August 31, 2007
Home Electronics |
| Announcement |
IFA2007 – With the concept “Live your music,” KENWOOD will reveal its
concepts of “high quality” and “seamlessness” even more clearly
KENWOOD will display a group of high value-added products including a new model in the pure audio Kseries,
an AV control center with pure audio performance and a digital wireless system that can transmit music in high quality and wirelessly |
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| KENWOOD Corporation (President and CEO: Kazuo Shiohata, Head Office: Hachioji, Tokyo) is pleased to announce that it will showcase a group of new, high value-added home electronic products, which will reveal even more clearly its initiatives for “high quality” and a “seamless entertainment” by fusing sound and wireless communication at IFA2007 (Berlin International Consumer Electronics Exhibition), to be held in Berlin between August 31 and September 5. |
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| Background to IFA2007 exhibition and the exhibition concept “Live your music”: To have people enjoy their favorite music in high sound quality, easily, anywhere, and anytime |
The waves of recent digitalization have brought big changes to the audio market. Thanks to the spread of HDDs and flash memories, users are now able to record a large quantity of music on items such as DAPs, and carry it around to easily enjoy it, anywhere and anytime. This increases the support for a culture to enjoy music, and needs to have good sound have been increasing steadily.
Since its inception in 1946, KENWOOD has always pursued high-quality sound by adopting the concept of “reproduction of original sound.” In recent years, anticipating a change in the market, KENWOOD has made efforts to develop products and technologies that aim to reproduce high quality sound befitting the digital media age, by fusing KENWOOD’s traditional sound quality technology and know-how with the latest digital technology, and to bring about a “Seamless Entertainment” by integrating both the home and car electronics that it proposed for the first time at IFA in 2003.
In this light, at IFA2007 KENWOOD will upgrade and expand its line-up of high-quality sound models befitting the digital media age, and display an AV control center with improved pure audio performance and a USB host function allowing connection of USB devices. KENWOOD will also showcase a digital wireless system that can transmit music from a PC or a DAP to audio equipment in high quality and wirelessly, as a proposal that only an audio manufacturer with wireless technology can make. These products clearly reveal KENWOOD’s initiatives to bring about a “Seamless Entertainment.” |
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| Main Features of KENWOOD’s Exhibits at IFA2007 |
| (1) A new model of pure audio from the Kseries, which has been enjoying high market recognition in Japan and abroad |
KENWOOD will display a new model Kseries, which has been enjoying high market recognition for its sound quality in Japan and abroad since its launch in 2004, and which you could say has led the charge of the current "high sound quality" models.
KENWOOD will display a built-in all-in-one CD receiver & speaker, which is set to be launched in Japan and abroad, and a separate amplifier & CD player & speaker as product samples.
The new model from the Kseries has improved sound reproduction functions to catch the tides of change in sound media. KENWOOD’s unique high quality sound technology, Supreme EX, is used in the Kseries Esule, which was launched at the end of last year and whose sound reproducing capabilities became the topic of conversation. Supreme EX has evolved as a high quality sound conversion technology and it can reproduce harmonics over 20kHz. Harmonics in this range are usually removed when creating CDs, but including them brings the sound close to the original sound by fine signal addition, which has been made possible for music files (such as MP3, WMA, and AAC files) recorded on a CD using a personal computer. The beautiful sounds of live musical instruments that must have been present in the original music are faithfully reproduced in this way, as is the sound of the place where the music was recorded, by reproducing high bandwidth signals such as those found in the airy atmosphere of a concert hall. |
| (2) AV Control Center with USB host function, which has improved pure audio performance |
Traditionally, it has been said that the sound quality of music (on CDs) reproduced on an AV control center is inferior to that of a stereo amplifier because the former has multiple functions to handle images and various surround modes; some users even use an AV control center and a stereo amplifier depending on their purpose. To resolve this problem, KENWOOD has created an all-in-one function that plays two roles, called Pure Audio Mode. It is a unique reproduction mode that can reproduce music at a quality equivalent to that of a stereo amplifier.
In addition, the top-range model is equipped with USB terminals and has a USB host function* to meet the requirements of DAP users, who have rapidly increased in number in recent years, to enjoy a music library in good sound quality and indoors.
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USB host function: A function to control peripheral equipment connected to the USB terminals as a “parent.” |
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| (3) Digital wireless system that transmits music from a PC or a DAP** to audio equipment in high quality |
Anticipating the spread of new media, KENWOOD will display a digital wireless system that transmits music from items such as DAPs to audio equipment in high quality and wirelessly, as a system that reveals even more clearly a “Seamless Entertainment” by integrating both the home and car electronics that KENWOOD proposed for the first time at IFA in 2003.
A product using this system, which has already been launched in Japan, is set to be launched in Europe at the end of September. In the booths at IFA2007, people will be able to actually experience the convenience of SLG-7, a wireless system that transfers signals digitally and in high quality with little deterioration of sound quality, by using this product equipped with two types of input terminals, a USB audio terminal and an analog input terminal.
At IFA2007, along with these products KENWOOD will also display many other items including a USB-enabled micro stereo system, which has been commercialized for overseas markets, and a USB-enabled car audio system, which has been enjoying high market recognition since its launch last year. KENWOOD aims to provide products with which people can easily enjoy the “Seamless Entertainment” in good sound quality and regardless of whether they are outdoors, indoors, or at work. KENWOOD will also offer the discoveries and inspiration that these products lead to.
KENWOOD will develop new areas of “sound entertainment” befitting the digital and network age by realizing a new seamless entertainment environment that connects home audio, portable audio and car electronics through digital media, as the only dedicated acoustic manufacturer comprised of three business units: Home Electronics, Car Electronics and Communications (Wireless Equipment). |
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| KENWOOD Group is "Reaching out to discover, inspire and enhance the enjoyment of life" as part of its bold, new vision for the future. As a leader in the field of "Mobile & Home Multimedia Systems", KENWOOD is comprised of three businesses (Car Electronics, Communications Equipment and Home Electronics), 11 domestic and 25 overseas subsidiaries around the world. |
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