JBL is an American

audio equipment Audio equipment refers to devices that reproduce, record, or process sound. This includes microphones, radio receivers, AV receivers, CD players, tape recorders, amplifiers, mixing consoles, effects units, headphones, and speakers. Audio equip ...

manufacturer headquartered in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. The company was founded in 1946 by

James Bullough Lansing James Bullough Lansing (born James Martini, January 2, 1902 – September 29, 1949) was a pioneering American audio engineer and loudspeaker designer who was most notable for establishing two audio companies that bear his name, Altec Lansing an ...

, an American audio engineer and loudspeaker designer. JBL currently serves the home and professional audio markets. Their professional products include live PA systems,

studio monitors Studio monitors are loudspeakers in speaker enclosures specifically designed for professional audio production applications, such as recording studios, filmmaking, television studios, radio studios and project or home studios, where accurate ...

, and

loudspeakers A loudspeaker (commonly referred to as a speaker or, more fully, a speaker system) is a combination of one or more speaker drivers, an enclosure, and electrical connections (possibly including a crossover network). The speaker driver is an ...

for cinema. Their home products include home audio speakers, waterproof

Bluetooth speakers Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances and building personal area networks (PANs). In the most widely used mode, transmission power is li ...

, and high-end

car audio Vehicle audio is equipment installed in a car or other vehicle to provide in-car entertainment and information for the occupants. Such systems are popularly known as car stereos. Until the 1950s, it consisted of a simple AM radio. Additions si ...

. JBL is a subsidiary of

Harman International Harman International Industries, Inc., commonly known as Harman, is an American audio electronics company. Since 2017, the company has been operating as an independent subsidiary of Samsung Electronics. Headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut ...

, which is owned by

Samsung Electronics Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (SEC; stylized as SΛMSUNG; ) is a South Korean multinational major appliance and consumer electronics corporation founded on 13 January 1969 and headquartered in Yeongtong District, Suwon, South Korea. It is curr ...

History

James Bullough Lansing and his business partner Ken Decker started a company in 1927 in Los Angeles, manufacturing

speaker driver An electrodynamic speaker driver, often called simply a speaker driver when the type is implicit, is an individual transducer that converts an electrical audio signal to sound waves. While the term is sometimes used interchangeably with the te ...

s for radio consoles and radio sets. The firm was named '' Lansing Manufacturing Company'', from March 1, 1927. In 1933, head of the

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...

(MGM) sound department,

Douglas Shearer Douglas Graham Shearer (November 17, 1899 – January 5, 1971) was a Canadian American pioneering sound designer and recording director who played a key role in the advancement of sound technology for motion pictures. The elder brother of a ...

, dissatisfied with the loudspeakers of

Western Electric Western Electric Co., Inc. was an American electrical engineering and manufacturing company that operated from 1869 to 1996. A subsidiary of the AT&T Corporation for most of its lifespan, Western Electric was the primary manufacturer, supplier, ...

and

RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

, decided to develop his own. John Hilliard, Robert Stephens, and John F. Blackburn were part of the team that developed the

Shearer Horn A shearer is someone who shears, such as a cloth shearer, or a sheep shearer. Origins of the name include from near Bergen in Norway 1600s weden of that periodas ''Skea'' (pronounced "Skeg" meaning "beard") and Heddle (meaning market place) as mig ...

, with Lansing Manufacturing producing the 285

compression driver A compression driver is a small specialized diaphragm loudspeaker which generates the sound in a horn loudspeaker. It is attached to an horn (acoustic), acoustic horn, a widening duct which serves to radiate the sound efficiently into the air. ...

and the 15XS bass driver. The Shearer Horn gave the desired improvements and Western Electric and RCA received the contracts to each build 75 units. Western Electric named them ''Diaphonics'', and RCA used them in their

RCA Photophone RCA Photophone was the trade name given to one of four major competing technologies that emerged in the American film industry in the late 1920s for synchronizing electrically recorded audio to a motion picture image. RCA Photophone was an op ...

s. Lansing Manufacturing was the only firm selling them as Shearer Horns. In 1936, the Shearer Horn received the

Academy Scientific and Technical Award The Scientific and Technical Awards are three different Honorary Awards that are given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) during the annual Academy Awards season. The Awards have been presented since the 4th Academy Awards ...

from the

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., with the stated goal of adva ...

