Arcam now owned by Harman (who are themselves a division of Samsung) ...
https://www.whathifi.com/news/arcam-acquired-harman-division-samsung
https://www.whathifi.com/news/arcam-acquired-harman-division-samsung
does this mean we can now buy ARCAM stuff at Samsung prices *drinks* mass production means cheaper products ( i do not think so )chebby said:Arcam now owned by Harman (who are themselves a division of Samsung) ...
https://www.whathifi.com/news/arcam-acquired-harman-division-samsung
bigboss said:I think this will benefit Arcam and Harman / Samsung. Arcam has been weak in the software but excellent in hardware and performance. Samsung is the other way round.
For AV software, Samsung are amongst the best in the market. You should check out their Tizen OS and smartthings.Infiniteloop said:bigboss said:I think this will benefit Arcam and Harman / Samsung. Arcam has been weak in the software but excellent in hardware and performance. Samsung is the other way round.
Samsung are terrible at software. They rely on Google for their OS and can't get Bixby to work at all.
plastic penguin said:Don't have any problem with takeovers or amalgamations. However, Arcam have a heritage of high quality, affordable components (hi-fi section) and as long as the merger doesn't compromise that...
plastic penguin said:Indeed. That doesn't automatically make it a happy marriage. There is always a period of 'bedding in' and it's this period (with any merger) that is the key area.
The US is different though isn't it. With B&W, their mainstream stuff might be in Best Buy, but I'll bet their 800 Series isn't. Over there, you pretty much have a straight divide - boxshifters and high end boutique type sellers. We have that here, but there's a whole middle ground that we have too, which covers a lot of what the US put into boxshifters. You guys are bigger on mail order over there due to there being the length of the UK between some major cities, whereas in the UK it's no more than 100 miles tops.Benedict_Arnold said:Harmon is all but washed up as a serious hifi brand. Mission got bought and it's products driven down to Argos levels. B&W speakers are sold at Bestbuy (the US Currys). Mordaunt Short disappeared entirely after it was bought out....
I suspect the Arcam brand will be used to heavily promote "new" but inferior products for two or three years then go the way of the aforementioned.
Here's hoping I am wrong...
Al ears said:plastic penguin said:Indeed. That doesn't automatically make it a happy marriage. There is always a period of 'bedding in' and it's this period (with any merger) that is the key area.
Indeed. Often the idea (not necessarily in this case) that "Oh dear my favourite manufacturer is now having its gear made in China" is enought to put some people off further purchase.
Blacksabbath25 said:".......now most of there stuff is made in China so can you still call it a British company ?
manicm said:Al ears said:plastic penguin said:Indeed. That doesn't automatically make it a happy marriage. There is always a period of 'bedding in' and it's this period (with any merger) that is the key area.
Indeed. Often the idea (not necessarily in this case) that "Oh dear my favourite manufacturer is now having its gear made in China" is enought to put some people off further purchase.
A large chunk of Arcam's products have been made in China for nearly a decade now, if that's what you mean.
Virtually no major store in it's native USA stocks ANY H-K audio or AV kit any more. The brand has virtually disappeared.matthewpiano said:The on-going consolidation of the market is no surprise and it's happening outside the hi-fi industry too. Look at the motor trade - it's been happening there for years, and the acquisition of Vauxhall by PSA (who own Peugeot, Citroen, and several currently redundant old brand names) is just the latest example. Where brand names have been consolidated under one owner for some time, you can even see increased product convergance now. The new Seat Ibiza, for example, looks much more similar to the Skoda Fabia and VW Polo than previously, and across the ranges of all 3 brands there seems to be a movement towards the individual marque characters being gradually lost.
Harman have considerable expertise, but they have also been guilty of licensing good brand names for use on all sorts of products so that, for example, you see cheap TVs in supermarkets claiming to have 'Sound by JBL'. They have also pretty much killed off the Harman-Kardon brand name as a serious hi-fi contender, focusing it on largely higher volume markets like home cinema, small audio and multimedia products, and in-car. Who knows what they will do with Arcam. Only time will tell, but with Harman's track record and the accountants at Samsung holding the purse strings, I'll be surprised if the original vision of Mr Dawson will properly hold true.