Harmon/Samsung completed the purchase of Sound United from Masimo corporation yesterday, after the monopolies commision approved the transaction. Harmon say they will keep the identities as they are now. How long this will last is anyone's guess. It seems to me that some degree of consolidation would make sense. For instance I can not see it makes sense to have both Marantz and Denon. A merging of those seems logical to me.
I think their pressing problem is to get Sound United actually functioning again. My recent warranty experience with Marantz suggests many critical employees are either AWOL or dismissed. We had a new member yesterday having difficulty getting warranty service from an almost new upper end Denon receiver. My sense is that Sound United have become really run down, and Harmon have some urgent work to do.
The only thing I would say is that Sound United can't get much worse and urgent heavy lifting is required on the part of Harmon/Samsung to make Sound United a viable acquisition.
