WHAT REALLY HAPPENED TO JBL 

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Thanks so much for this video and the history of JBL. My father spent 20 years working for JBL as an Engineer. Harold Newton 60's- through the 1970's. He had 3 draftsmen and 4 that were machinists working for him. He designed the magnet machine that charged them. He also designed the voice coil winding machine. He then had a patent under JBL for the design of the dowel pin that held the grill clothes on the front of the cabinets. All these he would scratch out and then give to the draftsmen and then to the machinists that built the parts. He also designed the carton for the larger cabinet. I remember working as a JR. Draftsman one summer while I was in High School. To test the carton, everyone was invited to the loading dock, and Bill Thomas, President threw the cabinet in the carton off the dock to see what would happen to it. It passed without a scratch. We always had speakers in our home growing up. This brought good memories and tears to my eyes.

What I'm writing here might get taken down for content! I asked Lenny the gent in this video to get me a pair of clear "Lucite" Pioneer HPM 100 Store Demonstration Speakers. He did. They were in rough shape so I asked if they could make them more presentable. Lenny did that and more with genuine Pioneer replacement parts. Lenny tries his best at for every customer. Lenny has a passion for vintage and modern audio. I've brought in over 30 vintage items including 16 monster receivers. Lenny always treats me right. Lenny just finished my rare Pioneer HPM 100 Lucite Speakers. I'm autistic with cerebral palsy and more. Lenny & the Just Audio staff made my dreams come true with these speakers. Behind all the jokes & pranks Lenny is a Good Man!

You asked the audience to post any JBL stories we have in the comments section, so here’s mine, specifically about the Prima that you talk about in detail. I was employed by JBL in 1972 and started at 3249 Casitas Ave. I was with the company until 1977, but I would come back from 1986 to 1993. The Prima was developed a couple of years after started. Because the Prima was molded from hardened Urethane Foam, it was thought to be a very resilient material, unlike the more commonly used Particle Board or MDF. The Vice President of Sales at the time was a very charismatic individual by the name of Irv Stern. When it was decided to introduce the Prima to the sales force, a formal dinner meeting was organized. Irv decided to have some fun and pretend that he was the actual industrial designer, dressing up in a flamboyant costume and speaking with a strong, but questionable Italian accent. (I forget what fake Italian name he gave himself.) After the initial presentation, giving the audience the opportunity to see the color options, a demonstration of their clever stacking design, followed by a listening session, Irv made a big deal of the fact that they were made of a synthetic plastic material and claimed that they endure abuse better then their wood counterparts. He proceed to lift one, a Yellow Prima as I recall, and toss it across the stage. To everyone’s surprise, (they had not rehearsed the latter), it hit the floor and exploded into several pieces. Needless to say, that would not be part of future demos.

As a music producer and sometimes touring musician, I have several D130s in my various rigs. A super efficient workhorse speaker that sounds great. In the studio, I have a set of 4308s. They sound too flattering to mix on, but I love to listen back to projects on them. Nice work on the history.

Thee is a company in Japan called KENRICK SOUND and they have permission from JBL to re-manufacture classic vintage JBL home audio speakers. They have developed improved components for these as well. They do have a RU-vid channel. Their workmanship and passion is amazing to watch.

In 1963 I bought a pair of JBL C50 Olympus for about $1k each. They had LE15A woofers and PR15 passive radiators along with the 375 driver/horn and 075 tweeter. Almost 200 lbs each and still sounding great today!

Hello from Chicago burbs. One of my favorite memories growing up at my parents house with a Carver M500 amp and my L112's ❤ watching the lights dim as I turned it up 🤯 ( no parents of course) this content really takes me back 1983!😮

I really enjoy your 'history' videos! I had the original L100's in the mid '70s and alas divorce separated them from me. It was 50 years later and I was able to obtain a pair of completely refurbished L88 Plus. Thank you again for these great videos! There truly is no sound like JBL's.

