You might know already that Arcam changed hands a few years ago. Harman has a Luxury Audio Group (LAG) that Arcam is now a part of. Other LAG brands include JBL speakers, Revel speakers, AV processors from Lexicon and Mark Levinson electronics, speakers and headphones. While it is said that Arcam's engineers 'helped' the latest JBL AV amplifiers there now appears to be a Quid Pro Quo in the group. 

It's almost forgotten that Arcam made speakers as far back as the mid 80s. We sold a big bookshelf model imaginatively called ARCAM ONE, and they were pretty good too!

Now Arcam have announced a full range of speakers with two bookshelf models, two floor standing and even a matching centre speaker. Dealers can have a full Arcam amplifier/speaker package for stereo or surround sound cinema; great.

But we all know that Arcam don't actually have in house speaker designers and we all know that some of those LAG brands above do, so the question is - who actually designs and builds these speakers? Is it JBL or Revel?

Given the bookshelves are £ 1699 and £ 2599 and the floor standers are £ 3999 and £ 5999, I would say Revel. Also they look very very similar, but what do I know?

There have been attempts to launch Revel in the UK before. They weren't awful but neither were they the best speakers at the price, so a good listen will be required before we would stock and demonstrate them. Will let you know of course!

Also did you know the entire JBL, Harman Kardon empire is actually owned by Samsung?!?