JBL unveils new LS series Loudspeakers

[BMWCCA]

It might start with Harman planting a pair of Everest in the headquarters in Cupertino——right next to the BMW motorcycle Jobs put there two-decades ago to show what quality meant. Next you'll see JBL boutiques inside the Apple Stores. Heck, Apple should really be marketing home theaters since they're targeting their iTV and Macs at the total mult-media home anyway.

Have you noticed what a pathetic selection of any audio equipment (not just speakers) Best Buy has in their stores these days? It's a joke. They have more floor space devoted to answering machines and cell phones.

[SEAWOLF97]

You're selling a lifestyle.

I live not too far from Nike's world headquarters and we seem to get limited distribution news.

NIKE has always said "we dont sell products, we sell a lifestyle"

[jblsound]

Have you noticed what a pathetic selection of any audio equipment (not just speakers) Best Buy has in their stores these days? It's a joke. They have more floor space devoted to answering machines and cell phones.

That's the reason for my half baked thought of CC, I remember when CC was selling the 250Ti, be it 20 years ago. When was the last time you saw a high end JBL in BB. answer~never.

Put an exciting Synthesis theater in the shop and place them in major retail areas to show the public just how bad the "Bose Experience" is and then send them off home with the JBL branded nano crap that people are inclined to buy. Hopefully a few will actually buy Array Series and other higher quality products from JBL.

It would have to be Harman flipping the bill. I've yet to see a Synthesis dealer that has a showroom, one might somewhere, but not near enough.

Dumb, ineffective (and sometimes obnoxious) advertising
Dumb, ineffective (and sometimes obnoxious) employees
Dumb, ineffective (and sometimes obnoxious) displays
Dumb, ineffective (and sometimes obnoxious) retail layouts
Dumb, ineffective (and sometimes obnoxious) sales, purchase, and return policies

That sounds more like BB to me, and you can throw in Mag HT.
One clown in my local Mag HT corner, didn't understand, actually just didn't know, the concept to gain just 3db you have to double the amp's power output. He tried telling me a 100w receiver was much more powerful than an 80w receiver. Man, did I straighten him out.

[Mr. Widget]

It would have to be Harman flipping the bill.

That was my point. We are not living in the same market that existed during the '60s thru the mid '80s where there was a great demand for this stuff and any schmuck could set up a store filled with good inventory and make a living at selling Hi-Fi gear. Today there are far too many other distractions and the audio portion of the home entertainment equation is simply not that important to the average consumer.

That is not to say that there is no demand or that there can not be more demand. Bang and Olufsen and Bose both have factory owned stores that sell their gear... much like Nike and Apple do. It seems to me that with Harman's market dominance they should sell the Harman Lifestyle. They could make it appear '60s cool with a blend of the higher end and entry level product. It would not be cheap, but a few well placed stores, perhaps with cafes and live music, could go a long way toward building brand awareness and possibly even creating a new market.


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[Titanium Dome]

That was my point. We are not living in the same market that existed during the '60s thru the mid '80s where there was a great demand for this stuff and any schmuck could set up a store filled with good inventory and make a living at selling Hi-Fi gear. Today there are far too many other distractions and the audio portion of the home entertainment equation is simply not that important to the average consumer.

That is not to say that there is no demand or that there can not be more demand. Bang and Olufsen and Bose both have factory owned stores that sell their gear... much like Nike and Apple do. It seems to me that with Harman's market dominance they should sell the Harman Lifestyle. They could make it appear '60s cool with a blend of the higher end and entry level product. It would not be cheap, but a few well placed stores, perhaps with cafes and live music, could go a long way toward building brand awareness and possibly even creating a new market.


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Egad! You're almost making my point.

I think Harman could sell a lifestyle, but it's not ready to roll in the full retail yet. It doesn't have the talent or the vision, though with the new CEO maybe... :dont-know

You'll remember that Apple teamed up with CompUSA to get deeper penetration while it started its own retail initiative. It was the store within a store concept that actually worked very well at those locations where Apple trained and placed employees, and it sucked dill pickles where CompUSA trained and staffed it.

