Harman Multimedia Announces Availability Of iSub; Unique USB Subwoofer Brings A Greater Range Of Musical Tones To iMac.

Business Editors/Technology Writers

MACWORLD Expo SF 2000, Booth no. 3418

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 5, 2000

Check out iSub in Booth no. 3418 in the Music and Audio Pavilion

Today Harman Multimedia, a division of Harman International, announced that its iSub will be available for purchase in February through the Apple Store. Designed exclusively to work with Apple's newest family of iMacs, iSub is a six-inch subwoofer with a powered 20-watt amplifier and is the only USB subwoofer available for iMac. Bearing the legendary Harman Kardon brand name, iSub features a translucent design created by Apple's world-class design team.

To use Harman's innovative new iSub simply plug it into iMac's USB port. After about three seconds iMac will automatically begin to send all the low frequency audio signals to iSub. These low frequency signals allows listeners to hear a much greater range of musical tones. In addition to filling out the musical range, iSub allows the Harman Kardon speakers in iMac to double in volume -- blasting clean, rich sound that rivals a home stereo.

"Harman Kardon has an audio heritage that is unrivaled in the acoustic world, allowing us to bring outstanding audio technology to computers," said Jim Druckrey, president of Harman Multimedia. "Using iSub with the integrated Harman Kardon speakers in iMac gives users stereo-quality audio for playing games, watching DVDs, and listening to their favorite CDs and MP3s."

"iMac is already one of the world's most popular consumer computers, and we have made it even better by adding a DVD player, faster processors, and desktop video through iMovie," said Clent Richardson, Apple's vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations. "With the addition of the Harman Kardon iSub, iMac DV users can add to those capabilities a full surround sound environment."

Prior to entering the world of computer audio, Harman's world class audio engineers discovered that the audio from most personal computers can't reproduce anything lower than 250Hz -- the equivalent of middle C on a piano. This means that music lovers listening to MP3s or CDs on their computer are missing half the fundamental tones of music. Harman Multimedia's solution to this problem is iSub, a superior-quality, visually arresting subwoofer that can go down to 44Hz. iSub also features a plug-n-play USB connection, a technology especially conducive to sound input and output.

Pricing and Availability

The iSub will be available in February through the Apple Store for U.S. MSRP $99. The iSub is designed to work exclusively on the new family of iMacs running Mac OS 9.

Harman Multimedia (www.harman-multimedia.com), a division of Harman International Industries, is the leading provider of high-fidelity audio products to major computer manufacturers. Harman International Industries, Incorporated is a leader in the design, manufacture, and marketing of high-quality, high fidelity audio products for consumer professional, and OEM markets. The Company's stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol: HAR.