Infinity Systems Prelude Forty Loudspeakers Announced

September 4, 2008 — For Immediate Release

WOODBURY, NY — In one of the most significant product introductions in the company’s history, Infinity Systems is debuting its Prelude Forty, a new flagship loudspeaker that combines striking design with exceptional sound quality. Created to commemorate the company’s 40th anniversary, the Prelude Forty features unique slim-profile styling, and incorporates the most advanced Infinity engineering innovations available to achieve extraordinary musical realism.

The Infinity Prelude Forty’s proprietary Maximum Radiating Surface (MRS) flat-panel loudspeaker technology delivers exceptional sonic accuracy, while enabling a much narrower width and slimmer profile than that of conventional loudspeakers. The Prelude Forty is created to satisfy demanding audiophiles and design-conscious consumers alike.

The Prelude Forty’s styling is totally distinctive, with a sleek, elegantly proportioned design that gradually tapers from the bottom to the top, and a front baffle that curves into the top surface. The Infinity Prelude Forty will be available in a number of attractive finishes, accented by removable black grilles.

The Prelude Forty offers an ideal combination of natural vocal and instrumental reproduction, a smooth, accurate tonal balance both on- and off-axis, precise imaging across a three-dimensional soundstage, and wide dynamic range. It faithfully reproduces the sonic environment present on the original recording.

Prelude Forty: Celebrating Forty Years of Infinity Loudspeaker Design Excellence

To achieve its unprecedented sonic accuracy and musicality, the Infinity Prelude Forty employs the company’s most advanced engineering innovations. The loudspeaker features four MRS flat-panel midrange drivers that are constructed using the company’s proprietary Ceramic Metal Matrix Diaphragm (CMMD) material, which is manufactured by anodizing a ceramic compound to both sides of a flat-panel aluminum core. This technique produces driver diaphragms of ultralow mass and ultrahigh rigidity, yielding exceptional resolution and transient response, with the inherent resonant frequency “breakup mode” of the driver moved well outside its audible range. Further reducing the possibility of diaphragm breakup, raised ribs, as well as gussets (indentations along the edges of the panel) are incorporated into the diaphragm to increase rigidity.

The MRS driver’s tall and narrow rectangular shape maximizes (by having less unused baffle space) the sound-radiating surface area available on the loudspeakers, allowing a slim front-panel design. In addition, the driver’s shape provides a smooth radiation pattern in the horizontal plane while minimizing floor and ceiling reflections, for precise imaging and an expansive, realistic soundstage over a wide listening area.

The MRS driver incorporates a host of additional refinements. It uses two large elliptical voice coils, rather than a single conventional round voice coil, with powerful rectangular neodymium magnets. This provides maximum contact and superior coupling between the voice coils and the diaphragm, resulting in increased efficiency and dynamic capability, superior transient response, and additional sonic benefits.

Another key engineering feature of the MRS driver is its unique Same-Plane Surround suspension. In a conventional-cone driver, the outer edge of the cone and the surround are located on a different geometric plane than the voice coil — a configuration that can cause the cone to rock back and forth as it moves, creating audible distortions. The MRS driver’s Same-Plane Surround technology eliminates this effect by placing the edge of the MRS diaphragm and its surround on the same plane as the driving force from the voice coil.

The MRS driver’s technical and design breakthroughs enable it to operate more like an ideal pistonic radiator, with more accurate time alignment than that provided by cone loudspeakers, for unmatched clarity and image specificity.

The Prelude Forty features a CMMD tweeter with frequency response that extends beyond 40kHz for remarkably open and detailed high-frequency reproduction. The tweeter operates in conjunction with a patent-pending cast-aluminum Constant Acoustic Impedance (CAI) waveguide, which utilizes a series of computer-designed, graduated curves that flare from the inside to the outside of the waveguide to provide optimal on- and off-axis high-frequency dispersion and smoothness, in addition to higher sensitivity and a more seamless blend with the woofers and midrange drivers.

The loudspeaker employs dual 8-inch CMMD woofers that incorporate 2-inch-diameter edge-wound ribbon voice coils, high-Gauss neodymium magnets, cast-aluminum frames and other refinements for high output with minimal distortion. The woofers are placed opposite each other in a side-firing arrangement, a design that enables the internal acoustic output from each woofer to cancel each other out within the enclosure, yielding articulate and authoritative low-frequency response. It also improves the structural integrity of the enclosure.

The Prelude Forty utilizes a 3-1/2-way crossover network that allows the midrange drivers to operate in different frequency ranges, which provides a smoother transition between all drivers for a more balanced sound across a wider listening area. The loudspeaker utilizes premium-grade internal components, including oxygen-free-copper wiring, three separate crossover circuit boards, low-inductance resistors, audiophile-grade capacitors and laminated-steel inductors. Its enclosure is extensively braced to reduce internal resonances to below audibility. The Prelude Forty employs room-friendly design principles to ensure it will deliver sonically accurate performance in the widest variety of listening environments and placement positions.

The Infinity Prelude Forty loudspeaker will be available in three attractive finishes: high-gloss black, real-wood cherry and rosewood. The Prelude Forty will begin shipping in September 2008 at a suggested retail price of $6,000 each.

About Infinity Systems

Infinity Systems is a unit of Harman International Industries, Incorporated (www.harman.com). Harman International designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of audio and infotainment products for the automotive, consumer and professional markets, and maintains a strong presence in the Americas, Europe and Asia, employing more than 11,000 people worldwide. The Harman International family of brands includes AKG, Audioaccess, Becker, BSS, Crown, dbx, DigiTech, Harman Kardon, Infinity, JBL, Lexicon, Mark Levinson, Revel, QNX, Soundcraft and Studer. Harman International’s stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “NYSE: HAR.”

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Infinity, Prelude, CMMD (patent nos. 6,327,372 and 6,404,897), AKG, Audioaccess, Becker, BSS, Crown, dbx, DigiTech, Harman Kardon, JBL, Lexicon, Mark Levinson, Revel, QNX, Soundcraft and Studer are trademarks of Harman International Industries, Incorporated, registered in the United States and/or other countries. Maximum Radiating Surface (patent pending), MRS, Constant Acoustic Impedance and CAI are trademarks of Harman International Industries, Incorporated.

© 2008 Harman International Industries, Incorporated. All rights reserved.