Harman or should we say Samsung ( who owns both) really f-ed AKG in many levels, firing 650 workers, relocating its factories to China, also their QC got worse, read many stories about their k712 and k812 xlr connectors falling out , drivers losing contact, etc.
The core AKG engineering team now founded a new company in Vienna called Austrian Audio.
https://www.austrian.audio/


It has today (Oct 11 2017) been confirmed that AKG’s Vienna operation has been forced to close its doors following Harman’s announcement last month that it was making over 650 members of international staff redundant. Now, the engineering team at AKG Vienna have grouped together to launch a brand new company in the form of Austrian Audio.

A statement revealed that the closure of AKG’s Vienna office came about as a result of Harman International’s continued ‘focus on the infotainment and automotive sectors’.
“This is a determined effort to continue and reinvigorate the 70-year tradition of superior Viennese audio expertise and products,” said Thomas Gmeiner, chief technology officer. “We’ve got the team behind some of the most beloved and award-winning microphones and headphones in Professional Audio. This same team has been responsible for patents and proprietary technologies in audio, acoustic, aviation, transducer, telecom, noise cancelling and measurement tools used throughout the world and across many market sectors. We are very impatient to show the world what we’ve been working on but setting new standards takes time,” he continued.

Read more;
https://www.psneurope.com/business/akg-vienna-austrian-audio

 

SAD & SORRY TO HEAR THIS.AKG WAS A GREAT COMPANY.
so we won't have any more of this :
http://www.musicradar.com/reviews/tech/akg-k712-pro-588524

but i'm glad that we won't see any more of this cheap (plastic)headphones :
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/K72

 

AKG will still operate, the brand is owned by Harman ( Samsung), though with the core engineers gone, doesnt look good at all.

 

ah ok i see, (something like when emagic was bought from Apple and the core team continued working on logic/?)
so new company is in the form of Austrian Audio.

 

i'm no expert but i really like my AKG K271 mk2s.
i had no idea they are owned by samsung- you cannot escape that company, they're everywhere.

 

Fuck em. They also own JBL and guess who they fired? The legendary JBL engineer Greg Timbers and that was big news two years ago. They just gave him a few min to clean up his desk. You can not believe the level of stupidity and ignorance we are seeing here. This guy developed some of the best cutting edge speakers ever.

"I was unceremoniously separated from employment by Harman following a 90 second explanation. My position was eliminated! Following an explanation of benefits, I was escorted out. The timing came as a surprise and as such, I haven't thought about my future plans. While I don't need to work financially, I need to be active and challenged so I must figure out what makes sense for me going forward. To be clear, this is not what I wanted or deserved, but I will not comment further on details until a much later date. My decision, not theirs.It was a good run and I am very pleased that I have brought so many people enjoyment with the products I have developed over the last 4 decades. Once things settle down, I hope to be more available on the forum, but I need some time to adjust.My best wishes to all you JBL fans. Treat your products well and enjoy them while you can.Best Regards,Greg Timbers"

http://www.audioheritage.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?37395-End-of-an-Era-43-years-with-JBL-is-Over

 

harman which is samsung

• AKG
• AMX
• Audioaccess
• Bang & Olufson Automotive
• Becker
• BSS
• Crown
• dbx
• DigiTech
• DOD
• Duran Audio (seit Oktober 2013)
• harman/kardon
• Harman Multimedia
• Infinity
• JBL
• Lexicon
• Mark Levinson
• Margi
• Martin Professional
• QNX
• Red Bend
• Revel
• Studer
• Soundcraft
• Symphony Teleca
• Uher
• Bowers & Wilkins

 

Last edited by a moderator: Nov 19, 2017

Shit!!!! Now I really will only feel comfortable buying a DOD pedal here and there, that's it though!

 

Whats next? Samsung acquiring Reaper and charging 100$ per update?

