Who owns Classé?
Classé is owned by HARMAN (the United States), which has owned the brand since 23 September 2025.[1]
This ownership is reported in official statements but has not yet been matched to a regulatory filing.
Evidence: HARMAN Completes Sound United Acquisition to Expand Premium Audio Leadership, HARMAN International Industries, Incorporated, 23 September 2025. Last checked .
Key facts
- Current owner
- HARMAN International Industries, Incorporated reported
- Owned since
- Owner HQ
- 🇺🇸 United States, Stamford, Connecticut
- Origin
- 🇨🇦 Canada, Montréal
- Category
- Home, garden & DIY › Consumer electronics › TVs & audio
- Last verified
- · 2 sources
About Classé
Classé Audio was started in Montréal by Mike Viglas, a Greek immigrant to Québec whose expensive valve amplifier destroyed itself in front of his guests at a party, and David Reich, a young engineer building solid-state amplifiers. Their first product, the 25-watt DR-2 of 1980, ran in class A and gave the company its name. Classé still makes amplifiers and other electronics for high-end systems, its design team remains in Montréal, and its products are built at the Shirakawa Audio Works in northern Japan.
Ownership timeline of Classé
Where Classé sits in HARMAN
Controlling ownership as of . Brands grouped under the entity that owns them; large groups are collapsed.
Open the full HARMAN ownership tree →
See the full HARMAN brand portfolio (10) →
Other brands owned by HARMAN
HARMAN controls 10 brands on Brandtree, 10 of them in home, garden & diy.
Also in home, garden & diy
- AKG (1947)
- Arcam (1976)
- Boston Acoustics (1979)
- Bowers & Wilkins (1966)
- Definitive Technology (1990)
- Harman Kardon (1953)
- JBL (1946)
- Mark Levinson (1972)
- Revel (1995)
Other brands in tvs & audio, and who owns them
HARMAN has more brands in tvs & audio on Brandtree than any other owner: 10 of 35.
| Brand | Owner | Owner based in |
|---|---|---|
| Sonos | Sonos | 🇺🇸 United States |
| BlueParrott | GN Group | 🇩🇰 Denmark |
| JVC | JVCKENWOOD | 🇯🇵 Japan |
| ASTRO Gaming | Logitech | 🇨🇭 Switzerland |
| PDP | Turtle Beach | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Fusion | Garmin | 🇨🇭 Switzerland |
| Klipsch | Gentex | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Anker soundcore | Anker Innovations | 🇨🇳 China |
About the owner: HARMAN
HARMAN is a privately held company headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, United States. Brandtree records 10 brands under its control.
HARMAN designs and engineers connected products for carmakers, consumers and enterprises: car audio and infotainment systems, loudspeakers and headphones, enterprise automation and services around the Internet of Things. It says more than 50 million cars on the road carry its audio and connected car systems, and it employs about 30,000 people across the Americas, Europe and Asia. It has been a wholly-owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics since March 2017. On 23 September 2025 it completed the acquisition of Sound United, the former consumer audio business of Masimo Corporation, whose brands now run as a standalone unit inside HARMAN's Lifestyle division.
🇨🇦 Classé and other Canadian brands
Brandtree records a controlling owner for 174 brands that began in Canada. 41 of them (24%) are now controlled by a company headquartered in another country, Classé among them.
- Chalo — Empire 🇨🇦
- Farmer's Market — Loblaw 🇨🇦
- Kuny's — Hultafors Group 🇸🇪
- Sleep Country — Fairfax Financial 🇨🇦
- Air Canada — Air Canada 🇨🇦
- Air Transat — Transat 🇨🇦
Frequently asked questions
Who is the parent company of Classé?
The parent company of Classé is HARMAN, a privately held company headquartered in the United States.
Is Classé Canadian or American?
Classé originated in Canada, but it is owned today by HARMAN, which is headquartered in the United States. So Classé is a Canadian-origin brand under American ownership.
Since when has HARMAN owned Classé?
HARMAN has owned Classé since 23 September 2025.
Is Classé still owned by HARMAN?
Yes. As of 25 September 2026, Classé is still owned by HARMAN. The ownership record was last checked against primary sources on that date.
Sources (2) & corrections
Last verified . Every ownership fact above is backed by one of these primary documents. Numbers in brackets in the text refer to this list.
- [1] HARMAN Completes Sound United Acquisition to Expand Premium Audio Leadership — HARMAN International Industries, Incorporated, Official press release, published 23 September 2025; retrieved 25 September 2026.
- [2] Classé — about us — HARMAN International Industries, Incorporated, Official document; retrieved 25 September 2026.
Report a correction Opens a pre-filled GitHub issue. See our corrections policy.