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Origin Acoustics Tackles Market at Both Ends

Origin Acoustics is embarking on two new initiatives, one aimed at more widespread consumer adoption and another at the “no-compromise” high-end of the market.

Origin Acoustics is embarking on two new initiatives, one aimed at more widespread consumer adoption and another at the “no-compromise” high-end of the market.

The first is built around incorporating the power of the Amazon Echo Dot into multiroom audio systems. Utilizing the company’s tool-less ceiling speaker mounting system, Dot units are mounted into the ceiling and connected to the company’s new Valet amplifiers via category cable. “If you look at how much the industry’s going to change over the next few years, why would we try as an industry to latch onto one of the hottest selling consumer products and leverage ourselves with a multichannel amplifier?” said Jeremy Burkhardt, CEO of Origin Acoustics. “You can at it as a channel and say, there’s 35 million people out there that have these in their house.”

Jeremy Burkhardt of Origin Acoustics (right) with Joe Whitaker, co-developer of the new Architectural Voice Control solution that pairs ceiling-mounted Amazon Echo Dots with the company’s new Valet multichannel amplifiers.

Using an active override technology, users of this solution can, for example, ask Alexa for more information on something they’re watching on TV. The system will then mute the TV audio, play the reply to the query, then resume the TV’s audio after the message is complete. “If we look where AI is going and how it’s changing, we can buck it or we can ride with it,” Burkhardt said. “I’m excited to offer a way for existing dealers to make more money today.”

Origin also announced its Cinema Design Services and Products offering, which aims to provide high-end, optimized home theater audio for spaces with less-than-ideal acoustics. The service involves complete audio design and consultation, involving an app that sweeps the space and sends data on its characteristics to the company, allowing for customized solutions to be engineered. With this information, Origin can supply the client with speakers from its new Marquee Cinema Collection, and acoustic treatments via its partnership with acoustic décor provider Art Novion.

Other new introductions include two new Composer Soundbar solutions—including a traditional bar and a three-piece LCR system—Deep Subwoofers, which are designed to stand out as pieces of furniture (not just big, black boxes), and new midseason updates to its Director and Composer lines of architectural speakers that are thinner and easier to install. Finally, furthering its partnership with Bang & Olufsen, the company is debuting the Terrestrial line of modular line array speakers for outdoor applications.

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