Has JBL/Harmann have given up the german hifi speaker market???

[tomtoo]

Its strange if this would be a noname in speaker building i would say ok they need some time. But JBL?

 

[bigjacko]

Why they don't sell in Germany? Is it because they don't want to or dealers don't want to? Why would they don't want to sell since their brand is famous enough to get good sells without advertise?

 

[digitalfrost]

It's also hard to get Revel here which is a shame.

 

[Frank Dernie]

We have had fitful availability of JBL and Revel here in the UK too. There seem to be a few dealers advertising them recently though.

 

[CMB]

I just exchanged emails with that nice guy in the Netherlands, which is actually the BeNeLux distributor of some of the JBL lines.

Glossary for non Europeans:
BeNeLux => Belgium/Netherland/Luxembourg
Luxembourg => tiny country between France/Germany/Belgium

I am not at all related to the distributor, so please don't see it as a commercial approach here - but his kind answer might bring some light to the distribution question asked here.

Let me quote him, as he explicitly allowed me to do so.

Quote :
..."Yet I can also understand the feeling that rises among some customers regarding the visibility of Harman and JBL products. Reason for this is the with of the brands portfolio. JBL is divided in Pro Audio, Automotive, Lifestyle and Premium.

The Premium line is positioned under the flag of JBL Synthesis and has a different distribution than the other lines.

Reference Sounds is the proud BeNeLux distributor for JBL Synthesis. Under JBL Synthesis you will then again find several categories.

JBL Classic Like the JBL 4312G, the L100 and L82
JBL Monitors Like the JBL 4349 and the 4367
JBL Premium Like the K2S9900, S3900 and Everest but also the HDI series
JBL Synthesis Cinema related solutions like the SCL series in wall loudspeakers

We are responsible for all these lines.

There are also some lines that fall right in between these series like the JBL Stage series. These are not distributed through us and are sometimes more focused on the US market. Infinity is also a good example of that.

Obviously it is the mass market Lifestyle line that gets the biggest attention as it is sold through the large media chains like Media Market. These are the Bluetooth models, headphones, partyboxes and the like. Awesome products in their own category but not the lines that we carry.

We love JBL and the Harman brands and therefore spend a fortune to build our Experience Center in the Netherlands near Amsterdam including a big 21 channel JBL Synthesis Theater. We are building this love through our dealer network but also invite customers to make an appointment to visit our Experience Center.

I can therefore only speak for the JBL products in our portfolio and can truly say that we are building back the visibility that JBL deserves. The company builds world class loudspeakers and deserves all the attention something that is also translated through our website and our showroom.

Feel free to share this with anyone if you feel like it."...

End of quote

I hope that is useful.

 

[Chrispy]

I'd love to see the sales breakdown of the various JBL lines.....but Harman was purchased by Samsung primarily for their position in the automotive market is my understanding....