Lansing Iconic multicell horn speaker 1937

Based on the experience developed with the Shearer Horn, Lansing produced the Iconic System loudspeaker for cinemas. The Iconic was a

two-way speaker A loudspeaker (commonly referred to as a speaker or, more fully, a speaker system) is a combination of one or more speaker drivers, an enclosure, and electrical connections (possibly including a crossover network). The speaker driver is an ...

using a

woofer A woofer or bass speaker is a technical term for a loudspeaker driver designed to produce low frequency sounds, typically from 50 up to 200 Hz. The name is from the onomatopoeic English word for a dog's deep bark, " woof" (in contrast to a ' ...

for the low frequencies and a compression driver for the highs. In 1939, Decker was killed in an airplane crash. The company soon began having financial troubles. In 1941, Lansing Manufacturing Company was bought by Altec Service Corporation, after which the name changed to "

Altec Lansing Altec Lansing, Inc. is an American audio electronics company founded in 1927. Their primary products are loudspeakers and associated audio electronics for professional, home, automotive and multimedia applications. Engineers at Western Electri ...

." After Lansing's contract expired in 1946, he left Altec Lansing and founded Lansing Sound, which later changed to "James B. Lansing Sound" and was further shortened to "JBL Sound." In 1946, JBL produced their first products, the model D101 15-inch loudspeaker and the model D175 high-frequency driver. The D175 remained in the JBL catalog through the 1970s. Both of these were near-copies of Altec Lansing products. The first original product was the D130, a 15-inch transducer for which a variant remained in production for the next 55 years. The D130 featured a flat ribbon wire

voice coil A voice coil (consisting of a former, collar, and winding) is the coil of wire attached to the apex of a loudspeaker cone. It provides the motive force to the cone by the reaction of a magnetic field to the current passing through it. Th ...

and

Alnico Alnico is a family of iron alloys which, in addition to iron are composed primarily of aluminium (Al), nickel (Ni), and cobalt (Co), hence the acronym ''al-ni-co''. They also include copper, and sometimes titanium. Alnico alloys are ferromagnet ...

V magnet. Two other products were the D131 and the D208 cone drivers. The

Marquardt Corporation Marquardt Corporation was an aeronautical engineering firm started in 1944 as Marquardt Aircraft Company and initially dedicated almost entirely to the development of the ramjet engine. Marquardt designs were developed from the mid-1940s into t ...

gave the company early manufacturing space and a modest investment. William H. Thomas, the treasurer of Marquardt Corporation, represented Marquardt on Lansing's board of directors. In 1948, Marquardt took over the operation of JBL. In 1949, Marquardt was purchased by General Tire Company. The new company, not interested in the loudspeaker business, severed ties with Lansing. Lansing was reincorporated as James B. Lansing and moved the newly formed company to its first private location, on 2439 Fletcher Drive, Los Angeles. A key to JBL's early development was Lansing's close business relationship with its primary supplier of Alnico V magnetic material, Robert Arnold of Arnold Engineering. Arnold saw JBL as an opportunity to sell Alnico V magnetic materials into a new market. Lansing was noted as an innovative engineer but a poor businessman. Decker, his business partner, had died in 1939 in an airplane crash. In the late 1940s, Lansing struggled to pay invoices and ship products. Possibly as a result of deteriorating business conditions and personal issues, he committed suicide on September 4, 1949. The company then passed into the hands of Bill Thomas, JBL's vice president. Lansing had taken out a life insurance policy, naming the company as the beneficiary, a decision that allowed Thomas to continue the company after Lansing's death. Soon after, Thomas purchased Mrs. Lansing's one-third interest in the company and became the sole owner. Thomas is credited with revitalizing the company and spearheading a period of strong growth for the two decades following the founding of JBL. Early products included the model 375 high-frequency driver and the 075 ultra-high frequency (UHF) ring-radiator driver. The ring-radiator drivers are also known as "JBL bullets" because of their distinctive shape. The 375 was a re-invention of the Western Electric 594 driver but with an Alnico V magnet and a four-inch voice coil. The 375 shared the same basic magnet structure as the D-130 woofer. JBL engineers Ed May and Bart N. Locanthi created these designs. Two products from that era, the Hartsfield and the

Paragon Paragon may refer to: Places *Paragon, Indiana, a town in the United States * Paragon, Nebraska, former community in the United States *The Paragon, Bath, a Georgian street in the Walcot area of Bath * The Paragon, Blackheath, London, built by Mi ...

