Red Dot Bestows Design Excellence Award on the d&b D80 AmplifierThe Design Zentrum Nordrhein-Westfalen in Essen, Germany, has been recognizing design innovation since 1955, this was rebranded the Red Dot. The awards recognize product design at the start of the new millennium. Function, environmental impact, and the degree of innovation are just some of the evaluation criteria. As the years ticked by, it has evolved into a leading international product award: For 2014, no less than 400 international experts discussed and evaluated 4,815 submissions from 53 countries. The jury only bestows the award on the design that captures the imagination through the standard of workmanship and sheer innovation. "If nothing else, this is reflected by the actual number of designs that win the Red Dot Award," states professor Dr. Peter Zec, initiator and CEO of Red Dot, "compared to other international design competitions, it's far fewer." This year it was the design of the d&b audiotechnik D80 amplifier that won over the 40-strong jury of experts, to achieve winner status. Red Dot describes the D80 as a four-channel Class D amplifier with digital signal processing providing loudspeaker specific configurations, user-definable equalization and delay functions combined with comprehensive management and protection functionality. The TFT color display allows for quick access to all settings, while data input is managed via the rotary encoder on the front panel. For easier operation, the front panel with integrated display is tilted upwards. According to the jury, the high performance D80 amplifier won the award for its outstanding user-friendliness, "All functions can easily be set via the touchscreen and the rotary knob." From the very first concept board, the d&b development team had extraordinary partners at their side: BTism Mediendesign in Köln and Botta-Design from Taunusstein, west of Frankfurt. Drawing on their partners' input and the results of their own research, the d&b design team, Christoph Kluck, responsible for software, Fritz W. Wurster, responsible for design, and Claus Renftle, responsible for electronics, ensured every single detail was just the way it should be. An exhibition of award winners opened on July 7, 2014 as part of the traditional Red Dot Gala in the Red Dot Design Museum Essen. The award winning D80 will be on display to the general public for four weeks before it moves to the permanent exhibition at the museum. To find out more go to the URL below. 
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