiar. And there's a very bright side to it. When Harman sent me packing, they kindly stood aside while I built up Exponential Audio. I think this was a strong indication of their lack of ongoing interest in the studio market. Now it appears that the former AKG employees are getting the same treatment. They've formed a business that will compete with the Harman studio business and Harman doesn't seem to be making a stink about it. Harman/Samsung is a very different type of company than the group of pro audio brands that Sidney Harman put together 25 years ago. Their major business now is automotive and infotainment. Pro Audio is a tiny business next to that and it will become proportionally even smaller as Samsung grows in automotive. So why keep engineering staff on a product line that brings in, say, $20 million when they could bring in $100 million for the same engineering outlay. The sad thing is that it will be different engineers. The bright side to this is that pro audio products are once again being made by smaller companies that can be more attentive to the market. You get better stuff. Sometimes that means that a brand won't exist forever. But that's always been true in audio. In the meantime, let's wish the best to Austrian Audio. I expect good things to come. The former gear pimp in me agrees ! I remember the AKG buyout all to well, the good news was priced would drop, so more people would want to buy, the bad news it was Harman so all those new buyers were going to be calling wondering where their new gear was. The common joke at the time was, they figured out how to keep AIDS from spreading, They had figured out a way for Harman to distribute the virus, that way nobody would ever get the virus! I wish that the JBL pro engineers would do/had done the same thing!
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