What's in a Name?

[Mr. Widget]

These were my first step up from the junk speakers that come with
Fisher-type systems. I had no idea before then how much better
good speakers sounded, (compared to department store junk).

I read this line in a thread about how people came to discover JBL and it got me thinking... Fisher used to be a brand that stood for high quality. They made products that while not quite McIntosh or Marantz, they were just behind them along with HH Scott and a few others... then along in the late '70s and early '80s they became simply a label to be put on audio and audio related gear. RCA and Altec Lansing along with dozens of other brands have suffered the same indignity...

Okay, on Casitas, this was the setup:

At the very back of the building, in a room maybe 20' wide, by 8' deep, Howard Wieser would put in the round wire into our flattening machines, and run them thru the enamel (or varnish, or whatever it was) machines and then they'd go thru the drying end. It was really just one big machine, where the round wire went in one end, and the flat, coated wire came out the other end...

This post from Harvey shows us just how far JBL has gone from not simply designing and assembling their own drivers, but from manufacturing their own VC wire, winding their own coils etc. to this contemporary junk where they simply stick their name on some imported crap... how long before they too are a forgotten brand?

[speakerdave]

It's hard to fault JBL for wanting to stay in business.

The best way to go out of business in this town is to offer good basic quality at cost plus a reasonable profit. Examples: Acoustic Research, KLH, Advent. One of the things that happened to those companies is that their products became widely discounted, so they were perceived as cheap. JBL tried to protect itself from that with "Fair Trade" agreements. However one might feel about that, the purpose I believe was to enable the continuation of quality development, but one of the effects was that JBL was much more expensive and perceived as "overpriced."

The devaluation of establish brands is one of the oldest games for short-term gain. I think JBL has in the last three decades had an amazing record of successfully selling the brand down the river and at the same time repeatedly reestablishing it with tremendous products. I don't know if there is another example anywhere of a company successfully doing this. The Everest II is only the latest example. It's a question of how much longer they can keep it up.

[4313B]

I think the former CEO of a shampoo company is taking over from Sidney so JBL should do just fine. Rumor has it he loves jingles so maybe we can get some JBL commercials going on TV. In fact, I think the best bet would be to have women with long, radiant hair with no split ends peddling iPod docks and Everest II's to snappy tunes.

[speakerdave]

I think the former CEO of a shampoo company is taking over from Sidney so JBL should do just fine. . . .

Like soft drink tycoon John Sculley taking over Apple Computer. That was nearly fatal.

[Fangio]

Like soft drink tycoon John Sculley taking over Apple Computer. That was nearly fatal.

Spot-on!

[Mr. Widget]

It's hard to fault JBL for wanting to stay in business.

Yeah, and GM thought they'd be smart and focus on those profitable SUVs... I guess their gray haired management was on some other planet during the '70s when GM got stuck with a fleet of massively over weight cars...

Short term profits are rarely are smartest solution for long term health.


Widget

[Mr. Widget]

The best way to go out of business in this town is to offer good basic quality at cost plus a reasonable profit. Examples: Acoustic Research...

How about that Apple computer example...? They have had a tight price control policy and for years people thought they were over priced, but these days with most of the Dells and others selling such me too junk, the Apple brand has done quite well. Obviously it isn't that simple, they have also done some very creative innovative product development, but still they do set their quality standards a bit higher than the industry average.


Widget

[speakerdave]

I don't remember what happened to GM in the seventies. I recall it was Chrysler that needed the federal bailout because they were deeply committed to trucks, vans, van conversions and Power Wagons.

I remember seeing an interview with Lee Iacocca in the mid eighties. Chrysler had closed truck, van, and big car production and had developed the K-car and their Mitsubishi line. Then gas got cheap again and the customers wanted the big cars again. The interviewer summarized this history and asked him how he felt about it. He sighed and said, "Yeah, it does kind of keep you off balance." The retail customers set the direction.

I think there can be moments in corporate history when managers think they need to have a success at lower price points or with other products to support the continuation of the company and its quality products, the ones they really want to make. I think JBL has perceived that at various moments and responded in the way they thought best. In the Apple example, the company was given a tremendous boost by iPod buyers who did not know Macintosh computers existed.

David

[1audiohack]

I guess to some extent it depends on what you really want your company to be.

I have a small company that supplies powertrain for off road racing.We only do top shelf stuff, Trophy Truck class for SCORE Baja racing, and some Paris - Dakar trucks. Yeah I know it ran somewhere else this year.

The engine part aside, we do all the rest from the flywheel to the wheel drive plates including dyno / validation with four guys, and we have the lions share of our target market.

We kind of like the absolute highest quality low volume / high profit business model, but what are my options if I want to grow my business? I don't really want to make $400.00 gearsets for dragracers when I sell $4200.00 gearsets to desert racers, so what does one do?

Sadly besides pro sound and some Asian high end markets, I see the same problem for JBL. How many folks did JBL employ in the big fourway days pro sound aside?

The world has changed without my help. I am all for clean air and clear water, but the industrial iconic America I remember and love is fading from view.

I simply live in denial. My daily driver has a 540 cubic inch 695 HP engine and my livingroom has lost about 36 cubic feet to the four ways and subs. It is my refuge from the world and the reality I choose.

So what is in a name? I hope somehow GM and JBL don't become just a name we remember,,, but if they do, I hope it does not come after being devalued to extinction by the whores for profit only.

[speakerdave]

. . . . My daily driver has a 540 cubic inch 695 HP engine . . . .

No reason to leave the 4-ways at home.

[BMWCCA]

I think the former CEO of a shampoo company is taking over from Sidney so JBL should do just fine. Rumor has it he loves jingles so maybe we can get some JBL commercials going on TV. In fact, I think the best bet would be to have women with long, radiant hair with no split ends peddling iPod docks and Everest II's to snappy tunes.

Well, since they do absolutely no marketing here in the U.S. now and sell all their good products overseas, maybe that would be an improvement?

[1audiohack]

No marketing? I saw a bright orange trailer with JBL all over it at the Formula Drift competition here a week ago. They had a buggy beside it with some of the junk Widget posted in the back.

Damn near everyone there was Asian, but I still coulnd't make the connection.

[No reason to leave the 4-ways at home ]

I got around that by setting up an exact duplicate system at the shop. While the home system is tolerated by the wife, the entire family recoils from TEF sweeps, so I now do it all here at the shop. Way more space anyway.

[cooky1257]

I think the former CEO of a shampoo company is taking over from Sidney so JBL should do just fine. Rumor has it he loves jingles so maybe we can get some JBL commercials going on TV. In fact, I think the best bet would be to have women with long, radiant hair with no split ends peddling iPod docks and Everest II's to snappy tunes.

"JBL, because they're worth it"

[Mr. Widget]

...but what are my options if I want to grow my business?

That is something that absolutely eludes me. Why is it that a company is only considered successful if it has growth? When JP Morgan is profitable but not more so than a year ago they are considered failing...

It is this unending need to grow, to increase, to raise productivity, to extend into new markets etc. that is a huge problem for us. We simply can't have a crappy LCD set and DVD player in every room of every building in every country of the world... but that is the ultimate goal.


Widget

[Audiobeer]

I'm just hoping to hang on long enough to get a job as an CSR for an up and coming company that manufactures in the 3rd world. That's where the actions going to be.

I'm getting on line to apply as soon as I'm out of Anheuser Busch products!