Harman Sells Audioaccess To ATI

By Joseph Palenchar -- TWICE, 2/22/2010

ELKHART, IND. — The Harman Performance AV group sold off its Audioaccess brand to Amplifier Technologies Inc. (ATI), HPAV said in a Feb. 8 letter to Audioaccess reps.

The sale “will allow HPAV to focus on our core brands of Mark Levinson, Revel, JBL Synthesis and Lexicon,” HPAV’s letter said.

For Montebello, Calif.-based ATI, the sale adds another brand to its portfolio. About two years ago, ATI purchased high-end audio supplier Theta Digital, and before that, it bought pro-audio amp maker BGW.

The sale also brings a complementary product portfolio to the ATI stable. Audioaccess markets multi-room-audio and multi-room-A/V systems, inwall keypad and touchscreen controllers, and in-wall, in-ceiling and outdoor speakers. ATI markets A/V processors, two- and multichannel amplifiers, and multiroom-distribution amplifiers. It is also an OEM supplier of home and proaudio amps.

For its part, Theta offers a highend audio selection compared to ATI. Theta’s selection includes a $10,625 preamp processor, monoblock amps up to $12,500, DAC/preamps, and a Blu-ray/SACD/DVD-Audio transport.

As with the Theta Digital acquisition, Audioaccess will be run as a separate division, said Mark Cohen, who is in charge of Audioaccess operations for ATI. On Feb. 12, he said Audioaccess shipments would resume in about 10 days.

ATI purchased the Audioaccess brand, intellectual property and inventory, he noted.

Audioacces was founded in 1987 and purchased in 1993 by HPAV parent Harman International. In 2003, Audioaccess’s product-design and management functions were assumed by Harman’s JBL brand.

The HPAV group was formed more than a year ago to consolidate sales and marketing of high-end audio brands Lexicon, Revel and Mark Levinson. HPAV also took over responsibility for the high-end JBL Synthesis brand and for JBL speakers priced at about more than $3,000/pair.

HPAV then launched a new distribution strategy to incentivize dealers of one brand to carry all HPAV brands.