At CEDIA Expo/CIX 2025, Jim Garrett of Harman Luxury Audio Group was a guest amid the noise and energy on the show floor Convo by design Presenter Josh Cooperman in the Volkswagen ID. Buzz “Podcast Van” for a conversation about the state of the audio industry, design integration, and how technology continues to transform the home environment.
Garrett, senior director of product strategy and planning at Harman Luxury Audio, oversees the direction of high-end brands such as Arcam, JBL, JBL Synthesis, Revel and Mark Levinson. He noted that this year was particularly unique for Harman as the company exhibited alongside its parent company Samsung, resulting in one of the largest booths at the show. The collaboration reflected a broader industry trend toward unified ecosystems in home entertainment and control.
“They’ll tell you exactly what’s on their mind,” Garrett said. “They’ll tell you how much they love it — and how you can make it better.”
He emphasized that open feedback from integrators helps Harman refine designs and address real-world installation challenges. “This is a team effort,” he explained. “They don’t win without us, and we don’t win without them.”
This feedback also highlights one of Garrett's biggest priorities: balancing performance and aesthetics.
“Technology should be there, but it should be invisible behind the scenes,” he said.
Garrett described the industry's ongoing efforts to minimize what he called “wall acne”—visible control panels and speaker grilles that disrupt carefully designed interiors. Harman's development of thinner, hidden and even invisible speakers reflects the evolution of lighting design from bulky fixtures to discreet, minimalist accents.
The conversation also moved outdoors, where Garrett said the conversation increasingly shifted. Harman works with Samsung weatherproof patio displays and JBL Professional landscape speakers to deliver audio and video that blend into gardens and patios. Garrett noted that entertainment spaces, whether indoors or outdoors, have become gathering spaces rather than isolated theaters — due in part to lifestyle changes resulting from the pandemic.
“A lot of people don’t really know what good is because they’ve never heard it,” Garrett said. “CEDIA is about awareness – showing what’s possible in terms of performance, design and simplicity.”
For both Cooperman and Garrett, the insight was clear: technology in the modern home isn't just about sound and vision – it's about experience, invisibility and connection.