 

Samsung shut down several new products by dbx which were much more affordable than Harmans BSS units. In the near future we will witness HUGE monopoly by Samsung :-(

 

Best of luck to Austrian Audio. Maybe some rogue engineers at Apple will form a company making hardware and software based on Mac but with consistency, stability and flexibility in regard to audio-visual production.

 

That won't be the worst case.
Worst case would be they shut them down to monetize on their patents only. That's the way it works.

Part of the problem is the original owner's greed. Samsung pays them a huge amount of $ so they and their family won't need to work any more in their lives. And that's it. They give a shit on employees, customers ... It's not just Samsung.

... not only Samsung but in alphabetical order the most evil companies destroying whole industries:
Adobe
Apple
Autodesk
AVID
Samsung ...

I don't understand what the anti trust laws are for today. In the 1960ies and 1970ies companies like Bell Inc. were broken up because they got too mighty without any democratic control.
What is the legislation doing today against those juggernauts?

 

Last edited: Nov 19, 2017

I hate such dirty and predatory behavior. Really sad to hear that such a great guys losing their jobs bc of corporate giants.
I like Samsung's SSD(as I know they are leaders in the area), but f_ck them.

 

Sad. I'm still using AKG K702. Brilliant headphones.

 

They all do it from time to time in various styles. Harman (a USA corp) was no saint either even before Samsung, right? I remember Nvidia driving 3DFX to bankruptcy and then they bought all their assets and patents in a jiffy. Intel (proven fact so fanbois should keep it down) has been paying in shady transactions literally billions to keep AMD off the market and practically rule the computing wold for decades.
Another fact is Samsung bought Harman mainly for their automotive dept. So i wouldn't be surprised if they 'd let go of EVERYTHING pro audio related that resides within the corp. I love Samsung SSDs too and their ram chips are the most reliable too imho. Still, in a rought corporate world where earning money is the sole purpose, preserving some legendary names even if it comes at a loss would show a company that has a human face as well. Sadly this was not the case.
I am an AKG enthusiast, i have numerous AKG mics and headphones some for over 25 years now. All i can say is thank you for the reliance and clarity and BRING 'EM BACK you ignorant fkn a$$holes !!

 

You can whack AVID in to the category of piece of shit companies that fuck over people including their own @twoheart.
There are plenty of others.

I was very frustrated with the kibosh Harman slapped on dbx from upping the game at a far better price point.

I have plenty of DOD and Digitech gear but both have really been neglected with barely any continuity, Such as releasing a range of pedals (in Digitech's case) then pulling them without any reasons stated. In the case of DOD they have dedicated to solely analog boxes and they have been mostly re-issues, Re-issues of pedals which are good but overpriced and only a fairly limited run despite the fact that they would sell.
Digitech has been designated as the Digital pedal brand which just makes no sense, Sometimes a mixture of both is required within some designs, Stupid compartmentalization bullshit.

I'm shocked to hear this, AKG I have used their mics literally thousands of times and I have spent a considerable amount of time with AKG headphones on also. The C12 and it's descendants are akin to a Sennheiser MD421 or Shure SM57 in the condenser department, Almost like standard issue is opening a mic cupboard up to find four C414 B-ULS or XLS (or a mixture of the two).

They really have fucked it with that smart "business" move.

AKG will likely be a range of onehunglow sub-par piss with an instantly recognizable logo which will sucker in some poor bastard's.
I'll be investing in Austrian Audio if their products are fine quality which I have absolutely no reason to doubt them from being.
It'd be lovely to have a year in 2018 without any shitshows such as this, All it does is make less competition which is never good.

Cheers Von_Steyr, All the best and same to all always

Dean

 

Added
A lot of leading A's

 

Last edited: Nov 19, 2017

that's how we are losing stellar European made high end technology , RIP AKG

the question is: who is next?

 

The big fish eat the smaller fish - that´s the trend in business these days.

Best thing is that the old AKG team has decided to start a new firm... who knows: They´ll maybe bring things to a much higher level?!?

 

That's a nice list of products to avoid