JBL

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JBL/JBL Professional

Type	Home and Pro Audio Manufacturer
Founded	1946
Headquarters	Northridge, CA, United States
Key people	James Bullough Lansing, Founder
Industry	Audio
Products	Amplifiers, Loudspeakers
Parent	Harman International
Website	www.jblpro.com, www.jbl.com

For professional wrestler John "Bradshaw" Layfield, see John Layfield. For other uses, see JBL (disambiguation).

JBL is an American-Japanese audio electronics company currently owned by Harman International, the professional audio division of Mitsubishi Electric. It was founded in 1946 by James Bullough Lansing. Their primary products are loudspeakers and associated electronics. There are two independent divisions within the company — JBL Consumer and JBL Professional. The former produces audio equipment for the home market while the latter produces professional equipment for the studio, installed sound, tour sound, portable sound (production and DJ), and cinema markets.

[edit] History

James B. Lansing founded JBL the year after leaving Altec Lansing as their Vice President of Engineering in 1945. The company was first called Lansing Sound, Incorporated, and dated from 1 October 1946 and then changed its name to James B. Lansing Sound The first products model D101 15-inch loudspeaker and D175 The high frequency driver. The D175 remained in the JBL catalog through the 1970s. Both of these were near copies of Altec Lansing products. First original product was the D130, a 15-inch transducer for which a variant would remain in production for the next 55 years. The D130 featured a 4-inch flat ribbon wire voice coil and Alnico V magnet. Two other products were the 12-inch D131 and 8-inch D208 cone drivers The Marquardt corporation gave the company early manufacturing space and a modest investment. William H. Thomas, the treasurer of Marquardt, represented the Marquardt corporation on Lansing’s Board of Directors. In 1948 Marquardt took over operation of the company. In 1949 Marquardt was purchased by General Tire Company. The new company was not interest in the loudspeaker business and severed ties with Mr. Lansing. The company was reincorporated as James B. Lansing, Incorporated and moved to its first private location 2439 Fletcher Drive, Los Angeles.

A key to JBL's early development was Mr. Lansing's close business relationship with its primary supplier of Alnico V magnetic material, Robert Arnold of Arnold Engineering. Arnold Engineering extended favorable terms and deep credit to Mr. Lansing. Robert Arnold saw JBL as an opportunity to sell Alnico V magnetic material into a new market.

James Lansing was noted as an innovative engineer, but a poor businessman. For the next 3 years Mr. Lansing struggled to pay invoices and ship product. As a result of deteriorating business conditions and personal issues, he took his own life on September 4, 1949. The company then passed into the hands of Bill Thomas, JBL’s then vice-president. Mr. Lansing had taken out a $10,000 life insurance policy naming the company as the beneficiary. The allowed Mr. Thomas to continue the company after Mr. Lansing's death. Soon after Mr. Thomas purchased Mrs. Lansing's one-third interest in the company and became the sole owner of the company. Mr. Thomas was responsible for revitalizing the company and spearheading a remarkable period of growth for the two decades following Founding JBL^[1].

Early products included the model 375 high frequency driver and the 075 UHF (Ultra High Frequency) ring radiator driver. The ring radiator drivers are also know as "JBL bullets" because of their distinctive shape. The 375 was a re-invention of the Western Electric 594 driver but with a Alnico V magnet and a 4-inch voice coil. The 375 shared the same basic magnet structure as the D-130 woofer. JBL engineers Ed May and Bart Locanthi created these designs^[2].

Two products from that era, the Hartsfield and the Paragon, 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 the distinctive exclamation point logo^[3]

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 was via Leo Fender's Fender Guitar company adopting of the D130 loud speaker as the ideal driver for electric guitars.

In 1969, Bill Thomas sold JBL to the Jervis Corporation (later renamed Harman International) headed by Dr. Sidney Harman. The 1970s saw JBL become a household brand, starting with the famous L-100 which was the largest selling loudspeaker model of any company to that date. The 1970s also saw a major JBL expansion in the professional audio field from their studio monitors. By the end of the decade recording studios in the United States used more JBL monitors than the combination of all other brands. The JBL L-100 and 4310 control monitors were noteworthy, popular home speakers. In the 1980's the L-100, 4312 and others were updated with an aquaplas laminated midrange and woofer drivers, and a titanium-deposited tweeter diaphragm. The new designation being the L-80T, L-100T, L-120T and the flagship L-250ti. JBL in Northridge used the roof to test speaker drivers, like an outdoor equivalent to an anechoic chamber^[4].

By 1977 more recording studios were using JBL monitors than all other brands combined according to a billboard survey^[5].

Over the next two decades JBL, became more mass market in their consumer (Northridge) 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, with their loudspeakers being employed by touring rock acts and music festivals. JBL products were the basis for the development of THX loudspeaker standard, which resulted in JBL becoming a popular cinema loudspeaker manufacturer.

JBL was formerly used in Ford's top of the line audio systems similar to competition from Chrysler with Infinity (audio), and Nissan with Bose Corporation. Today, Toyota uses JBL systems in their product line-up^{[citation needed]}.