I've always been a fan of JBL speakers. For me, they represent the "American Sound" I tend to prefer in my audio gear: full-range, full-bodied sound with an emphasis on being entertaining more than revealing; speakers that are easy to enjoy with all genres of music. Today's JBL is almost like an enthusiast's secret...the public know and think of them as a mainstream brand, but we know them for their pro and high-end models like the K2 and Everest. In Asia (especially Japan) JBL vintage and hi-end gear trades for very high prices...for them, this is the American sound they chase. I was all set to buy a pair of the JBL L100 75th Limited Editions (the ones that came with the stands and that monstrous shipping crate), until one day, I stopped into Just Audio and bought a pair of Kef Blade Two's from Spencer and Lenny...an entirely different path, but not as different as it sounds. Great video, Lenny...Keep dropping the knowledge!

Another great informative article. Please keep them coming!

Great series. Love the all the info…. Thanks, again….

I've been a fan of JBL for years. I'm a drummer and a bit of an audiophile, so I've been around a good amount of audio gear. I've recorded at a couple of studios years ago, and the JBL monitors they used had such a life-like sound, I was instantly hooked. Back in the mid to late 80s, I bought a set of JBL 12" car audio subwoofers, and I kid you not, those were the best sound quality subs I've ever owned. Sure wish I still had them. 😢

Thanks for the video and history lesson. Having become a fan of JBL products just a couple years ago. And not sure I will want anything less moving forward. (And I have had some decent audio gear: Pioneer Elite, and Onkyo receivers, Polk and Marantz speakers) so it was nice learning about the history of JBL. I didn't realize their impact in the Pro Audio segment. Good video.

I still have my L88 speakers from 73. They are like the L100 but without the mid range driver. About 15 years ago I updated the binding posts, build an actual crossover and replaced the old tweeters with JBL Ti035s and did a few more cabinet mods. Sound great. Using a frequency response tester, the one sold by Parts Express, I get +/- 3dB across 40 Hz to about 16K with a little tweak of the tone controls on the amp. Listen to them almost everyday. Sound stage very nice and wide but not too deep. Could be improved with speaker placement but limited by the room size and shape.

You guys videos have improved so much, keep it coming! :)

Great Video!! Keep’em coming!

As someone that was perhaps in the middle of the original 2 channel explosion, working in it from '69 to '81, watching the names appear, grow, multiply,.... technology solidify, ... and to then leave it almost completely until a few decades ago, it is totally confusing as to who is whom anymore. Your efforts have been incredible on these different big names. Very enjoyable and informative. And I get to throw in person data from the time when you shake the cob webs as well. This one was very well done. Filling in spots in my knowledge of them. And were they went! We appreciate your research! I "married" a pair of L88's, still connected to her Sansui 5000 X in a 2nd system. She had no problem relegating them to that status after hearing my more recently purchased Maggies. I have a friend with his original L88's that wanted to upgrade them to L100 by adding the mid. But I think I talked him into getting Ohm Walsh 2000's instead. Especially for his strange rooms arrangement. But I doubt the Grateful Dead Wall of Sound was designed in 1953! 🙂

Thanks for the channel, great work !!

Thank you sir. I am a new viewer of yours, and I guess I haven't seen all the avenues you have in your channel already, but compared to some of the other videos I've seen, I liked this one a lot due to the deeper History info and such than I sometimes find elsewhere in the HiFi space.

I installed this stuff in high end homes in 1974, at the peak of quad. We installed L100 & L200’s with high end Sansui and Dual 1229Q tables. AWESOME! Later, I would use 4560’s & 4550 pro in my live PA systems. Now I have L100 and L200 in my personal studio. SRX is my live system now, but I still have my 4560’s! Love JBL!

I've got record producer Martin Hannet's JBL speakers. He mastered tracks from Joy Division, early U2 and others on those (TLX 9) representing typical 'home' speakers from the time and also Aurotrons for radio/car stereo and some Tannoy Gold's representing high end systems. The final mix had to sound good on all three. Excellent video by the way.

