For nearly 75 years, AKG products have been synonymous with excellence and innovation in the world of professional audio. With the creation of the D12 microphone in 1953, AKG achieved international fame, setting the standard for voice transmissions. Since then, the company's renowned reputation for quality has been embraced by leading recording stars throughout the world, and AKG has continued to excel and expand in audio categories such as music, broadcasting, film, television, conferencing, home entertainment, and computing.
In 1994 Harman International acquired the company and recognized the opportunity to leverage AKG's technology and engineering expertise into complementary areas of audio. One of those being the highly challenging and competitive arena of aviation headsets. To help them impact a sector typically dominated by brands like Bose and Lightspeed, Harman called in Boombang to help weave together the AKG pedigree, superior design and ergonomics into a premium aviation headset.
Designing aviation headphones presents a very different kind of challenge than home or studio. An airplane cockpit can be a uniquely hostile environment. Long flights, stressful situations, loud noise, and a vital, sometimes critical, importance for clear communications create unique engineering obstacles. Additionally, wearing headphones for the duration of a long flight increases pilot fatigue.
For AKG, specifically, our challenge was to develop a headset that could handle the rigors of piloting an aircraft and still be comfortable, stylish, and, most of all, highly functional. With that vision in mind, we began concept exploration for the AKG aviation headset. Prototype models included features like integrated LED map lights, climate-controlled ear cups, boom-less microphone systems, silicone gel earmuffs, lightweight composite construction, and more.
After rigorous testing and refinement, we ultimately landed on the AV100 premium active noise-canceling headset, widely considered to be the most comfortable and reliable aviation headset available.
Every aspect of AV100 is meticulously crafted in Austria to take superior sound to new heights. Its ultra-soft, high-attenuation ear pads and multi-hinge-point design provide a personalized fit for each wearer. Precision transducers born from decades of AKG expertise deliver exceptional audio quality for communications and music. Active hybrid noise-cancellation technology dramatically reduces aircraft ambient sound. And a proprietary adaptive power system lets you use batteries or plug the AV100 headset straight into the aircraft—so pilots will never run out of power on long flights.
With the development of the AV100, Boombang helped launch AKG into the aviation headphone stratosphere, adding one more badge of distinction to the companies already highly decorated resume.