Polk Audio And Digital Harmony Partner To Produce IEEE-1394 Loudspeakers

Partnership Will Result In Loudspeakers For Home Entertainment Networks

12-Jan-00

Polk Audio Inc. and Digital Harmony Technologies Inc., announced a licensing agreement that gives Polk access to Digital Harmonyís growing portfolio of loudspeaker technologies, including DHIVAô IEEE 1394 transceivers, WireFree wireless audio modules and BiDAT data-hiding transceivers. Polk plans to incorporate Digital Harmonyís networking technologies into its award-winning line of high end loudspeakers for home entertainment systems. Polk Audio, one of the most widely recognized and best selling loudspeaker brands, becomes the seventh major loudspeaker company to license Digital Harmonyís technology. Polk joins Boston Acoustics, Infinity, JBL, Linn Products, Meridian Audio and Peavey Electronics in shaping the entertainment network of tomorrow. ""Our goal is to bring customers both high performance and the latest in audio technology in a convenient, easy-to-use format. By incorporating Digital Harmony technologies, we will be able to exploit the power of 1394 connectivity to make networked home entertainment systems and digital media delivery a practical choice for performance-oriented customers."" said Mathew Polk, Chairman and founder of Polk Audio. ""Digital Harmonyís current product mix offers us the opportunity to integrate both wired and wireless networking technologies into our existing designs, as well as future products.""Polk will make use of Digital Harmonyís DHIVA IEEE 1394 transceiver modules. DHIVA is a complete hardware reference design that includes Digital Harmonyís standards-based firmware for device control and media stream manipulation. DHIVA-powered loudspeakers can be connected to Digital Harmony entertainment networks via a single 1394 cable, and can be directly connected to other DHIVA-powered audio sources and surround sound decoders made by other Digital Harmony licensees such as Denon, Onkyo and Harman/Kardon.Polk also has access to Digital Harmonyís WireFree and BiDAT modules. Digital Harmony WireFreeô is a high-quality, eight-channel wireless audio technology that is ideal for wireless loudspeakers systems. WireFree uses a patent-pending diversity technique that minimizes the multi-path interference problems found in many of todayís wireless loudspeaker designs. Digital Harmony BiDATô transceivers transmit digital signals over traditional loudspeaker or line-level signal cables. BiDAT is an inexpensive solution for adding network control and monitoring features to loudspeakers and amplifiers. ""Digital Harmony is proud to partner with Polk, one of the world's most respected loudspeaker manufacturers,"" said Greg Bartlett, President of Digital Harmony Technologies. ""The family of planned Digital Harmony audio/video products continues to grow with forward-thinking, innovative partners like Polk. Their dedication to the advancement of loudspeaker design is legendary, and we are confident that consumers will benefit from this partnership, in the form of advanced loudspeakers for the home.""For more information about Digital Harmony Technologies, visit www.digitalharmony.com. For more information about Polk Audio, visit www.polkaudio.com.

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http://www.digitalharmony.com
http://www.polkaudio.com