WORLD CUP OPENING CEREMONY GETS "SIRIUS" WITH JBL VERTEC® LINE ARRAY SYSTEMS

Sirius Showequipment a.g. of Frankfurt, Germany deploys
massive JBL VT4889 line array system on custom carts for
world's number one sports event.

NORTHRIDGE, CALIFORNIA, June 19, 2006 -- The 18th FIFA
(Federation Internationale de Football Assocation) World Cup™
got underway at the 66,000-seat Allianz Arena Stadium in
Munich, Germany with a colorful, imaginative opening ceremony.
A 37-minute multimedia theatrical production contrasted
contemporary rhythms with contemplative segments. Germany,
the host nation, chose to portray both traditional and modern
aspects of its character, as Bavarian folk musicians, hiphop
dancers and rap artists shared the stage with 120 world-beat
drummers and percussionists. Sound reinforcement services
for the global event were provided by Sirius Showequipment
a.g. of Frankfurt.

The FIFA World Cup was first established in 1924 and has
grown into the world's most popular sports event. Global
television broadcasts brought the opening ceremony to more
than 200 nations, with a world-wide viewing audience of
1.5 million persons.

A ceremonial highlight for this production featured super model
Claudia Schiffer and Brazilian soccer legend Pele, who brought
the FIFA World Cup Trophy into the stadium to a standing
ovation from the capacity crowd. One hundred seventy former
FIFA World Cup winners then entered the Arena, with large-
screen video support playing memorable scenes from previous
matches. German Federal President Horst K–hler officially
declared the 2006 FIFA World Cup open, prior to the opening
match between Germany and Costa Rica.

"A world-class production like this leaves no room for error,"
advised Wolfgang "Schabbach" Neumann, audio crew chief
for the event, which included 12 technicians plus supporting
stagehands. "Pre-planning, reliable equipment and well-trained
crews are critical to success on stadium events like this."

Sirius Showequipment, with supporting equipment and crew
from regional VERTEC® system owner Crystal Sound, was
required to pre-stage the entire portable sound system, and
craft a logistics and technical plan that would move the entire
sound reinforcement system onto and away from the arena
field while preserving critical competition playing greens.

"We relied on a total of 13 mobile carts, each fitted with four
VT4889 line array elements," noted Neumann. "A compact
rack with Crown MA-5002VZ amplifiers was coupled to each
cart-based array. We've been extremely satisfied with the
Crown/JBL combination, having used it now for a broad variety
of concerts, special events and multimedia productions
throughout Europe and North Africa."

With minimal time to remove the system prior to the start of the
first soccer match, the audio team rehearsed the system setup
and takeout on custom carts with the same precision required
of performing artists in the complex, choreographed ceremony.
System engineers for the World Cup Opening Ceremony were
Klaus "Bob" Bolender and Christian Kimmig; Holger Munz
handled the foldback monitor systems, with Patrick Eckerlin
responsible for front-of-house mixing duties.

"Leading rental sound and audio production compa- nies like
Sirius Showequipment provide invaluable input to JBL's ongoing
product development process," noted David Scheirman, Vice
President, Tour Sound for JBL Professional. "Demanding
applications like the FIFA World Cup Opening Ceremony
demand the highest level of professionalism from sound designers and the supporting audio crew, but they also create
a tremendous level of performance expectation for loudspeaker
systems. We're honored to see JBL's VERTEC line array system
products being specified and used by these consummate
professionals for the world's leading sports event."

Sirius Showequipment a.g. can be reached on the worldwide
web http://www.sirius-ag.net/

About JBL Professional:
Headquartered in Northridge, California, JBL Professional is
the world's leading designer, manufacturer, and marketer of
professional loudspeakers for recording and broadcast,
musician, cinema, touring sound, commercial sound and
contracting applications. Celebrating its 60th Anniversary in
2006, JBL Professional is the proud recipient of the 2005
Technical GRAMMY^® award. JBL Professional is part of the
Harman International network of professional and consumer
audio companies. For complete product and company
information, go to the JBL Professional website at
www.jblpro.com.

About The Harman Pro Group:
Headquartered in Northridge, California, the Harman Pro
Group is part of Harman International Industries, Incorporated
(www.harman.com), a leading manufacturer of high-quality,
high fidelity audio products and infotainment systems for the
automotive, home and professional markets. The Company's
stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the
symbol: HAR. Harman Pro Group companies include AKG
Acoustics, BSS Audio, dbx, Crown International, JBL
Professional, Lexicon, Soundcraft, and Studer.