While CompUSA sufficed to buoy Apple's retail presence while it built out its own Apple stores, it was too moribund to actually survive. Still, it offered hundreds of retail outlets at a time when Apple needed retail outlets, and it got people in to look at iMacs and iBooks. Once the sale was made, the new Macheads didn't need (and in some cases couldn't) to go back to CompUSA to buy up the chain to PowerBooks and PowerMacs.

I hadn't thought about Macy's. I had thought about Wal-Mart and discounted it. I was thinking more along the lines of CostCo and Target. They both sell lifestyle already, and the demos should hit the target market pretty nicely.

In both chains I've been to the "electronics" area and seen the wide range of gorgeous to grotesque merchandise there. Two stocking trends I've seen are better and better video products (read: flat panel TVs) and tons of crapola mini audio systems (read: everything but the better iPod docks and even some of them). Yet some of the nicest audio gear there is JBL: Creature II, OnStage, etc.

A clever person at Harmon could broker a non-exclusive deal to shovel all that crapola into the dumpster and replace the entire wall with the Harman Experience (can't really use Lifestyle, you know).

Say, what's that great looking kit on the end, there? JBL ES speakers, eh? I can take home a whole set of these beauties for how much?

And the addiction begins.

[Mr. Widget]

I agree that Target has a much better grasp on style than Walmart, however I think their staff would make those CompUSA sales people look like members of the Apple Genius Bar. Costco? Have some electric skillet fried fish while you enjoy the sounds of the Everests???

We agree that it would be nice for Harman and JBL to do a better job of marketing their products. Beyond that, I think we see the problem rather differently.


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[BMWCCA]

Start with two Lifestyle/Experience Centers: LA and NYC. See how it goes and slowly expand into the largest urban markets. In areas not represented, use the boutique-within-a-store in places like Best Buy.

Oh, I'm sorry, that's the recipe Apple uses and it obviously isn't working for them.

Even Porsche thought this was a good idea back in the early '90s. Get rid of dealers by opening factory-owned sales centers in the largest metro areas. Let existing dealers remain as service locations with minimal displays in support of sales. Of course the dealers didn't like the idea and, in the end, state franchise law protected the dealers from seeing the concept move to implementation. For JBL, it would seem, there are no dealers to voice such opposition. Doesn't Harman have enough consumer brands to exploit their appeal collectively?

[Titanium Dome]

Egad! You're almost making my point.

I think Harman could sell a lifestyle, but it's not ready to roll in the full retail yet. It doesn't have the talent or the vision, though with the new CEO maybe... :dont-know

You'll remember that Apple teamed up with CompUSA to get deeper penetration while it started its own retail initiative. It was the store within a store concept that actually worked very well at those locations where Apple trained and placed employees, and it sucked dill pickles where CompUSA trained and staffed it.

I agree that Target has a much better grasp on style than Walmart, however I think their staff would make those CompUSA sales people look like members of the Apple Genius Bar. Costco? Have some electric skillet fried fish while you enjoy the sounds of the Everests???

We agree that it would be nice for Harman and JBL to do a better job of marketing their products. Beyond that, I think we see the problem rather differently.


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Yes, you're trying to accentuate the differences without accepting the obvious confluence of ideas.

Who wrote that Everests would be in store?
Who wrote that typical store staff would be adequate?

Making extreme, implausible statements may be clever and amusing, but you can't hide your progressive mind behind 20th Century cliches and old school business quotes. This is the very stuff that Harman needs to get beyond if it is to move into a new phase of business success.

Nearly 50% of companies last less than 40 years. The average human in the US lives decades longer than most companies. Look at the Fortune 500 list from 30 years ago. How many of those companies exist today? Mergers, buyouts, bankruptcies, investment capitalists (parasites) took many of them out of existence by playing the old rules and using the old mindset.

Harman almost bit the big one following the same line of thinking.

[Mr. Widget]

Making extreme, implausible statements may be clever and amusing, but you can't hide your progressive mind behind 20th Century cliches and old school business quotes. This is the very stuff that Harman needs to get beyond if it is to move into a new phase of business success.

We are not on the board at Harman making suggestions for a marketing group to run the numbers and get back to us. We are a couple of enthusiasts making wild speculations and suggestions.