, continue to be highly desired on the collectors' market. In 1955, the brand name JBL was introduced to resolve ongoing disputes with Altec Lansing Corporation. The company name, "James B. Lansing Sound, Incorporated," was retained, but the logo name was changed to JBL with its distinctive exclamation point. The JBL 4320 series studio monitor was introduced through Capitol Records in Hollywood and became the standard monitor worldwide for its parent company, EMI. JBL's introduction to rock and roll music came via the adoption of the D130 loudspeaker by

Leo Fender Clarence Leonidas Fender (August 10, 1909 – March 21, 1991) was an American inventor and founder of the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. Fender designed the company's iconic early instruments: the Fender Telecaster, the first mass-prod ...

's Fender Guitar Company as the ideal driver for

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...

s. In 1969, Thomas sold JBL to the Jervis Corporation (later renamed "Harman International"), headed by

Sidney Harman Sidney Mortimer Harman (August 4, 1918 – April 12, 2011) was a Canadian-born American engineer, businessman, manager and philanthropist active in electronics, education, government, industry, and publishing. Harman made “high-fidelity ...

. The 1970s saw JBL become a household brand, starting with the famous L-100, which was the bestselling loudspeaker model of any company at that time. The 1970s were also a time of major JBL expansion in the professional audio field from their

studio monitor Studio monitors are loudspeakers in speaker enclosures specifically designed for professional audio production applications, such as recording studios, filmmaking, television studios, radio studios and project or home studios, where accurate ...

s. By 1977, more recording studios were using JBL monitors than all other brands combined, according to a ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' survey. The JBL L-100 and 4310 control monitors were popular home speakers. In the late 1970s, the new L-series designs L15, L26, L46, L56, L86, L96, L112, L150, and later the L150A and flagship L250 were introduced with improved crossovers, ceramic magnet woofers, updated midrange drivers, and aluminum-deposition phenolic resin tweeters. In the mid-1980s, the designs were again updated and redesigned with a new titanium-deposition tweeter diaphragm. The new L-series designations being the L20T, L40T, L60T, L80T, L100T, the Ti-series 18Ti, 120Ti, 240Ti, and the flagship 250Ti. To test speaker drivers, JBL in Glendale and Northridge used the roof as an outdoor equivalent to an

anechoic chamber An anechoic chamber (''an-echoic'' meaning "non-reflective" or "without echoes") is a room designed to stop reflection (physics), reflections or Echo (phenomenon), echoes of either sound or electromagnetic waves. They are also often isolate ...

. Over the next two decades, JBL went more mass-market with their consumer (Northridge) line of loudspeakers. At the same time, they made an entry into the high-end market with their project speakers, consisting of the Everest and K2 lines. JBL became a prominent supplier to the tour sound industry, their loudspeakers being employed by touring rock acts and music festivals. JBL products were the basis for the development of

THX THX Ltd. is an American audio company based in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is known for its suite of digital high fidelity audiovisual reproduction standards for movie theaters, screening rooms, home theaters, computer speakers, video game c ...

loudspeaker standard, which resulted in JBL becoming a popular cinema loudspeaker manufacturer.

Automotive use

JBL are currently fitted to vehicle manufacturers such as

Fiat Fiat Automobiles S.p.A., commonly known as simply Fiat ( , ; ), is an Italian automobile manufacturer. It became a part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles in 2014 and, in 2021, became a subsidiary of Stellantis through its Italian division, Stellant ...

Kia Kia Corporation (, formerly known as Kyungsung Precision Industry (京城精密工業) and Kia Motors Corporation) is a South Korean multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. It is South Korea's second larges ...

and

Toyota is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on August 28, 1937. Toyota is the List of manuf ...