Great video, even too short really

My first connection with JBL was a disco in Chicago (Dugan's Bistro) - which had JBL Pro Series speakers and the the best DJ (Lou DiVito - 3 time winner of the national DJ contest). Other disco / dance systems had JBL Pro Series speakers, and I was absolutely hooked on their sound!

I’ve had a pair of 4311’s since 1975. Part of my backup sound system with a Pioneer sx1050, also from 1975. Both the speakers and receiver still sound great. Wouldn’t ever give up these speakers.

Great vid! I still have my JBL 4312 and a set of JBL 4311's in my music room, they are over 30 years old respectively, bought them while I was in the Army. Still sound great! Awesome vid and back story of the JBL company and how it came about. Keep the great work!

Very informative! Thanks for this!

In high school in late 70’s saving up all I could afford were the JBl L26. After school I would lay on the floor positioning each speaker like headphones to feel the power of the newly released Physical graffiti album Led Zeppelin album. Powerful experience.

Also, JBL used a patented rounded-edge on their woofers, which was incented by Edward Villchur of Acoustics Research in 1953 also known as acoustic suspension woofers. Please make a note for same, and have a nice Labor Day weekend.

They were purchased by Harman who are owned by Samsung... and it shows in their current product range, and not for the better. Crown are owned by Harman also, it shows in their product range too.

Great video! Still using my JBL L100T as a main front speakers on my HT system and they are great!

Wow, thanks for this video. You brought back memories of listening to my JBL L112's in the dorm while stationed in Okinawa in the early 80s. My first real stereo system was purchased there. JBL L112, Technics SL-10, Marantz receiver and tape deck. All on an airman's budget. I still use the SL-10 in my system. The L112's drivers ended up failing and I never replaced them. I still have the cabinets stacked on each other as a tv stand. Nice walnut veneer.

No mention of “Ed May” the design engineer of the JBL L100 and many other models , if you look at his history he left JBL and moved to Marantz Superscope to become their head of loudspeaker designer . He used it to turn out three complete lines of loudspeakers in very short order. However, this was the last loudspeaker work he would perform. Edmond May passed away suddenly in 1980 while still at his desk employed at Marantz .

Simple, they got acquired by Harman Audio and haven't been the same since. Many of their products are clones of Infinity products now.

I definitely appreciate these videos, keep it up!

I bought my first system in 1978 and my intention was to buy the Century L-100's, but the salesman that I had dealt with for a long time talked me into buying the L-166 Horizon's. That was a mistake because I never did like the way they sounded, but I kept them for awhile and then sold them. In 1981 while stationed in Okinawa, I bought a pair of L-112's when they first came out and they were awesome. I still have them to this day in mint condition. I'm still amazed at the way they sound. I'm surprised that you didn't mention these.

Hey can you do about ADS? Their speakers rocked, then they stopped making speakers.

I still have a pair of L26 Decades I purchased in 1973. Originally had 4 used with a simulated 4 Channel HK 75+ receiver. My first system. Wanted the L100 but couldn't afford them at the time. Have only had to recone the woffer a couple of times through the years. Use in my office and still enjoy that 70's sound they produce. Thank you for the video.

In the pictures you show the altec 604a, jbl 4355, l100 etc. I own all of the speakers you shown currently in my collection. I’m still a sucker for vintage Altec hifi. I was raised on it. Thanks for making this video.

my exposure to JBL is as a DJ. I own 515xt’s and they are still going strong after 10 years of use at events. Great sound and technology built into them. Thank you for this video.

I had a pair of L-112. I really liked them a lot. I did sell them in the mid 1990's. There are days when I wish I still had them. They were a great set of speakers.

I have a set of L5’s I’ve been rocking every day since the 90s. Love ‘em. Nothing compares for the price.

Really enjoying these.

