WhereIsAtlas · Audio equipment

Harman Kardon

Two men walked out of a public-address company in 1953 with $5,000 each and built the world's first integrated hi-fi receiver — the company is now a brand inside a Samsung subsidiary

Active — Harman Kardon is an American audio brand founded in 1953 in Westbury, New York, by Sidney Harman and Bernard Kardon. It produced the Festival D-1000 in 1954, described as the world's first integrated hi-fi receiver. The company became the core of Harman International, which bought JBL in 1969, was sold to Beatrice Foods in the 1970s, was repurchased by Harman in 1980, and has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics since March 2017. In September 2025 Harman added the Sound United brands, including Denon, Marantz and Bowers & Wilkins.

Sidney Harman's first job after college was at the David Bogen Company, where he worked as an engineer designing public-address systems. He stayed 14 years, moving from engineer to sales manager and, by the 1950s, to general manager of the firm.

Harman wanted Bogen to develop an improved audio system for American consumers. Bogen was not interested. So in 1953 Harman resigned — and took his boss with him: Bernard Kardon, Bogen's chief designer. They named the new company Harman/Kardon Inc., each put in $5,000 of capital, and opened a production facility in Westbury, New York.

The first products arrived a year later, in 1954. One was the A-100, a seven-tube AM/FM tuner with automatic frequency control, priced at $70.50. The other was the Festival D-1000, a receiver priced at $189.50 that combined a wide-bandwidth FM tuner, a preamplifier and a 20-watt amplifier with automatic loudness control on a single chassis. It is generally described as the world's first integrated hi-fi receiver.

The point of the D-1000 was that it let someone play radio and records at high fidelity by attaching speakers, with no separate components to choose or match. Listeners had not heard anything like it. Harman's own account of the reaction was that they "knocked the hell out of them" — that people were "trembling with Shostakovich's Fifth."

The company grew quickly. By 1956 it was worth $600,000. By 1957 it offered console receivers, stand-alone tuners, amplifiers and a range of integrated receivers across three price tiers, and it backed everything with an unconditional one-year guarantee on parts and labour. Bernard Kardon retired in 1957. In 1958 Harman introduced the Festival TA-230, the first high-fidelity simulcast stereo receiver, which produced stereo by taking one channel from the AM band and one from FM — a workaround from before FM stereo broadcasting existed. In 1959, two years before the FCC formally approved FM multiplex stereo, the company was already selling the MA-250 multiplex adapter. Its Citation II amplifier that year offered 60 watts per channel from 18 to 60,000 Hz.

In 1969 Harman bought JBL, the loudspeaker manufacturer, beginning the transformation of a hi-fi maker into a portfolio of audio brands. In 1970 it introduced the CAD5, described as the first stereophonic cassette deck with Dolby B noise reduction. In 1980 it released the Citation XX, a high-current amplifier designed by the Finnish engineer Matti Otala, who had identified transient intermodulation distortion a decade earlier.

The corporate history is as turbulent as the engineering history is distinguished. When Sidney Harman was appointed Under Secretary of Commerce in the Carter administration, US law required appointees to have no direct business interests in day-to-day activities, so he sold the company to the conglomerate Beatrice Foods for $100 million. Beatrice promptly sold off large parts of it, including the original Harman Kardon division, and by 1980 only about 60 per cent of the original company remained. After the Carter years Harman bought Harman International back from Beatrice for $55 million — but the receiver group, the heart of the business, was not in the deal, because Beatrice had already sold it to the Japanese company Shin-Shirasuna. Harman had to buy it back separately in 1985 to restore the company to its pre-1976 shape.

By 1991 Harman International was an inefficient collection of loosely related companies selling to separate groups of loyal customers, stretched across 21 divisions. Harman merged them into five units and eliminated duplicated functions such as accounting. The results were immediate: the company went from a $19.8 million loss on $587 million of sales in fiscal 1991 to a $3.5 million profit on $605 million of sales in fiscal 1992.

In March 2017 Harman became a wholly owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics. In September 2025 it completed the acquisition of Sound United, the former consumer audio business of Masimo, adding Bowers & Wilkins, Denon, Marantz, Polk Audio, Definitive Technology, Boston Acoustics, HEOS and Classé to a portfolio that already included JBL, AKG, Infinity, Lexicon, Mark Levinson and Revel. More than 50 million cars on the road carry Harman audio or connected-car systems.

So the company two men started with $10,000 between them, in a rented facility in Westbury, now sits inside a Korean electronics conglomerate and owns a remarkable share of the world's premium audio brands. The D-1000 is a museum piece. The business it founded is a division of Samsung.

