History James B.

Lansing founded JBL one year after leaving Altec Lansing as their Vice President of Engineering in 1945. The company was first called Lansing Sound, In c., from 1 October 1946, and later changed its name to James B. Lansing Sound. T he first products were the model D101 15-inch loudspeaker and the model D175 hig h-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 would remain in producti on for the next 55 years. The D130 featured a four-inch flat ribbon wire voice c oil and Alnico V magnet. Two other products were the 12-inch D131 and the 8-inch D208 cone drivers. The Marquardt Corporation gave the company early manufacturing space and a modes t investment. William H. Thomas, the treasurer of Marquardt Corporation, represe nted Marquardt on Lansing's Board of Directors. In 1948 Marquardt took over oper ation of the JBL. In 1949 Marquardt was purchased by General Tire Company. The n ew company was not interested in the loudspeaker business and severed ties with Mr. Lansing. Mr. Lansing reincorporated as James B. Lansing, Incorporated, and m oved to his newly formed company to its first private location on 2439 Fletcher Drive, Los Angeles. A key to JBL's early development was Mr. Lansing's close business relationship w ith 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 mater ial into a new market. James Lansing was noted as an innovative engineer, but a poor businessman. For t he next three years Mr. Lansing struggled to pay invoices and ship product. As a result of deteriorating business conditions and personal issues, he took his ow n life on September 4, 1949. The company then passed into the hands of Bill Thom as, JBL's then vice-president. Mr. Lansing had taken out a $10,000 life insuranc e policy, naming the company as the beneficiary. That allowed Mr. Thomas to cont inue 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 c ompany. Mr. Thomas was responsible for revitalizing the company and spearheading a remarkable period of growth for the two decades following the founding of JBL .[1] Early products included the model 375 high-frequency driver and the 075 UHF (Ult ra High Frequency) ring-radiator driver. The ring-radiator drivers are also know n as "JBL bullets" because of their distinctive shape. The 375 was a re-inventio n 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.[2] Two products from that era, the Hartsfield and the Paragon, continue to be highl y 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" wa s retained, but the logo name was changed to JBL with its distinctive exclamatio n point logo.[3] The JBL 4320 series studio monitor was introduced through Capitol Records in Hol lywood and became the standard monitor worldwide for its parent company, EMI. JB L's introduction to rock and roll music came via the adoption of the D130 loudsp eaker by Leo Fender's Fender Guitar company as the ideal driver for electric gui tars.

In 1969, Bill Thomas sold JBL to the Jervis Corporation (later renamed Harman In ternational) headed by Dr. Sidney Harman. The 1970s saw JBL become a household b rand, starting with the famous L-100, which was the best-selling loudspeaker mod el of any company to that time. The 1970s also saw a major JBL expansion in the professional audio field from their studio monitors. By 1977, more recording stu dios were using JBL monitors than all other brands combined, according to a Bill board survey.[4] The JBL L-100 and 4310 control monitors were noteworthy, popula r 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 wit h improved crossovers, ceramic magnet woofers, updated midrange drivers, and alu minum-deposition phenolic resin tweeters. In the mid 1980s the designs were agai n updated and redesigned with a new titanium-deposition tweeter diaphragm. The n ew 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 Nort hridge used the roof as an outdoor equivalent to an anechoic chamber.[5] Over the next two decades JBL went more mass-market with their consumer (Northri dge) line of loudspeakers. At the same time, they made an entry into the high-en d market with their project speakers, consisting of the Everest and K2 lines. JB L became a prominent supplier to the tour sound industry, their loudspeakers bei ng employed by touring rock acts and music festivals. JBL products were the basi s for the development of THX loudspeaker standard, which resulted in JBL becomin g a popular cinema loudspeaker manufacturer. JBL was formerly used in Ford's top-of-the-line vehicle audio systems, as compet ition with Chrysler (whose cars used Infinity) and Nissan (who used Bose). Today , Toyota uses JBL systems in its product line-up. Current products (as of 2013) JBL High Performance Docks: JBL OnBeat, JBL OnBeat Xtreme, JBL OnBeat Venue, JBL OnBeat aWake. JBL Portable Docks: JBL Micro II, JBL Micro Wireless, JBL On Stage Micro II, JBL Flip, JBL OnStage IV, JBL SoundFly BT, JBL On Stage III WM, JBL On Tour IBT, JB L SoundFly Air, JBL Pulse. JBL Home Theatre Series: Studio Series, Escape Series, Cinema Series. JBL Headphones: J88i, J55i, J88, J55, JBL Tempo On-Ear, J33i, J22i, J33, J22, JB L Tempo In-Ear, JBL Tempo Earbud. Home Audio Series: Array series, Control Series, HT Series, HTI Series, K2 Serie s, On-The-Go, Performance Series, SCS Series, Soundpoint Series, Studio L Series , Synthesis, JBL Duet, JBL ES series. Nokia: MD-100W JBL PowerUp Wireless Charging Speaker for Nokia, MD-51W JBL PlayU p Portable Wireless Speaker for Nokia. Examples of applications Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences - AMPAS[6] (Samuel Goldwyn Theat er, Hollywood, United States). Institut de Recherche et de Coordination Acoustique/Musique - IRCAM[7] (Pier re Boulez, Paris, France, 1974 1991). Digital Cinema Project - GAUMONT[8] (Philippe Binant, Paris, France, 2000 2008 ).