I had JBL's on my Fender Twin reverb amp, in my 4 by 12 cabinet and a few years ago the mighty Control 5's. These not very well loved among enthusiasts but very good as far as I'm concerned.

JBL's name was sold, just like Bose, Pioneer, Rockford, Technics, Soundstream, and the dozens of other excellent companies to others that wanted to maximize profits based on their name recognition. Just note, even Lamborghini makes 4-doors now.

Cool video, thanks. Been using a tiny JBL GO as a main speaker for years lol

Watching this lovely doc running through my awesome JBL LSR studio monitors.

I love these videos ❤ could you do a video like this on Gene Czerwinski and Cerwin Vega? It seems like a trend, that all the cool brands and the people behind them really gets chewed up and kicked around alot. Is there any audio company ever that had smooth sailing from the start? I know alot of brands are still around, but are they really?? I mean the names and logos are still in use, but they are often totally different in too many ways. 😅 like seas, scanspeak, vifa and peerless. Mergers, buyouts, shutdowns and restarts... Like the dirty "aristocrats" joke, only with hifi manufacturers instead of people 😂

JBL professional still makes some good stuff. The 2000s seemed like a kind of low point for them, the VRX and VERTEC were not my favorite speaker to see at concerts, but in the past few years their new VTX speaker arrays, especially the A series, are actually pretty good, though other manufacturers like L-Acoustics and D&B Audiotechnik have risen to the top for big touring bands and festivals. Also they make the LSR studio monitors which I’ve heard good things about. They’re certainly not L100s though. They’ve also always made really good point source install grade speakers for sports venues, and these are mostly pretty good.

My JBL experience began with a friend's parent's system in high school. Loved listing to these. My first purchased speakers were JBL LX 500 in college. I still have these they are refoamed and stored in their original boxes. My current JBL's are 4310 WX.

many thanks for this video, I am a JBL lover and owner of two pair of speakers: 2 cheap bookshelf in a little room and 2 main speakers with 4 15" woofers and titanium drivers with wave guides in my listening room. I have the book about JBL but your video add some more info and pictures, so I appreciate the view of this short documentary. Actually JBL is a piece of history and we have to be grateful to these men who studied acoustic and created projects and so loudspeakers to allow us to listen to live music and greatly reproduced music in our homes. If you go deep studying their patents and projects you will not be disappointed! really proud to listen to my loved music JBL products. Best regards from NE Italy CIAO

JBL is one of the few audio brands that still makes products that cater to various users, as you stated. It's my go to brand if it's available in the budget and use case. I use several portable speakers from them, my two Toyotas are fitted with sound systems bearing their logo, also I have some headphones, but because of iOS's peculiarities I prefer to use some in ear wireless Beats, specially for work. Gladly I will buy more products from them when need arises as for the moment they are covering almost all the needs that arise.

There's no noise in Illinois! Cmon man!

Great video. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you for doing this! I listened to this twice, but somehow missed the transition from James Martiti to James Lansing??? Love my D208's, D110's, D120's, D130's, and D140's. The only amp that doesn't sound better with JBL are the Class A VOX amps. They just seem to be tuned to the Celestine's, especially the Blue's.

As an audiophile (just someone who loves all things related audio). I’ve had both home and audio products from JBL. I loved the loud speakers, their subs and the 1200,1 amp was a monster…

Used JBL for live concerts in the 80's. The speakers were awesome.

Very cool and educational. Thank You

I bought my first L100 Century speakers in 1975. Lost them to a burglary in 1979. Bought another pair in the same year. Lost them in a divorce in 2010. Out of music for about 8 years, jumped back in about 5 years ago with a pair of JBL towers. During the pandemic set up a listening room with a pair of Klipsch Heresy IV. Really missed the sound of the L100’s but read some negative reviews of the “new” L100’s so decided to search for a pair of vintage L100 Century’s. Found a pair on EBay and am a happy camper.