As for clever or amusing... I was trying to make the point that I thought it would be better if they went significantly up market in their appearance rather than gloss over a corner of a warehouse or a discount chain. Even Bose is doing better than that and you know Harman has deeper pockets and a higher quality product line than they do. I am suggesting they think BIG. Nike and Apple have done very well with this concept.

It has to be done right though. The Sony Stores don't seem to be as successful. The problem as I see it is that Sony's products like JBLs have been turned into commodities. By that I mean, people will drive across town to save $25 on a product, and if the Sony or JBL isn't the cheapest product in a category, the consumer will simply buy a different brand. Bose like Apple has been good at convincing consumers that there is no alternative.


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[JBL 4645]

I like the JBL LS40 but. Whoa £900 a pair!
http://www.classic-hi-fi.co.uk/acatalog/JBL_-_LS40.html

I like the finish product look and the silky smooth shine of the enclosure, oh yummy I like those LS40 is there anyone interested in helping knock off post office for a few grand I want 6! Just kidding, £900.00 pounds! Those are sexy JBL

[JBL 4645]

I couldn’t find a picture of the rear view in full! Are these bass reflex are they ported at the rear? That’s the best view of the rear I can find on Google image.

[jblsound]

Two things have become obvious over the last few years, at least to me. And they are going in opposite directions.
First, I've heard from a number of B&M store owners that they will no longer sell Harman products.
The last time I heard that locally was a store owner in Carson City, who had sold Infinity speakers for a number of years. During that same point in time (late '90's ~ early 2000's) Infinitys were also sold at CC, at a much higher volume, thus lower prices. I don't know if that had anything to do with his decision. As such, maybe he figured that Harman hung him out to dry, as there was no way he could compete with CC.

The other thing is walking through B&M, like BB, Fry's, CC etc, or their web sites, or the web sites of ID only stores, the one speaker brand that seems to have the most models available, at the most dealers is Polk.
I don't really know why that is. Maybe Polk presents a higher profit margin/unit than any other brand.
Polk is not the best brand, you can buy, but its also far from the worst.
At this point in time there are no dealers in No NV that sell JBL or Infinity, other than one, maybe two, custom install only dealers.

[hjames]

I couldn’t find a picture of the rear view in full! Are these bass reflex are they ported at the rear? That’s the best view of the rear I can find on Google image.

I'm guessing that means they are biWire capable, like the Studio L series.
They look to be sealed boxes, also like the Studio L series ...

Maybe if you are budget oriented, you should snap up some of the Studio L series speakers that are on exceptionally good closeout prices right now!

http://audioheritage.org/vbulletin/s...&postcount=467

[Mr. Widget]

Maybe if you are budget oriented, you should snap up some of the Studio L series speakers that are on exceptionally good closeout prices right now!

I realize that Mr. Dome and I and a few others have gotten a bit off topic, but why would anyone want to be a Harman dealer when you have to compete against this bottom feeder mentality.

http://www.harmanaudio.com/search_br...JBL&market=HOM

There are many on this forum who have enjoyed great pricing on their JBLs from this sort of avenue, but the fact is that you'd be a pretty stupid dealer to offer these products in a retail environment when the manufacturer is constantly offering "great blow out deals."


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[hjames]

But if a "customer" is NEVER going to buy speakers at "Whoa, £900 a pair!"
and you can sell him some older aged stock (refurbs) thats being obsoleted anyway, why wouldn't you?

Its on the shelf at Harman, they are paying to warehouse it, its not the "latest, greatest" -
should they just destroy it like that Revox gear (or was that metrotech) ??

Its plastic coated product, not at all in the same league as that nicely stained wood Everest style LS series ...

What am I missing here?

I realize that Mr. Dome and I and a few others have gotten a bit off topic, but why would anyone want to be a Harman dealer when you have to compete against this bottom feeder mentality.

http://www.harmanaudio.com/search_br...JBL&market=HOM

There are many on this forum who have enjoyed great pricing on their JBLs from this sort of avenue, but the fact is that you'd be a pretty stupid dealer to offer these products in a retail environment when the manufacturer is constantly offering "great blow out deals."


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