Golden Age JBL Personnel

[Harvey Gerst]

Well, since I just turned 72, I thought it might be a good idea to let people here know about what JBL was like in the 50's and 60's. I still have vivid memories of a lot of the people working at JBL during the Fletcher Drive and Casitas Avenue years.

I'll try to post my memories (of the JBL people I knew) over the next few months on this thread. Some of the people will include George Martin, Howard Wieser, Jim Barthell, Arnold Kallin, Bill Thomas, Margret Jackson (Thomas), Ed May, Bart Locanthi, Bill Burton, Col. Richard Ranger, Tony Pachecko, Tony Lowe, Johnny Edwards, Ray Pepe, and as many others as my memory will dredge up.

[Krunchy]

Hi Harvey!
I look forward to hearing about your stories from the past & hope your birthday was a joyous one with lots of family & friends.

EDIT:
Hi Rob!
dont want to clutter-up Harvey's Thread with another post but I think your idea of a new thread for responses &/or questions is a great idea, feel free to move this post where you wish.
Hope all's well with you & yours

[Robh3606]

Hello Harvey

That would would be very nice of you to share those memories with us. I will clean up any follow on posts to keep the thread clear. We can always open a comments thread for responses to the thread and to answer any questions people may have. That way this thread can stay focused instead of rambling off topic like most seem too.

Thanks

Rob

[robertbartsch]

Happy Birthday HiFi!

Could you share any stories about how specific drivers or systems were developed? My first driver purchase was an 077.

Anyway, you should consider writing a book that documents the
early years of one of America's great success stories.

[Harvey Gerst]

Happy Birthday HiFi!

Could you share any stories about how specific drivers or systems were developed? My first driver purchase was an 077.

Anyway, you should consider writing a book that documents the
early years of one of America's great success stories.

I was there when Bill Burton came up with the 075 and the D123, and I was there when Ed May developed the LE series and I was there when we introduced a lot of the systems. I'll be talking about all of that - and more.

[macaroonie]

I can feel a sticky coming !! Please lets hear the history, thank you.

[AmericanPie]

Hi Harvey,

I'll be looking forward to reading whatever information you can share about a true American icon. I agree with another poster that you should consider writing a book. You have plenty of resources right here on LH to help you along.

As the original owner of four L100s, I'd be especially interested to hear what you have to say about what was going on inside the company during the L100's development. Since I've joined this forum I was very surprised to find that a few people here think it was more of a "marketing gimmick" than an attempt at a true quality loudspeaker. Advances made in both technology and manufacturing may have produced higher-performance speakers since then, but personally I have a hard time believing that any speaker made from such rugged, high quality studio monitor components and with such obvious care given to industrial design would have been conceived as a "gimmick".

So did the L100 project have the "respect" of those working inside JBL at the time, or was it generally considered a specially "colored" speaker designed to attract a mass market of non-critical listeners? I'd love to hear the unbiased opinion of an insider.

Oh - something else that I'd like to hear is what the people inside JBL were feeling as the company began to lower the quality and introduce more "entry-level" models during the 1980s. Did this have a negative effect on moral?

I don't mean to rush you, but let's get started on that book :-)

Pie

[BMWCCA]

Since I've joined this forum I was very surprised to find that a few people here think it was more of a "marketing gimmick" than an attempt at a true quality loudspeaker.

Not really appropriate to the thread but I felt compelled to reply. I'm sure the mods will clean this whole thread up as mentioned.

The L100 isn't considered by those here as poor quality. It came from the control monitor designed for a specific purpose and was voiced that way intentionally. The criticism isn't in the quality of the components or the build but in the final results of the sound versus more "faithful" studio monitors and other JBL designs. Crossover mods and port plugs are all designed to help an icon actually sound the way a JBL should. The sobriquet "fake-but-fun" is a term or endearment and a paean to their place in JBL history and many enjoy them just for that, even if they're not the first choice for serious, deep listening.

[Harvey Gerst]

I had moved on to Acoustic Control Corporation by the time that the L100 and 4310 came out, but I was still friends with Ed May. AFAIK, the 4310 was designed as a nearfield monitor for Capitol Records and it was "voiced" to emulate the larger Altec monitors. It was received with great success, with many engineers grabbing them for home use. From the success of the 4310, the L100 was born. I believe George Augspurger had a lot to do with the final L100.

Was the L100 percieved as a joke by JBL people? I sincerly doubt it. A lot of major engineersand producers lauded the 4310 as a great speaker for monitoring the actual sounds made during the recording process, so a "home version" was a natural progression for JBL.

