CBT Harman Kardon Radiance 2400

[SDX-LV]

Just wondering what are your expectations about the first lifestyle CBTs from Harman?

They look sleek (probably too sleek to have any bass extension or SPL capability), they are CBTs, but they come with tiny subwoofer, which signals what to expect from the main towers and then they ask 4000 Euro for it! At least knowing Harman, you will soon see it with 50% or even 75% off)
Still I would love to see these next to my kitchen... if they would cost about 5x less. In white please.

https://news.harman.com/releases/ic...periority-in-the-harman-kardonR-radiance-2400

 

[amirm]

I saw them but don't know the merit of stick speakers like this. I suspect it is not going to sell well.

 

[Ericglo]

It looks interesting, but the price is way out of line. I would like to know what kind of drivers are in there.

 

[More Dynamics Please]

Each stick has 24 1.25" drivers while the 200W sub has a 10" driver. Anyone up for doing the math on the size of a single driver equivalent to 24 1.25" drivers?

https://news.harman.com/releases/ic...periority-in-the-harman-kardonR-radiance-2400

 

[tomtoo]

How is it a cbt? I just see a line?

 

[Sonny1]

How is it a cbt? I just see a line?

Isn’t a CBT supposed to be curved? This looks like something you would see from Samsung. I was excited when I saw the headline and disappointed when I saw the picture.

 

[tomtoo]

Isn’t a CBT supposed to be curved? This looks like something you would see from Samsung. I was excited when I saw the headline and disappointed when I saw the picture.

My qusetion. But maybe you can do something with electronic?

 

[hardisj]

Isn’t a CBT supposed to be curved? This looks like something you would see from Samsung. I was excited when I saw the headline and disappointed when I saw the picture.

Passive CBTs are generally curved because that’s the “mechanical” way of physically aligning the drivers so that the sound field is constant from top to bottom about a radius. The vertical ones have a lot of passive components to do the amplitude shading and time delay.

This one undoubtedly has DSP built-in for beam steering, though. Or I assume it does, at least.

Here is a fantastic paper that discusses the progression of CBT designs (which I haven’t read up on in nearly a decade, tbh):
https://jblpro.com/en/site_elements/tech-note-volume-1-35

 

[Rick Sykora]

Due to individual drivers, even the curved CBT is an approximation of the LeGendre shading. but Rick Craig felt it was much better than the DSP approach. He worked with Don Keele and built a bunch of different CBTs. Don Keele has a AES presentation and paper that compares the different approaches.

You can find the presentation here… http://www.audioartistry.com/2-12 n...ifferent Types of Loudspeaker Line Arrays.pdf

Pleased to see Harman is still trying to apply the CBT approach as it does support a much larger listening sweet spot than conventional monopole speakers. Don is supposedly working on a new CBT. Note these new Harman’s are not ground plane CBTs like the ones marketed by Parts Express.

 

[Ericglo]

That is great to hear that Don is working on a new CBT. I can't wait to see what he comes up with.

I know Marshall Kay preferred a straight floor to ceiling line array to CBTs. He did acknowledge that anything but a CBT is the better option. It is one of the reasons I was looking at a floor to ceiling Murphy Corner Line Array.

 

[FrantzM]

Harman Marketing could be the poster child of ineptness... Great products within the lines and brands .. Mediocre to criminal marketing
This product shape and presentation in a room is is one example among many..
This said, I would not dismiss its performance or that of CBBT in general.. Surprisingly effective.

Peace.

 

[jhaider]

Isn’t a CBT supposed to be curved?

JBL’s CBT50/CBT100 are straight. I actually have four installed in our living room as of Thursday (CBT50 sides/CBT100 rears) but alas the installer did not bother to use the pre-printed heat shrink tube channel labels I provided and did a poor job labeling generally, so I still have to go through and figure out which of the 15 speaker cables leads to which speaker. So no report as to sound yet.

 

[magic44ken]

Due to individual drivers, even the curved CBT is an approximation of the LeGendre shading. but Rick Craig felt it was much better than the DSP approach. He worked with Don Keele and built a bunch of different CBTs. Don Keele has a AES presentation and paper that compares the different approaches.

You can find the presentation here… http://www.audioartistry.com/2-12 new papers/Keele-CBTPaper6PPT-A Performance Ranking of Seven Different Types of Loudspeaker Line Arrays.pdf

Pleased to see Harman is still trying to apply the CBT approach as it does support a much larger listening sweet spot than conventional monopole speakers. Don is supposedly working on a new CBT. Note these new Harman’s are not ground plane CBTs like the ones marketed by Parts Express.

I wish Harman use a bigger driver for a more normal SPL output. It will be perfect for home theater system.

Do you know if this new CBT project that Don working on will be release as a speaker kit or a commercial release?

 

[sarumbear]

JBL’s CBT50/CBT100 are straight. I actually have four installed in our living room as of Thursday (CBT50 sides/CBT100 rears) but alas the installer did not bother to use the pre-printed heat shrink tube channel labels I provided and did a poor job labeling generally, so I still have to go through and figure out which of the 15 speaker cables leads to which speaker. So no report as to sound yet.

How did your project progressed?

 

[sarumbear]

I saw them but don't know the merit of stick speakers like this. I suspect it is not going to sell well.

It should work well as surrounds, invisible and a wide polar diagram. Subwoofer will be surplus though.

 

[sarumbear]

Each stick has 24 1.25" drivers while the 200W sub has a 10" driver. Anyone up for doing the math on the size of a single driver equivalent to 24 1.25" drivers?

https://news.harman.com/releases/ic...periority-in-the-harman-kardonR-radiance-2400

Equivalent to 6.1” driver

 

[Rick Sykora]

I wish Harman use a bigger driver for a more normal SPL output. It will be perfect for home theater system.

Do you know if this new CBT project that Don working on will be release as a speaker kit or a commercial release?

need to check with @Bjorn as his company was working with Don,

 

[kipman725]

Equivalent to 6.1” driver

but with tiny xmax

 

[sarumbear]

but with tiny xmax

I expect so too but we don’t know that. As Harman designs their own drivers they may give consideration to that. There’s no reason for a metal dome to have considerable Xmax.

 

[sarumbear]

This is the specification sheet. It talks about output power and shows values in Watts. I wish a technology company as large as Harman/Samsung employed engineers in their marketing departments.

The unit has 4 HDMI inputs and is designed to replace an AVR. You can think of it as an integrated AVR with LR speakers and a sub.