Mark Levinson, Lexicon and Revel To Merge To With Harman Professional - Over 130 Jobs Lost
- By: Jerry Del Colliano
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- January 19, 2009

Mark Levinson is considered by many audiophiles and industry types to be the loftiest brand in the specialty AV business, but today, despite their ultra-profitable and high-profile Lexus premium car audio deal, the brand and with its sisters, Lexicon, Revel loudspeakers and JBL Synthesis, are being integrated with JBL Professional to become a new specialty company named High Performance Home A/V. The move comes as Harman International (HAR) is in the middle of massive cost-cutting throughout its operations, including JBL and Infinity speakers, Harman automotive, AKG and many other companies.
Harman Specialty Group (HSG) will be disbanded, and with this move comes heavy firings. The Westbury, New York office for Harman will be closed by June 30, 2009, with staggered layoffs between now and then, resulting in 130 Harman jobs lost. Madrigal, the former corporate moniker before Harman changed the name to Harman Specialty Group, moved from Connecticut a mere five years ago to Massachusetts. The Massachusetts office will now be closed, with the operations of the HSG brands going to the Professional division in Indiana and the design efforts moving to Harman's main headquarters in Northridge, California.
The reorganization of Harman's specialty property has created a significant "brain drain" at the company, especially among its most highly paid and highly experienced sales and engineering people. While former HSG president John Batliner will now be vice-president of sales and speaker designer and audio guru Kevin Voecks will remain with the company, most of the top engineers are leaving or have already left, although Jim Hardiman is staying as the lead player in charge of engineering. The most seasoned members of the HSG team, including the frontmen for Mark Levinson and Lexicon, have either left or have been fired. Harman has paid severance to those who were fired, HomeTheaterReview.com has learned.
Once source inside Harman tells HomeTheaterReview.com, "The specialty business is now more planned than just point-of-purchase sales of audiophile products. Home theater systems are bid, speced, ordered and installed over a matter of many months, which is a marked change from the traditional model. Being under Harman's pro division will ultimately make the company more in touch with the way the dealer and consumers buy our gear."
HSG has some new leading-edge, ultimate audiophile products like the Mark Levinson No. 502 AV preamp, priced at $35,000, and the Mark Levinson No. 53 hybrid digital mono power amps for $50,000 a pair, but with the economy in peril, the company needs to find a way to make more reasonably-priced luxury equipment that speaks to people with less than a net worth of eight figures if they want to be relevant going forward. The company also needs to market to a new generation of music lovers who are not audiophiles. While they may drive a Lexus, the entry level needs to be far lower to get new, younger, non-Baby Boomer clients into Harman's best consumer brands. This means media servers, Blu-ray players, wireless connectivity, Bluetooth and iPod synchronization.
Keywords
Harman Specialty Group, HSG, Madrigal Audio labs, Harman closes Westbury New York operation, Harman (HAR) fires 130, John Batliner, Brian drain, Lexicon, Revel Loudspeakers, JBL, Harman International, JBL Professional, Harman Automotive, AKG, Crown
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Comment on this article
4I wonder what this will mean for the name and company as a whole. Will they continue to push the high end envelope or just ride out the name for car audio??
I have seen internal documentation from Dr. Harman that showed his commitment to the Mark Levinson and Revel brands. They know how important this market it to their overall brand and offerings even with new leadership.
My fear is that the new leadership is too worried about bean counting than marketing or engineering.
Moreover - they need a $10,000 Levinson AV preamp that works. Krell will have one and will sell a ton of them. Classe' too. Others. Only the richest of the rich can afford $35,000 for an AV preamp. Its not a reasonable upgrade path for most users who's preamps are worth $2,000 to $5,000 used. To say "come up with another $30,000+ and you are all good" isn't a value proposition the average Lexus driving or audiophile/enthusiast client can stomach in these economic times.
In the end, I think the brands will pull through....
j
Well, while I`m sorry to see this, maybe now, this will force HSG to make products, that are not only more affordable, but also have all the current codecs and features available in the product lineup. Something they seem to omit, even in their top models. Its more than time for the trickle down effect to take place here.
I just hope now, reliabilty and build quality, do not suffer. Though, it seems since most of the key people have left, or are leaving, we`ll just have to wait and see.
I agree with Greg, however, the hey day is moving by very fast. A $10,000 Pre-Amp is still tough to justify when can buy a technology packed Onkyo for $999 that can hook up to your Computer and pipe out decent music. Not Great Audio, but decent.
I really see the price point being closer to $5K, post recession. Why? Housing prices are taking huge haircuts. The piggy bank has been busted. Re-Fi to add a hometheater is dead, and the true Audiophiles are dying off. Mobile music is where it is at.
My iPhone 16GB 3GS is a better music server than most other devices, why? It works everywhere, holds 3000+ Tunes When I add a good set of Earphones, Sony $300. Plug it into my car system, it sounds great. On an airplane, pull out Noise Reduction Headphones, it works great. It is a fine system. How long before we get a 100GB iPhone capable of holding 3000 HD Audio Tracks or 200 Movies.....
In simpler times, good Audio meant heat, size (Speakers) and of course industrial design... Today it is convienence, price, mobilty and integration.
And to add another observation... by the time most up and coming people with the money to purchase 30K systems get interested, thier hearing will be GONE!
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