I'm pretty sure Ed May didn't see it as a joke. Ed's personal home system consisted of JBL 4310 components (with 2 woofers per side) in 8 cubic foot boxes. Ed's home system is still working today in our Studio A and is flat from 27 Hz to 22 KHz.

[4313B]

Oh - something else that I'd like to hear is what the people inside JBL were feeling as the company began to lower the quality and introduce more "entry-level" models during the 1980s.

1970's with the Decade Series... unless you're referring to the "entry, entry level" Radiance Series of the early 80's.

Even during it’s heyday, I’ve been told that the Decade series generated more revenue than the L100. The important fact to note is that the success of the Decade series would likely never have happened without the L100. - Don McRitchie

Since I've joined this forum I was very surprised to find that a few people here think it was more of a "marketing gimmick" than an attempt at a true quality loudspeaker.

Internet forums are notoriously known for misinformation so I wouldn't let people posting personal opinions about what loudspeakers they like and dislike bother you.

L100/4310

L100 and 43XX Monitor Legacy - Lansing Heritage Forums

[AmericanPie]

Yes, I was referring to the latter, 1980s series speakers with cheap vinyl cladding as such. I've never considered anything JBL made up until that time as "entry level" in the grand scheme of things; I felt they were all superior products compared to most of the competition. Even the smaller JBL speakers (such as Decades) were just a little "less of a good thing" in my view; just OWNING a set of JBLs was a pretty special thing in itself. Sort of like owning an old Ferrari...ANY Ferrari, even if it's "only" a V6 or V8 and not a V12. Today, they're ALL considered classics.

But OK, I understand that all companies produce some products within their own marketing mix that can be termed "entry level". By that definition, though, I don't think the Decade series could properly be considered JBL's first foray into that category. If you go to the LH Library and peruse over some old JBL Home catalogs (as far back as the early 1960's), you'll see many speakers that could probably be considered "entry level". Don't products like Athena, Minuet, Cortina (from the '70 catalog), Libra, Nova 88, Lancer (from the '67 home catalog), and Madison, Wilton, C34/C36 (from the '62 catalog) fit that description? Or are you saying that the quality of components they used were vastly superior to those used in the Decades? That would surprise me too, as I've never owned a pair (of Decades) but have heard some very good things about them.

Maybe Harvey can tell us a little bit about some of those 1960's products and how they fit into JBL's marketing plans.

[4313B]

Or are you saying that the quality of components they used were vastly superior to those used in the Decades?

I was thinking specifically about the less expensive woofers used in the Decade Series as compared with anything JBL made previously, 116A versus LE8 and 125A/127A versus LE10. These newer, less expensive woofers certainly did their job, they just weren't the same kind of build that we had grown accustomed to with the LE Series which Harvey can explain.

Don had a great post about how the Decade woofers came about, I just can't locate it at present.

[mech986]

I'm pretty sure Ed May didn't see it as a joke. Ed's personal home system consisted of JBL 4310 components (with 2 woofers per side) in 8 cubic foot boxes. Ed's home system is still working today in our Studio A and is flat from 27 Hz to 22 KHz.

Harvey,

Thanks for your answer and insight into Ed May. Do you have any pics of his/your Studio A system? It would be interesting to see how those components, plentiful as they are today, are melded together to form such an outstanding monitor. Of course, the build and crossover details would be very interesting as well as the inevitable question - if it was that good, why didn't JBL produce it or did they use it as a stepping stone towards the 434x / 435x systems? Could be an interesting DIY system too.

Bart

[Harvey Gerst]

Memories Of William H. Thomas

Before Bill Thomas married his secretary (Margaret Jackson), he was married and lived in the hills of N. Vermont Street (on the road to Griffith Park Observatory). They would invite me and Margaret over for dinner from time to time.

Bill had a son who was a little younger than I was, and we were both interested in Astronomy, so a friendship developed between us. Bill's son wound up working at the Observatory during the summers, and we lost touch over the years.

After Bill and Margaret got married, I did visit their ranch near Santa Barbara a few times, and we stayed in touch over the phone after I moved to Texas. So, I had a number of occasions over the years to see William Thomas as a friend and not just as a boss.

He was an imposing figure as a boss, with a big booming voice and a 6' 4' frame that towered over just about everybody. He cared about everybody that worked there and he was easy to talk to; he really listened when people talked to him. If JBL was having money problems, he never let on, at least not to the other employees. He loved to laugh, and his laugh could be heard all over the building.

He was usually the last person to leave the plant, and often worked weekends. When I became head of QC, I got my own key to the building on Casitas, and I'd come in on Saturdays and Sundays to work on repair speakers or test finished speakers from Friday's run. He caught me working on weekends several times and admonished me to stop coming in on weekends. I'd ignore him and eventually, he gave up trying.