Timeline

*1927 – Founding of Lansing Manufacturing Company in Los Angeles *1934 –

from MGM designs the first speaker for the cinema. Lansing builds system components. *1941 – Altec Service Company acquires Lansing Manufacturing Company *1944 – Lansing and Hilliard redefine the reference theater speaker with model A-4, renamed ''Voice of the Theatre'' *1946 – JBL creates the original 'JBL signature' logo with an exclamation (!) in black and white. Designed by Jerome Gould *1946 – Lansing leaves Altec and founded a new company, James B. Lansing Sound Inc. *1947 – JBL has a 15" speaker (38 cm), model D-130, using for the first time a voice coil in a speaker cone *1949 – James. B. Lansing dies of

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...

; William Thomas became president of the company *1954 – The ''375'' compression engine is the first 4-inch engine sold; its response extends to 9 kHz *1954 – Presentation of acoustic lenses developed by Bart N. Locanthi *1955 –

integrates the D-130 model in their amplifiers, thus starting the entry of JBL into professional music *1958 – Introduction of the one-piece

JBL Paragon The JBL D44000 Paragon is a one-piece stereo loudspeaker created by JBL that was introduced in 1957 and discontinued in 1983; its production run was the longest of any JBL speaker. At its launch, the Paragon was the most expensive domestic loud ...

stereo speaker system *1962 – JBL creates the first 2-way studio monitor, using a high-frequency motor lens *1967 - JBL creates the iconic red box logo with the exclamation (!) and white lettering. Designed by Arnold Wolfe, the president of JBL *1968 – JBL launches the 3-way speaker 4310 *1969 –

acquires JBL *1969 – L-100, a consumer version of the 4310 is launched; it would sell over 125,000 pairs in the 70s *1969 – JBL components used in Bill Hanley's

Woodstock The Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held from August 15 to 18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. Billed as "a ...

sound system and many other rock festivals *1973 – 4300 Series launched, including the first 4-way speaker *1975 – 4682 Model Line Array ''Strongbox'' *1979 – Technology ''diamond surround'' for control of high frequency resonances in *1979 – Development of Symmetrical Field Geometry (SFG) *1980 – Pavilion Bi-Radial Constant dispersion technology *1981 – The first Bi-Radial monitor, 4400, for the recording studio *1982 – Titanium is used as a material for compression engines *1984 – JBL acquires

UREI United Recording Electronics Industries (UREI) was a manufacturer of recording, mixing and audio signal processing hardware for the professional recording studio, live sound and broadcasting fields. History Bill Putnam Sr. founded Universal ...

*1986 – The first models of the Control series introduced *1990 – Vented Gap Cooling technology (reduces low frequencies transducer temperature) *1991 – The first pro-audio speaker based on

neodymium Neodymium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Nd and atomic number 60. It is the fourth member of the lanthanide series and is considered to be one of the rare-earth element, rare-earth metals. It is a hard (physics), hard, sli ...

with Array Series *1995 – Birth of the EON system *1995 – First Neodymium Differential Drive speaker *1996 – Creation of the HLA standard with Line Array Space Frame design *1999 – JBL used at

Woodstock 1999 Woodstock 1999 (also called Woodstock '99) was a music festival held from July 21 to July 26, 1999, in Rome, New York, United States. After Woodstock '94, it was the second large-scale music festival that attempted to emulate the original 196 ...

*2000 – Creation of VerTec Line Array system *2000 – Launch of EVO, a DSP controlled loudspeaker *2002 – VerTec is used for the

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual History of the NFL championship, league championship game of the National Football League (NFL) of the United States. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966 NFL season, 1966 (with the excep ...

, the

Grammy Awards The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

and the ceremony of the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea/Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

(Seoul, Korea)

Examples of applications

* Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences - AMPAS (Samuel Goldwyn Theater,

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

). * Institut de Recherche et de Coordination Acoustique/Musique - IRCAM (

Pierre Boulez Pierre Louis Joseph Boulez (; 26 March 19255 January 2016) was a French composer, conductor and writer, and the founder of several musical institutions. He was one of the dominant figures of post-war contemporary classical music. Born in Montb ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, 1974–1991). * Digital Cinema Project - GAUMONT
JBL, ''Three-Way Screen Channel System'', pp. 1–2. (Philippe Binant,

, 2000–2008).

References

External links