Aftermarket Co. Sweeps CES Innovation Awards

Harman’s JBL and Infinity brands swept the 2021 CES Innovation Awards in the Car Entertainment & Safety, taking five awards.

A super high-end system from JBL, the ARENA X, won an award as did the brand’s BassProGo—a combo subwoofer/Bluetooth speaker, which not only won an award in the automotive category, but also in the highly competitive portable audio category.

Also taking awards in Automotive Entertainment & Safetey were the JBL ARENA Series (a step down from the ARENA X) and the JBL DSP Amplifier (DSP-4086).

Award winners under the Infinity brand were BeTA speakers and new Hi-Res Audio capable Kappa speakers.

The Innovation Awards announced Tuesday are typically joined by additional winners announced at CES in January (as some vendors choose to withhold their product reveals until that time). So we hope to see other aftermarket suppliers winning in the category.

Here are the Harman CES Innovation Honoree products:

JBL ARENA X Speakers (See Photo Above)

Honoree for In-Vehicle Entertainment & Safety

The JBL ARENA X is the brand’s new flagship automotive loudspeaker, and its highest end system in decades.  It is a 3-way system with a 1-inch Beryllium tweeter.  Beryllium is a rare earth metal that provides 4.5 times the stiffness of aluminum or titanium and three times more damping and at half of the weight. “So, stiffer, lighter and more damping is really the ultimate in sound performance,” said Harman VP and GM Global Car Audio Services, Jeff Fay who called Beryllium tweeters “the centerpiece of the ARENA automotive loudspeakers series.”

ARENA X speakers also use JBL’s horn waveguide that literally guides the sound waves from the tweeter for less distortion.  The waveguide is also found on Harman’s $40K home audio systems.

The ARENA X also gets a 3-inch midrange and a 6.5-inch midrange that both use carbon fiber cones in an active system meant to be used with a DSP.  The system also includes magnetic changeable grills and mounting rings for easy installation with no visible fasteners. Shipping is expected Q1 2021 at $4999.

JBL BassPro Go

Honoree for In-Vehicle Entertainment & Safety and  Portable Media Players & Accessories

JBL BassPro Go is a powered in-vehicle subwoofer that can convert to a portable boombox Bluetooth speaker. It mounts in a vehicle with a quick release system and charges as the vehicle operates. It delivers audio on a par with an 8-inch subwoofer. “We’ve included some extra bass enhancements so it can play quite loud,” said Fay. It began shipping this month at $549.

Infinity BeTA Speakers

Honoree for In-Vehicle Entertainment & Safety

The Infinity BeTA Be621 component kit will be a new top-line system for Infinity. The two-way system includes 6.5 inch carbon fiber woofers plus Beryllium dome tweeters. The speakers also use cast basket construction and Carbon Fiber cones, and come with Bi-ampable crossover networks.  The Be621 is expected to ship in the first quarter 2021 at $1999.

Infinity Kappa Series Speakers

Honoree for In-Vehicle Entertainment & Safety

Infinity’s Kappa Series speakers include a tweeter reaching to 40kHz. They use Kappa Plus One fiberglass woofers and come in a wide range of sizes.  2” and 3” midrange speaker bandpass crossovers are available to upgrade the 5-1/4”,6- 1/2” and 6”x9” two-way component systems into three-way systems.  Shipping is expected in February 2021.

JBL DSP Amplifier

Honoree for In-Vehicle Entertainment & Safety

JBL DSP Amplifier is an audio processor for fine-tuning of aftermarket audio systems. It is a self-contained audio system with 6-channel audio inputs, 8-channel powered audio outputs, and easy to use tuning interface and detailed tuning capabilities. With a USB connection to access the tuning interface using a Windows PC, you can control fully variable crossovers, selectable 0-to-48dB slopes, time delay, 31-band parametric or graphic EQ adjustment, assignable input to output mixer with input channel summing, channel gain, master volume control, output clipping indicator and ability to save up to 10 presets. The DSP-4086 is available at $399.