Jbl

JBL was founded in 1946 by James Bullough Lansing . JBL products are high-end speakers and related electronics . There are two divisions of this company: JBL Consumer and JBL Professional. The first one produces audio equipment for home use, the second one - professional equipment for recording studios, sound engineers, DJs, etc. Portable speakers are also produced (JBL Flip, JBL Charge, etc.). James Lansing founded JBL a year after leaving Altec Lansing , previously organized in 1945. He initially developed a series of dynamic heads and related components that began to be used at home and for movie theaters . James Lansing created the famous D130 loudspeaker , which remained popular almost 55 years after its creation.

James Lansing was a high-class engineer (his authority as an acoustic engineer was very great), but a worthless businessman. The result was a deterioration in business at the company: profit disappeared, huge debts appeared, as a result of which Lansing’s nerves could not stand it, and on September 24, 1949 he hanged himself.

After Lansing's death, JBL went into the hands of Bill Thomas, then vice president of the company. Thomas proved to be more entrepreneurial, which ensured the growth and development of JBL over the next two decades. During this period, JBL has gained a reputation as a manufacturer of high-quality speaker systems for home use. Two speakers of that period, “Hartsfield” and “Paragon”, were very much in demand in their market.

In 1969, Bill Thomas sold the company to Sydney Harman of the Jervis Corporation.

By 1970, JBL was becoming a true national brand. Their L-100 speaker system became one of the best-selling at that time. In the same year, JBL began to produce a number of models of professional “monitors” and by the end of this decade, most American recording studios used JBL speakers. JBL L-100 speakers and 4310 “ monitors ” have become the most popular speaker systems.

In the 1980s, the JBL L-100, 4312 and many others were replaced with speakers with heads made of more modern materials - a multilayer composite for low-frequency heads and a titanium emitter for high-frequency heads. There were models L-80T, L-100T, L-120T and the famous L-250ti. After moving to Northridge ( California ), JBL began to use special sound-absorbing rooms to test their dynamic heads.

The next two decades, focuses its production on the mass market (a series of speakers "Northridge"). At the same time, they begin production of large High-end systems of the Everest and K2 series. JBL is rightfully becoming the leading supplier of acoustic systems for the sound industry, their speakers are used by famous rock performers on their tours , without JBL no famous music festival is unthinkable. JBL products served as the basis for the development of the THX standard used for sound in home theater systems. In addition, JBL dynamic heads are used as a basic sound installation in the cars of the world's leading automakers , including: BMW, Kia Motors, Mini, Mercedes-Benz, Harley-Davidson, Subaru and SAAB.

• jbl.com (English) - JBL official website