The sound in a BMW, a JBL speaker or a Harman Kardon soundbar comes from one company, and that company has now signed with Walton. At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas — where Walton was the first Bangladeshi exhibitor — Walton Hi-Tech Industries agreed a deal with Harman, the audio group owned by Samsung, to put Harman-engineered sound systems into Walton televisions.
Who Harman is
Harman International makes the audio for most premium car brands — BMW, Mercedes, Toyota’s Lexus — and owns the consumer brands JBL, AKG, Harman Kardon and Mark Levinson. Samsung bought it for $8 billion in 2017 and has since used it to tune the sound of its own televisions and phones. The company ran its own showcase during CES at the Virgin Hotel rather than on the main floor; it was there that the Walton agreement was signed. Johnny Williams, general manager of Harman’s Kardon division, said the company is working on sound quality well beyond conventional speaker systems.
What the deal covers
“We will work jointly with Harman on the sound technology of Walton televisions,” said Golam Murshed, Walton Hi-Tech’s managing director and chief executive. “Beyond software and hardware, a large part will be research-centred. I believe it will make the experience of watching a Walton television better for customers, and we will try to use this sound technology in other Walton products in future.” The signing was attended by Mostafa Nahid Hossain, chief business officer of Walton’s television division, Tasriqul Islam, vice-president of Walton USA, and Oliver Bordeau, Harman’s sales director.
Why it matters
Television sound is the part most buyers notice and most makers neglect; a thin panel has no room for good speakers, and the difference between a cheap set and a good one is increasingly the software that shapes the sound. Licensing a name like Harman is how mid-market brands — TCL, Hisense, Vizio — have closed the gap with Sony and Samsung, and it is a marker of a company that intends to sell outside its home market. Walton, which already exports refrigerators and compressors to more than 40 countries, has said openly that CES was about the United States.
For the buyer in Bangladesh
Expect Harman-branded audio to appear first on Walton’s larger and more expensive sets — the 55-inch and above 4K models — later in 2023, at a premium over today’s prices. The tuning is the valuable part; the badge on the bezel is the sign that it is there. Whether it reaches the 32-inch sets that most households actually buy is the question worth asking in the showroom.
