Harman Kardon Onyx and JBL Voyager bring the noise to IFA
The venerable audio companies bring a bunch of cool new audio kit to Berlin.
BERLIN -- American audio veteran Harman Kardon and its subsidiary JBL showed off a raft of new home audio gear at the IFA show here today.
Harman's new Esquire is both a wireless loudspeaker and a teleconferencing system with built-in mics. It connects to your phone via Bluetooth. Its tricks don't end there -- with three USB ports, you can charge three devices at the same time. It has its own 10-hour rechargeable battery, too. The Esquire is out next month for 249 ($330, £210).
Also new from HK is the Onyx wireless speaker system, which is a 60W speaker with a stainless steel handle. You can control it via a smartphone app and stream music over AirPlay or Bluetooth -- which is simply set up by a nifty bit of NFC wizardry. Its battery lasts for 6 hours. Also out next month, it'll set you back a hefty 499 ($660, £420).
Harman has a new range of Blu-ray speaker systems too, to give your movie night some oomph. They range from the 2.1-channel BDS 280 (899) to the 5.1-channel BDS 880 (1,749). That's roughly the same as three years' worth of weekly cinema-going.
JBL, meanwhile, has come up with a portable Bluetooth speaker with an integrated subwoofer and a central speaker you can detach and take with you. Like the Esquire, you can use it as a speakerphone and charge your mobile with it. It's out next month for 249 ($330, £210).
The company also has a new line of headphones -- the S700 and S500 over-ear headphones, the S300 on-ears, and the S200 and S100 in-ear headphones. The earbuds are crafted from die-cast aluminum, with 10mm (in the S200) and 9mm (in the S100) drivers making the noise.
The JBL S100s start at 80 ($105, £70), the S200s are 129 ($170, £110), and the bigger headphones range from 199 to 349 ($260 to $460, £170 to £300). They're all out this month.
For all our IFA coverage, check out our show page here.