BTW, I would never assign altruistic motives to any corporation, from Apple to GE to R. J. Reynolds. I would, however, assign integrity to some of the people working at these corporations, even in the.. ouch..dare I say it.. it really hurts...the marketing department. I have to believe there's at least one body with a soul in it even there.

I actually think Harman International has had some spectacularly bad leadership at the executive level, but I also see the diligence with which many others address their responsibilities.

From the time I bought my very first new pair of "real" speakers, JBL L100s in 1970, to the time I purchased the K2s, the designers, engineers, scientists, and technicians have been conscientious and accessible, helpful and encouraging, even when doing things for free and fixing problems that were mostly my fault.

Some I've met once or twice, others, I've met many times. As I wrote in my initial post in this thread, I cannot escape that bias, but I'm also not blind to it. On balance, the work Harman has done in research and development has been spot on every time I've taken the time to read and act on the findings of Welti, Toole, Timbers, Morro, Devantier, Eargle, Olive, and the rest.