Timeline

1953 — Two men leave Bogen: Sidney Harman resigns from the David Bogen Company and takes its chief designer, Bernard Kardon, with him; each invests $5,000 in a new company in Westbury, New York. (Westbury, NY)
1954 — The first products: The seven-tube A-100 AM/FM tuner sells for $70.50 and the Festival D-1000 receiver for $189.50 — described as the world's first integrated hi-fi receiver.
1956 — Worth $600,000: Three years after founding, the company is valued at $600,000.
1957 — Kardon retires: Bernard Kardon leaves the company; Harman continues to build it into a consumer audio group.
1958 — Simulcast stereo: The Festival TA-230 takes one channel from AM and one from FM to produce stereo before FM multiplex broadcasting existed.
1959 — Ahead of the FCC: The MA-250 multiplex adapter ships two years before the FCC approves FM multiplex stereo; the Citation II offers 60 watts per channel to 60,000 Hz.
1969 — JBL is acquired: Harman buys the loudspeaker maker JBL, starting the transformation into a portfolio of audio brands.
1970 — Dolby B on cassette: The CAD5 is described as the first stereophonic cassette deck with Dolby B noise reduction.
1976 — Sold to Beatrice Foods: To take a post in the Carter administration without a conflict of interest, Harman sells the company to Beatrice Foods for $100 million.
1980 — Bought back, but not whole: Harman repurchases Harman International from Beatrice for $55 million; the receiver group is missing, having been sold to Shin-Shirasuna.
1985 — The receiver group returns: Harman buys the receiver group back and restores the company to its pre-1976 shape.
1991 — Twenty-one divisions: The group is restructured from 21 loose divisions into five, turning a $19.8m loss into a $3.5m profit the following year.
Mar 2017 — Samsung buys Harman: Harman International becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics.
Sep 2025 — Sound United is added: Harman completes the acquisition of Sound United from Masimo, adding Denon, Marantz, Bowers & Wilkins, Polk Audio and others.

Quick facts

Founded: 1953, Westbury, New York
Founders: Sidney Harman and Bernard Kardon
Where they came from: the David Bogen Company, a maker of public-address systems
Starting capital: $5,000 each, so $10,000 in total
First products, 1954: the A-100 AM/FM tuner at $70.50 and the Festival D-1000 receiver at $189.50
The D-1000: generally described as the world's first integrated hi-fi receiver
Kardon retired: 1957
1958: the Festival TA-230, the first hi-fi simulcast stereo receiver
1959: the Citation II, 60 watts per channel, 18 to 60,000 Hz
1969: Harman bought JBL
1970: the CAD5, the first stereo cassette deck with Dolby B
Sold: to Beatrice Foods for $100 million
Repurchased: Harman International bought back for $55 million in 1980
1985: the receiver group bought back from Shin-Shirasuna
1991-92: 21 divisions consolidated into five; a $19.8m loss became a $3.5m profit
Parent: Samsung Electronics, wholly owned since March 2017
2025: Harman acquired Sound United, adding Denon, Marantz and Bowers & Wilkins
Reach: more than 50 million cars carry Harman audio or connected-car systems

Lineage — where the name went

Two men left one company together in 1953. Everything that follows — the world's first integrated receiver, JBL, a sale to a food conglomerate and a buyback — descends from that walkout.

Sidney Harman served under David Bogen Company (rose from engineer to general manager over 14 years)
Bernard Kardon served under David Bogen Company (chief designer)
1953 — Sidney Harman founded Harman/Kardon
1953 — Bernard Kardon founded Harman/Kardon (each invested $5,000)
1954 — Harman/Kardon created A-100 tuner
1954 — Harman/Kardon created Festival D-1000 (the world's first integrated hi-fi receiver)
1969 — Sidney Harman acquired JBL (the first step from one brand to a portfolio)
1976 — Sidney Harman sold Beatrice Foods ($100 million, to clear a conflict of interest)
1980 — Sidney Harman acquired Harman International (bought back for $55 million)
2017 — Samsung Electronics acquired Harman International (Harman became a wholly owned subsidiary)
2025 — Harman International acquired Sound United (Denon, Marantz, Bowers & Wilkins and others)
David Bogen Company was ancestor of Harman/Kardon (the company both founders left)

Entities in this tree: David Bogen Company (company); Sidney Harman (person); Bernard Kardon (person, 1914); Harman/Kardon (company, 1953); A-100 tuner (product, 1954); Festival D-1000 (product, 1954); JBL (company, 1946); Beatrice Foods (company); Harman International (company); Samsung Electronics (company); Sound United (company)

Sources

Harman Kardon — Wikipedia (2026-09-19)
HARMAN Completes Sound United Acquisition to Expand Premium Audio Leadership — HARMAN International (via Business Wire) (2026-09-19)
The Harman Kardon Saga — Harman Kardon (2026-09-19)
FESTIVAL D1000 — Harman Kardon Support (2026-09-19)

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