Cool Stuff You Can't Have: Harman Kardon Amplifiers

Harman Kardon is a name well known among home audio fanatics. Their home theater amps are very sleek and have a refined and elegant style. So when I stumbled on this post over at South African car audio blog Resonance Factor, my jaw just about dropped onto my desk! Harman is offering a full line of car audio amplifiers for European and other non-US countries, and Razeen snapped some pretty good shots of the amps and has full details over at the Factor. The initial launch will include one 2-channel and two 4-channel Class A/B amps, and one Class-D sub amp. The inclusion of a Class-D amp is pretty common for car audio, but a different approach for Harman as their home audio line is all Class A/B. Regardless, these amps are hot and I wish there was some way to convince Harman to bring them stateside. However, SoundDomain did get the scoop that there are some good things on the way from one of Harman's other companies, but we aren't allowed to disclose details just yet. You'll just have to stay tuned; we'll have an announcement in the next few months!

Source: Resonance Factor
Source: Harman Kardon

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Reasons to Hate Photoshop - Part 2

By: Ben Vollmer, Car Audio Nationals

(Click to enlarge)

The Drive and Play 2 is an interface for in-car connectivity of portable music players and digital devices, including Apple's iPod, Sirius Satellite Radio, USB flash drives, and many other portable music players. It includes a 3-1/2" full color display screen, wireless 2.4GHz controller and a media hub. I have played with this slick little device and have enjoyed it quite a bit.

While flipping though the latest Performance Auto and Sound Magazine, something didn't seem quite right about this ad, but I couldn't figure out why. After staring for a few minutes, the display looked ok, but the mounting location seemed a bit odd.   

Hot Off The Presses: New JBL GTO Subwoofers!

We recently announced the new JBL Power Series amplifiers and Power Series speakers, and now we have more good news! JBL has just announced a new GTO subwoofers line. The woofers definitely look the business - great looking baskets, beefy cone and surround, and they're priced very affordably! We've got a few pics after the jump as well as pricing and product info.

Video: Russian JBL Demo Truck or Mobile Nuclear Reactor?

I don't know who produced this, or who to give credit to, but this Russian JBL show truck, the "Sound Cruiser", is insane. This might give the Power Acoustik truck we wrote about a run for its money!

After a little research, it looks like this truck debuted maybe sometime around late 2005/early 2006. The "Russian Sound Fleet" guys took an International hauler and loaded the back with one of the most insane JBL sound systems I've seen. The HUGE Crown/JBL amps mounted to the side panels are stunning, but the rotating subwoofer enclosure is downright evil looking! It looks like they've got some sort of nuclear reactor strapped to the back!

We've got a video of the truck in action after the break, as well as a bunch of photos I found on a forum from Croatia.

Anybody know anything about this truck? Let us know in the forums!

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New & Improved JBL Power Series Speakers

Check it out: We just got the scoop on JBL's new Power Series components! We actually got an exclusive sneak peak of these bad boys at CES, but we had to remain tight-lipped until JBL gave us the OK. Well we got it, and here they are!

The new Power Series is significantly improved over previous models, and according to JBL have a similar sonic signature to their über-components, the GTi Series. The new Power Series boasts an improved sensitivity, meaning more sound from less power, which is great for those upgrading their factory speakers but keeping the factory radio. The Power Series also features an improved "distortion-free" motor structure, and an improved 1" textile dome tweeter for extended high frequency response.

Not only did JBL improve the sonic and mechanical features, but these speakers just look damn sexy. The compact crossover is clean and just deserves to be on display in any install. Great job, JBL, I look forward to hearing those soon.

**Random JBL Fact: Did you know that JBL speakers can be found in approximately 80% of all movie theaters in the US and that Lucas Arts designed initial THX specifications using JBL speakers? Yep. That's right.

We've got the official press release and and more photos after the jump.

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