Selenium Products discontinued??

[glenn]

I was just a the USA Jbl pro site and was looking through the component list. It seems that everything Selenium has been discontinued. Am I reading this correctly?Glenn

[RMC]

Hi Glenn,

After some searches i get the impression that Harman dumped or closed Selenium. Couldn't get their former web site where i went a few times, they had a number of drivers, pretty good assortment of products.

Wouldn't surprise me Harman simply ended that journey, like so many others they did. DIY doesn't seem to fit/interest Harman anymore. Another they let go was Studer, imagine Studer! formerly Studer Revox, kind of a flagship name for high quality gear. Fortunately that one was purchased by Germans as i recall, making large and expensive recording consoles. The Canadian Broadcasting Corp purchased a large digital one from them.

There's little soul left in audio, mostly controlled by groups now, and their main attraction or what matters is money. A lot of it is low-cost manufacturing , mass produced electronics and speakers in China or Mexico. At the other end is Luxury Audio where the margins must be very juicy with that low-cost mfr.

The only Selenium i found was a B2B type site, it showed it had two models (no specs), one compression driver and one horn. Saw nothing else, even when i clicked on see more or for the whole range it was the same page, lol I still have a catalog of their stuff, i think dated 2015?

I've seen there is still some Selenium inventory in various stores but i guess when that's gone game is over?

Richard

[Elac310]

Same observation from me. Seems to have been completely abandoned after being bought by harman and merged with JBL.Same in many sectors (construction, cement, iron industry, electricity, food industry, catering services, insurance sector etc etc): big fishes buy small fishes to acquire market shares +know how + positive image whilst eliminating competitors. Competition is decreased, prices increase etc. That’s what I’ve experienced here in Europe over a few decades, the antitrust policies being subdued to other priorities to enable inter alia the building of large groups that could withstand the competition of other expanding economic blocks and nations. I guess some former Selenium engineers/employees are now with PRV audio (another Brazilian company with marketing department in the US) which is reviving the forer range of Selenium products + bringing out many new innovative products. BTW: I love the Italian pro-speaker market: plenty of great excellent and innovative brands at fair prices, still.

[RMC]

That makes three of us now.

In the past, during Sidney Harman's ownership of the Compagny there were known Scientists as part of the Company's top management: Doug Button, VP Research and Development, before Director of Transducer Engineering at JBL, and before that one of their best Transducer Engineer. Gone now.

Flooyd Toole, Senior VP of Acoustical Engineering, before that Engineer and Acoustician. Bill Gelow, Director of Acoustical Engineering (before Chief Engineer at Renkus Heinz Loudspeakers) reported to Toole. Both gone.

Its not only the high-profile names that matter, its the existence or not of major functions having expertise in the group. Transducers and Acoustical are vital aspects in this kind of business.

Now with Harman in the hands of Samsung things changed a lot. Different focus, streamlining and cost cutting are the buzz words.

When i looked maybe a year ago at Harman's top management team i could not recognize a single name that i knew from Engineering. Maybe nowadays Senior Executives are mostly a group of Finance and Marketing/Sales people ?

Richard

[mark214]

They seem to be following the same path that was used with the Altec name where they are attaching the JBL name with lower end products, headphones, Bluetooth speakers, ear buds. I remember when we were issued new notebook computers with "Altec" built in speakers one of the issued computers was damaged and the speakers were some tiny Chinese speakers, hardly Altec. ....................... A quote for a pair of $29.00 headphones: The Tune 510BT wireless headphones feature renowned JBL Pure Bass sound, which can be found in the most famous venues all around the world.

[RMC]

Can't disagree with you...

In fact the last two products that i can remember being launched not long ago were the JBL Turntable showed by Odd at around $1,400. if i recall correctly. The other product was the Series 6 speakers in a JBL ad.

Well, the TT appears grossly overpriced for what you get, essentially paying a large premium for the JBL name, not for the inherent product quality as it should be. Cheap push buttons, S shape tonearm, low level AT cartridge it seemed, etc.

As for the Series 6 speakers, it was described as cost effective range of enclosures, meaning some more low-cost China Manufacturing stuff.

This, supposedly from a premium manufacturer with a reputation for excellence. Things change...

I don't mind paying some more to get better quality since i keep my gear a long time. But paying for T-Bone steak and getting Bologna or a slice of ham, no way. I'd rather have the repair shop fix my older equipment if need be, and they're quite happy having to work on it believe me.

Richard