Wanna tell you a story, as Max Bygraves used to say, who? Nevermind
Long long time ago, I can still remember how that music used to make me smile, no no no!
Long long time ago there was a company called Amplification & Recording, Cambridge. Yes that's the right start!
Two young guys, John and Chris, who grew the company until they attracted the attention of a larger company that said No no no you can't be called that.
You are infringing on our name AR. No problem John said our name also says Cambridge
But we're from Cambridge Massachusetts, see you in court. Eh, no, let's not go there, John said sensibly.
And so A&R Cambridge became ARCAM
Many products and categories followed and Lo Arcam employed many people making cd players, DACs , dvds, blu-rays, preamps. power amps, av amps, even a few speakers. Through good times and bad ARCAM has always been a premium brand that you could depend on for well made great sounding gear. They outgrew manufacturing in Cambridge and many of these new technologies although designed in the UK had to be made in China.
And Lo Arcam attracted the attention of an enormous company who couldn't understand why these Cambridge folk had such a following for their premium products when some of their brands didn't command the same respect from hifi retailers and enthusiasts.
And so they hatched a plan and bought ARCAM.
Arcam are now part of the Harman Luxury group, formerly Harman Kardon and now including JBL, Revel speakers, Mark Levinson and Lexicon.
And the Harman group is owned by an even bigger fish, Samsung
So when you own all these brands and you have the clever Arcam research team at your disposal the next stage is logical.
Use your Arcam boffins to design keenly priced mass market gear that you can then distribute in larger quantities through your distribution channels.
And Lo above is a JBL AV ampliifer that I have just had supplied by Arcam, or Harman and at a price that Arcam would not have the volume to possibly reach.
There are 4 models to be launched:
MA310 5.2 channel, 4k, 60w at £ 499, really, only £ 499 ??
MA 510 5.2 channel, 8k, 75w at £ 699, seriously?
MA 710 7.2, 8k, 110w at £ 999, and more?
MA7100 High Performance 7.2, 8k, 125w, £ 1399
There will also be a MA9100 to follow
310s and 510s have arrived first, eagerly awaiting the 710 which is probably what we will do most of.
Also available black but the white looks great!
Now if you had a huge organisation with marketing gurus who know which way is up you would have matching speakers badged JBL,
lo and behold that has also happened
With bookshelf speakers from £ 599 and floorstanders from £ 999 a decent AV system entry point has just dropped in price.
Being Lyric I'm more cynical about the speakers and will report back when we hear them.
