HARMAN Recognised as Top Supplier with Volvo Cars Award of Excellence
HARMAN receives Volvo Cars Award of Excellence 2015 for delivering supreme Bowers & Wilkins in-car audio technology in the new Volvo XC90
STAMFORD, CT and GOTHENBURG, SWEDEN – HARMAN International Industries, Incorporated (NYSE:HAR), the premier connected technologies company for automotive, consumer and enterprise markets, announced today that it has won a Volvo Cars Award of Excellence 2015 in the “Technology” category for delivering the Bowers & Wilkins premium audio system in the new Volvo XC90.
Announced at The Volvo Cars Award of Excellence ceremony in Gothenburg, Sweden, this accolade acknowledges HARMAN among the company’s top-performing suppliers who provide superior solutions and services to contribute to the success of Volvo Cars.
Since 2008, HARMAN has worked together in a global alliance with the British high-end audio specialist Bowers & Wilkins blending the technical and commercial strengths of both companies. Based on more than 100 years of combined expertise in the premium audio field, the two partners jointly develop car audio solutions that cherry pick the best technologies and components from both worlds. The new Volvo XC90 features the first ever Bowers & Wilkins audio system built into an SUV and is the world’s first in-car system to use Bowers & Wilkins tweeter-on-top technology to optimise sound and maintain audio dimension within the cabin of the vehicle. The Bowers & Wilkins premium audio system on board the Volvo XC90 also features an incredibly compact highly efficient Class D amplifier containing all the digital signal processing power needed to realise the new and innovative features and functions in the system. To develop these different functions and seamlessly integrate into the vehicle’s interior, HARMAN and Volvo Engineering and Industrial Design teams collaborated to create a stunning in-car audio system to match the luxury of the vehicle for an extraordinary in-car listening experience.
“Tuning an automotive speaker system is a fine art that requires expert ears, hours of listening, and in the case of the XC90, extensive collaboration between Volvo, Bowers & Wilkins and HARMAN engineers,” said Michael Mauser, President HARMAN Lifestyle Audio Division. “We worked closely with Volvo’s experienced team to ensure that each speaker is positioned for optimum acoustics and the most immersive sound possible. We’re honored to be recognised among Volvo Cars’ top suppliers for our innovative technology contributions that enabled the development and continued success of the premium Bowers & Wilkins audio system in the Volvo XC90.”
The Volvo XC90 Bowers & Wilkins premium audio system features several unique transducer technologies for which Bowers & Wilkins is well-known, including nautilus tweeters, Kevlar cones and long-throw woofers. These combine with HARMAN’s next-generation QuantumLogic Surround Sound processing to provide an immersive, multi-dimensional 7.1 surround sound experience from any music source. The components are integrated into the cabin architecture and carefully tuned for optimum acoustics and the most immersive sound possible. For the first time introduced in a car is Dirac UnisonTM, the latest automotive tuning technology from Dirac using an innovative filter topology that transforms the physical speakers in the vehicle cabin into seven virtual ideal speakers that the audio tuning engineers can use to achieve their target acoustic response in all the listening positions at the same time.
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About BOWERS & WILKINS
Bowers & Wilkins is a global leader for premium loudspeaker products and purveyor of “true sound” with nearly 50 years of audio heritage. Its innovative, award-winning audio products are an essential element to audio entertainment whether at home or on the move. Bowers & Wilkins loudspeakers are highly regarded as the definitive “audio reference,” as demonstrated by their use in leading recording studios throughout the world including London’s famed Abbey Road Studios and Skywalker Sound in California. The notion that remarkable sound must be experienced to be fully appreciated is reinforced by the company’s motto - “Listen and you’ll see.”
About HARMAN
HARMAN (harman.com) designs and engineers connected products and solutions for automakers, consumers and enterprises worldwide, including connected car systems, audio and visual products, enterprise automation solutions and connected services. With leading brands including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon®, Mark Levinson® and Revel®, HARMAN is admired by audiophiles, musicians and the entertainment venues where they perform around the world. More than 25 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with HARMAN audio and connected car systems. The Company's software services power billions of mobile devices and systems that are connected, integrated and secure across all platforms, from work and home to car and mobile. HARMAN has a workforce of approximately 28,000 people across the Americas, Europe, and Asia and reported sales of $6.5 billion during the 12 months ended December 31, 2015. The Company’s shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol NYSE:HAR.
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