Crown HiQnet Band Manager 2 Debuts at NAMM

Harman Professional hasintroduced Crown HiQnet Band Manager 2 at the NAMM Show in Anaheim. According to Andy Flint, business segment manager portable PA, Crown Audio, the introduction will make DJs, engineers and audio rental professionals more efficient and effective at their job and will enable musicians, venue owners and managers to enjoy better performance -- and better value -- from their systems investment.

"If you're going to invest in an audio system and you're genuinely interested in getting the best possible sound for your business or performance, then HiQnet Band Manager 2 is a must-have," Flint said. "HiQnet makes great systems sound even better without the hassle, without the programming and without the requisite setup time that traditionally comes with preparing for a gig!"

HiQnet Band Manager is an iteration of Harman's HiQnet system configuration and control protocol. The core systems integration and connectivity capabilities the product have been customized and packaged for the systems integration, tour sound and MI markets respectively in HiQnet System Architect; HiQnet London Architect, JBL HiQnet Performance Manager, and Crown HiQnet BandManager 2.

Band Manager 2 will include control and monitoring for Crown Audio's XTi 2 product line. Users will be able to manage up to eight XTi 2 amplifiers via USB interface. Crown will also have a new set of JBL presets for the XTi 2 product line that take full advantage of the enhanced processing and Peakx Plus limiters. HiQnet Band Manager 2 will also include presets for all the JBL JRX, MRX, SRX, and VRX product families and continued support for the original XTi Series, now discontinued.

"Our first challenge in making HiQnet Band Manager valuable was first to make it accessible," Flint notes. "We worked closely with target end-users and also modeled it on a browser paradigm and some good ideas from consumer interfaces to make Band Manager 2 easy to understand and quick to learn. We put this front-end on a powerful, scalable engine and we're offering it for free. This adds up to a very accessible, attractive proposition and I encourage NAMM goers and interested parties everywhere to download Band Manager 2 and try it for themselves."

"No other manufacturer can offer this scale of integration, system performance or price leadership," Flint adds. "In today's challenging economy, we're not simply giving more -- we're also empowering MI customers everywhere to demand more of their systems and system manufacturers! In meeting with customers and dealers around the globe, I am consistently told that the investment that HARMAN made in developing HiQnet has paid a considerable efficiency dividend to our end-users in how they do their job and craft their art. We're equally grateful for their input, ideas and adoption and we look forward to Band Manager 2 extending the franchise and usefulness to new communities going forward."