Good summation, though omitting the fact that the Harmon connection shut down their R&D/design and spares operations. I've lost count of the number of Control series units I've installed, but they were classic bulletproof JBL gear, from the JBL horn systems we built at Liverpool university in the 70s, to the last control 5s I bought, for myself, they are part of my history. these days I'm more fond of Dynaudio, (hint - do a video about them), and Genelec, but yes, they were giants.

Having a set of JBL’s was the fantasy of us all back in the 70’s, when they only had one line of consumer and professional speakers. My first set was a pair of L112’s in the early 80’s. I went on to own L100’s, 4312’s etc and worked with 4320’s 4311’s, Urei 813’s in the studio for many years.

Thank your for sharing theJBL History. My first pair of High Fi speakers were the JBL L112's. They were great. I then had an SAE Amplifier. All traded in for new gear but I enjoyed those speakers.

nice video.. thanks for youre research.

I spent almost a year in 1977 looking and listening to speakers for my stereo and kept coming back to JBL Century L100s. I purchased a pair late in 1977 and They have been with me ever since. The 70s orange grills dried out and fell apart in the early 90s but nothing has ever failed and they have been rocked, classicalled and country westered to death. The last few years they have been enjoying Rammstein and several other Germany heavy metal bands. Most likely I will have them until I die.

Big JBL fan here. Owner of L19, Control 1 Plus, 4310, and 240Ti.

I remember the k140 and k145 drivers we used as mid and low end drivers in our live reinforcement, my dad built his own cabinets( mcaully designs) and modified to our needs. Always got a ton a of comments on how well they sounded at high volumes and they were never muddy like some of the other cabinets and sound systems we heard when listening to other bands. Been a jbl junkie almost all my life and still have one pair k140’s sitting in my shop begging to be placed in a pair of good cabinets!

Hell yeah they’re going to keep thriving. I’m looking at two JBL Mark,2 speakers on my desk rn. Those suckers cost $200 apiece, but they are the best and most clean sounding studio monitors. I have put my ears to.

Very good.. Love the history ! I have wanted to try a pair and this may just happen now.

I managed to be able to purchase a set of JBL1400's for a venue back in the 90's and used these for live music. Fast forward to the mid 2000's and I was offered these to purchase for myself. After a full rebuild and even had the x-overs re tuned to match each other, I still have comments on how good they sound each time I roll them out.

I Love JBL .... i've owned JBL Bluetooth speakers for years now and i'm really Happy with the quality.... My favourite JBL related experience was to Help a friend restore a pair of Vintage L100's which became my absolute dream speakers after listening to them after they where finished .... And the Looks of them are Just gorgeous

I listened to JBL speakers in a small disco when I was young and I loved that sound. Recently I bought a pair of 708P - absolutely great sound. Thanks for the video.

Very interesting and thanks for this video. By the way, is there a relation between James B. Lansing and Altec Lansing?

Thx for sharing the some of the history behind JBL. I used to own a pair of 4311 Studio Monitors and they were probably one of my favorite speakers I have ever owned.

Great video

I bought my first pair of JBL P30s on eBay about 6 years, and I absolutely love them. I also have a question were the P40s a thing? and if so, what was the difference?

My first speakers were my dad's old JBL Control 1 Plus monitors. Still have them, they just sit on top of the Elacs that replaced them. The small JBL blue tooth speaker we have is also nice sounding.

That was just awesome to watch!

When my ship was in Japan in 1978 I almost bought a pair of L100s but I couldn't quite afford them because I had already bought a Kenwood amp and tuner. My son bought four JBL Lancer S99s a few years for 80 dollars. He had to have two of the 14 inch woofers refoamed and he replaced two of the tweeters but cosmetically with the wooden grills and original stands, these things are beautiful. They may be the loudest speakers I have ever heard. I have owned three pairs of JBLs and loved them.

Would love to one of these deep dives on Dynaco and Hafler.

Nice. And you didn't even touch on their involvement in automotive audio. Perhaps there's a video on that out there.

