The Early Years The Lansing Manufacturing Company The Rise of the Motion Pictures Sound Business The Altec Lancing Corporation The Formation of James B. Lansing Sound, Incorporated The Last Thirty-Two Years Lansing's Personal Style JBL Company Milestones     JBL COMPANY MILESTONES 1902 - James B Lansing born in Illinois. 1927 - Lansing Manufacturing Company founded in Los Angeles 1934 - Douglas Shearer of MGM heads team which designs first practical loudspeaker system for motion picture use. Lansing builds components for the system. 1937 - Shearer system awarded citation by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and sciences. 1941 - Lansing Manufacturing Company acquired by Altec Service Company. 1943 - Lansing develops improved manufacturing methods, including flat wire milling and high-speed winding of ribbon wire voice coils. 1943 - Lansing designs the 604 Duplex loudspeaker. 1944 - Lansing and Hilliard redefine the state of the art for the motion picture theater with the A-4, dubbed Voice of the Theatre. 1946 - Lansing founds a new company, James B. Lansing Sound, Incorporated, to pursue new directions in transducer and sound system design. 1947 - JBL introduces the D-130 15" loudspeaker, which was the first known use of a 4" flat wire voice coil in a cone transducer. 1949 - James. B. Lansing dies; William Thomas becomes company president. 1954 - JBL introduces the model 375 high-frequency compression driver. This was the first commercially available 4" diaphragm driver and afforded flat response to 9 kHz. 1954 - JBL introduces a family of acoustic lenses, developed by Locanthi. 1954 - Model 075 high-efficiency, high-frequency ring radiator introduced. 1955 - Leo Fender of musical instrument fame incorporates the model D-130 into his famous guitar amplifiers, signaling JBL's entry into the music reinforcement field. 1958 - JBL introduces the Paragon stereophonic loudspeaker system, incorporating a cylindrical reflecting principle for superior stereophonic imaging in the home. 1962 - JBL introduces the first two-way studio monitor using a high-frequency compression driver with acoustical lens. 1965 - JBL introduces the-"T-circuit" output configuration for high performance solid state amplifiers. 1968 - JBL introduces the 4310-three-way bookshelf monitor. This system lives on through the models 4311 and 4312. 1969 - Sidney Harman acquires JBL from William Thomas. The company embarks on a period of accelerated international growth through the Harman distribution companies. 1969 - The L-100, a consumer version of the 4311, is introduced, eventually reaching sales of 125,000 pairs during the decade of the seventies. 1969 - JBL transducers power Woodstock and other major rock festivals. 1973 - JBL introduces the expanded line of 4300-series monitors, including the industry's first four-way designs. 1975 - JBL introduces Model 4682 "Strongbox" Line Array. 1976 - JBL's monitors rank first in the US recording industry survey conducted by Billboard. 1977 - JBL moves to new location in Northridge, California. 1979 - JBL introduces patented diamond surround diaphragm technology for high frequency resonence control. 1979 - JBL developes SFG Symetrical Field Geometry magnet structures. 1980 - JBL introduces patented Bi-Radial© Constant-Coverage horn technology. 1981 - Bi-Radial monitors introduced. Building on the acoustical concept of flat power response, the 4400-series monitors quickly gain acceptance by the recording industry. 1981 - L250 four-way consumer system introduced. 1982 - Titanium is introduced as a diaphragm material in compression drivers. 1983 - The model 4660 defined coverage system. Based on Bi-Radial technology, the system provides tailored coverage for speech application in rectangular spaces. 1984 - Titanium dome tweeters are introduced into consumer products, providing superlative response to 27 kHz. 1984 - UREI acquired by JBL, bringing electronics design and manufacturing expertise to JBL's traditional line of loudspeaker components. 1984 - The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences selects JBL components for the new system in the Samuel Goldwyn Theater. 1985 - The Everest DD 55000 system is selected by Japan's Stereo Sound as Product of the Year. 1986 - JBL introduces the first Control® Series multi-purpose molded enclosure loudspeakers. 1988 - JBL acquires the British Soundcraft line of recording consoles for recording and reinforcement applications. 1989 - The Directors' Guild of America selects JBL components for the systems in their Hollywood headquarters building. 1990 - JBL develops patented VGC (Vented Gap Cooling) for raising the thermal power limits of low frequency transducers. 1991 - JBL's K-2 loudspeaker system is selected by Japan's Stereo Sound as Product of the Year. 1991 - JBL introduces first Pro Audio Neodymium woofer debuting in JBL Array Series. 1992 - JBL introduces new lower midrange compression driver with matching horns. 1993 - JBL develops new "rapid flare" low distortion compression driver and matching family of horns. 1995 - JBL introduces the revolutionary EON System powered loudspeaker, with multiple patented design technologies. 1995 - First-ever patented dual coil Differential Drive® Loudspeaker for pro sound reinforcement. 1996 - HLA Series with patented Space Frame® array element design, multi-band waveguide and composite subwoofer enclosure introduced. 1999 - JBL is the official "Sound of Woodstock". First in 1969, then in 1994 and again in 1999. 2000 - JBL announces VERTEC™ Line Array System, which debuts at the Democratic National Convention. 2000 - JBL introduces the EVO® intelligent loudspeaker system with DSP self-control. 2001 - JBL VERTEC system used for Presidential Inauguration, Washington, D.C., for a crowd of 300,000 persons. 2002 - JBL VERTEC system used for major special events including the Superbowl, the Grammy Awards and the World Cup Opening Ceremony (Seoul, Korea). 2002 - JBL's John Eargle, Mark Engebretsen and Don Keele receive a Scientific/Technical Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science honoring their development of cinema loudspeaker systems using constant-directivity horns and vented-box low frequency enclosures, first embodied in the JBL 4675. 2002 - JBL's Bernard Werner and William Gelow receive a Technical Achievement Award for "the engineering and design of filtered line arrays and screen spreading compensation as applied to motion picture speaker systems" as employed in JBL ScreenArray © cinema loudspeaker.