The Magic of Research and Development

The world's first Am/Fm receiver amplifier.

Another frequently asked question....

"How have you selected the products that you so proudly represent?"

Our short answer...research and development.

All of our suppliers started off as small, family businesses committed to music and science.

When Dr. Sidney Harman and business partner Bernie Kardon formed Harman/Kardon in 1953, they had a vision of changing the hobby/cottage industry into a legitimate main stream entertainment business.

To this end, they were the first to have an AM/FM stereo receiver.

The first attempt at internal control.

They were the first to incorporate Dolby ® noise reduction to the cassette deck.

They were the first to address lower distortion and high current capability in amplifiers. This tradition is still alive and well, as is Sidney Harman.

Forty years ago, John Bower and Roy Wilkens had a stereo retail store in Worthing, England.

Their dissatisfaction with commercially available loud speakers drove them to become speaker designers and manufacturers.

Their design criteria started with John's intuitive musical abilities. They combined this with leading edge science and technology to become the first to utilize laser interferometry.

The benefit of this technology was a cabinet change.

The late John Bower	The guts of Matrix	Innovative cabinet control

Traditional speakers were "stuffed" with insulation to break up the standing waves emitted from the back of the speaker cone.

Using laser technology, they created a more complex cabinet bracing called Matrix®.

The advantage of a "stiffer" cabinet is that only the cone moves, not the cabinet. They then turned the laser on the vibrating speaker cone surface. Ultimately the cone must behave in a true piston-like motion.

This confirmed John's solution of Kevlar®, to create this remarkable design to send the standing waves, that come off the back of the speaker cone into "infinity".

Fig 1. Laser interferometry... Speaker Motion Study.

Even further, B&W have created the Prism® system, a new internal design that now breaks up these standing waves more effectively.

Form really does follow function.

The speaker cone is a passive device. The amplifier mimicks a "big bully" by grabbing the cone and dictating exactly the amount of movement it should go through.

It is a conscious decision on our part to be involved with all of our suppliers. For no matter how good they are, we have to keep their promises.

Do I need heavy duty cable?? We have the answer.