HARMAN says it has closed its acquisition of Sound United, adding Denon, Marantz, Bowers & Wilkins, and more to its Lifestyle Division. Sound United will operate as a standalone strategic business unit (SBU) inside HARMAN. “This transaction unlocks meaningful growth opportunities for everyone,” said Dave Rogers, president of HARMAN Lifestyle.
For AVR buyers, the near‑term plan is continuity. “For the foreseeable future—say six months to a year—there’s going to be very little change,” Rogers told me. “Distribution, customer service…supply chain…[and] sales teams are going to remain separate—truly run as an independent business under the Lifestyle umbrella.” He added, “I don’t foresee…one, two, three years down the road…a mass consolidation. We’d look to continue to keep that diversified distribution strategy.”
On category focus, Rogers put Denon and Marantz front and center alongside Arcam. “In the AVR space…there is some overlap in terms of pricing. But the products are different. They sit in the marketplace today and compete against each other. We don’t see that changing.”
HEOS remains a pillar for multiroom and CI. “Initially, we’re going to continue to support [HEOS] in a big way,” Rogers said. HARMAN will also maintain its own platform while the combined teams evaluate interoperability: “How do Roon and HEOS fit into those devices? They’re going to be there.”
Roon stays premium and independent. “The three founders are still running the business. It operates independently within HARMAN,” Rogers said. He highlighted RAAT as its multiroom core and noted that Roon’s certification lab “move to our office in Richardson, Texas.” He also said the team “could launch a new product in the spring of next year.”
Brand architecture matters here. Bowers & Wilkins is the crown jewel on the loudspeaker side, and Rogers underscored why: “Bowers…European‑design loudspeakers have a different sonic signature…They sit in different places and…have a different appeal.” Polk Audio and Definitive Technology fill the lifestyle and home‑theater lanes, pairing naturally with Denon and Marantz AVRs across a wide range of rooms and budgets.
Rogers said HARMAN will use scale where it helps without flattening identities. “One of the early ideas is we’d put our engineers together and learn from the great team in Japan…same thing in Worthing [U.K.]…[and] with the team in Northridge in the luxury space.” Expect knowledge‑sharing across high‑end electronics and software stacks more than wholesale rebranding.
Retail signals point the same way: incremental expansion, familiar names. “We also launched a JBL…line of AVRs…at Best Buy,” Rogers said—another lane for HEOS/Roon‑ready systems while Denon and Marantz continue to carry the enthusiast and CI load.
Bottom line for Sound & Vision readers: Denon and Marantz keep their lanes and compete on merit; HEOS remains the go‑to multiroom fabric with Roon positioned for higher‑end use; Polk and Definitive Technology stay lifestyle and home‑theater friendly; Bowers & Wilkins sits at the top of the pyramid. The SBU model—and the “very little change” timeline—suggests steady roadmaps first, careful integration second.