I bought the JBL Clip 3 and the Flip 5 and can totally recommend both of them. The Flip 5 has phenomenal bass response for something so small. I don't really know how they do that with 2 inch speakers at either end of the tube.

awesome video! some interesting new words invented in here too :D

I've owned a pair of L100's since 1987. I bought them from our first landlord right after we got married. They had the original orange foam grills which rotted out. I replaced the foam with a brown fabric insert that JBL sold in the late 80's. I still have the speakers along with the Yamaha receiver I bought at the same time. They still sound good all these years later. I've thought about replacing them but I really don't know what would sound better.

Great story. I used many JBL`s in bass guitar speakers. The L100 was a home speaker that would crank!

Fantastic historical record my friend. Great content.

Excellent mini-doc Two things though: There's no "noise" in Illinois. San (sahn) Marcos, not "sane." I'm a big fan of the 4312 and the 4312 M and MK II. Is there an amplifier you recommend ?

Great video! @1:03 I never thought I'd encounter a grown man who doesn't know that the S is silent at the end of "Illinois". I remember getting into an argument with a classmate about it as a 90s kid, who insisted it was "ill-eh-noyss". Reminds me of another kid who insisted that "Santa Fe" was pronounced "Santa Fee". Anyway, with Illinois, the S is silent. Keep up the dope vidz :D

I completely rebuilt a pair of L80T's, took over 5 years to actually make it happen since I built new cabinets after the old ones got water damage, built new crossovers with much better components and ended up using Dayton audio titanium dome closest to the originals I could find since one of the originals went bad. I honestly forgot how much I liked them, especially that 10" woofer and I may try to source some suitable new JBL tweeters. I also have a K130 speaker which needs a cab built since that is a 15" monster! The most interesting thing I learned from your video was just how many companies were associated with the final creation of JBL, well done video!

That was very interesting. I have a pair of JBl L112's, fantastic. I always thought that the logo wasn't an exclamation mark but a stylized speaker horn? yes, no?

I’ve had my JBL 4365’s for 11 years now. I just love the way they make music.

I purchased a pair of L100's in 1974. Still listen to them to this day.

L26 Decade, L100 Century, SR4731A. Really fun, musical speakers, love them all.

This bring back the memory of the pair of L100 in our home, driven by a Sansui AU999 back in the 70’s. The sound was so sweet.

As a big fan of JBL, I had/worked on lots of JBL speakers...not only home speakers, but also a couple headphones, some car audio setups with JBL amp and speakers, etc. I'm watching this video on 4411. Also have CF100, J900MII, 308P MKii, Studio 590 theater setup, SRX speakers, etc. All very good products.

Dont forget about the Mobile/car audio aspect of JBL's lineup! Their studio/concert series speakers have incredible sound quality!

I have a pair of JBL62 cabinets I refitted with planar ribbon's and 6.5" Kevlar mids as my PC monitors. I kept the original drivers and crossovers and didn't have to modify the cabinets. They still sounded great as they were.

Just found your channel and lots of great stories there. One name seems to be missing, the story of Klipch.

Back in the day I worked with a quad PA in Los Angeleeze. 4 JBL C55 cabinets with double D140f 15" drivers, 13.5 ft. rear loaded folded horns, useable to 43 Hz. 4 radial horns with 375 drivers, 4 double 12" direct radiating cabinets and 4 075 ring radiators, good for 40kHz. Powered it all with 4 Crown DC300A's and 4 JBL Energizers. Can't hear a thing now, but I remember it being fun.

My dad still has a pair of black L250's in his living room, they look and sound amazing, the design really is something.

I always swapped out my stock speakers in my Fender Twin for 12" JBL's back in the 70's and I thought they were great. Are they still the same? I did also use Altec Lansing's but found them too clean for guitar. JBL's were clean too but I could get a nice distortion from the JBL's when I used pedals. I did by different speakers for my stereo system though, I like Polk Audio.