End of an Era. 43 years with JBL is Over

[DavidF]

I've been thinking about all this..a bit.

We have focused on Greg's treatment (and rightly so) , but ...I think there is another shoe going to drop,

You do not dump a keystone designer unless there is a bigger picture. That brings up scenarios.

Maybe HAR is taking JBL out of the larger speakers business, as they have others doing that under their umbrella ? Redundancy (they have Revel for that) ?
Maybe they think they have a well trained replacement for Greg (at less pay) lurking somewhere ? Maybe the large speaker market is dead/saturated ? Maybe they think that skating along on Greg's designs for a while is possible ?

Maybe they just don't care and the bottom line is more important ?

Maybe it's all of the above ?? ..... There's an East Wind coming ....

(and another shoe going to drop ...IMHG)

It's truly hard to say and likely Greg may not know the full story.

Greg was a connection to the "old" company that may not fit in with the direction HAR is pushing JBL along.

For the same reason I likely won't follow JBL in that direction. Times change, not always for the better.

[4313B]

They purchased part of Bang & Olufsen recently, maybe they have a plan to buy the rest now.

Oh bloody hell!!!

[LowPhreak]

I've been thinking about all this..a bit.

We have focused on Greg's treatment (and rightly so) , but ...I think there is another shoe going to drop,

You do not dump a keystone designer unless there is a bigger picture. That brings up scenarios.

Maybe HAR is taking JBL out of the larger speakers business, as they have others doing that under their umbrella ? Redundancy (they have Revel for that) ?
Maybe they think they have a well trained replacement for Greg (at less pay) lurking somewhere ? Maybe the large speaker market is dead/saturated ? Maybe they think that skating along on Greg's designs for a while is possible ?

Maybe they just don't care and the bottom line is more important ?

Maybe it's all of the above ?? ..... There's an East Wind coming ....

(and another shoe going to drop ...IMHG)

I think those all play a part, but in the end it's the bottom line for Harman; customers, employees, and environment take the hindmost more than ever. Each quarter has to show an improvement over the last, and if sales aren't doing it then more "creative" ways for increasing profit margin are used. Absolutely nothing else matters but increased profits, and Harman is not unique in this.

Also the 'elephant-in-the-room' income disparity now, and changed perceptions of what's desirable. Most people or families can't afford a $12-20k 4365 or K2, or $8k 1400 Array. Even if they could, I think almost everyone I know with traditionally middle-class jobs would think you're completely nuts if you said you wanted to spend that much on a stereo/music system. Even a $1000.-2000. pair of speakers seems ridiculous when they'd rather put it into a car, house, TV, or latest Apple gadget.

Where's that "middle-class expendable income" that used to keep companies like JBL going? We all know that's been shrinking for years and it's hitting some kind of critical mass lately. What does $1.97/gal. gas and a stock market almost completely disconnected from the real economy tell us? It tells me that demand has shrunk.

Henry Ford knew in 1914 that he had to pay his workers a better wage or eventually he wouldn't sell many Model T's. Waitressing or selling headphones at Best Buy isn't going to get you a pair of Array's, while Harman is making speakers in Mexico or China and the UAW is trying to cut U.S. autoworkers' wages by a third or half.

So, a lot of the factors you mentioned along with "it's the economy, stupid".

[sonofagun]

I suggest we start a crowdfunding campaign to finance a new company with the suggested name GT Loudspeakers or 'GTL'. The purpose of this company would be to design build and market top-of-the line drivers / loudspeakers, while employing Greg Timbers and the other former designers from JBL. Capturing a significant fraction of JBL's market share, the proposed company would teach JBL to respect their designers.

Well, I would hope it would get better results than my campaign did:

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/f...ch/x/9333970#/

I'd be glad to welcome Mr. Timbers on board my company which has plans in the work to expand.

So Harman still has operations here in the USA (CA)? I sorta got the impression from their contact with me a while back they had moved to China.

[rdgrimes]

This crap makes you wonder:

http://www.jblsynthesis.com/

The domain is now being re-directed to the main JBL site.

[4313B]

The JBL Synthesis website is currently undergoing site maintenance. We apologize for the inconvenience. Please visit http://www.jbl.com in the interim.

It is merely under maintenance... All the screws came loose so they are trying to find new screws and a screwdriver to screw them back in.

[hjames]

The new Harmin' JBL site hasn't been for us for quite a while now -

Its just fricken sad ...
Time to move on, spend money elsewhere ...

This crap makes you wonder:

http://www.jblsynthesis.com/

The domain is now being re-directed to the main JBL site.

[BMWCCA]

The new Harmin' JBL site hasn't been for us for quite a while now -

Its just fricken sad ...
Time to move on, spend money elsewhere ...

Is it time to archive all the tech sheets linked to in the Technical Reference forum here before they disappear?

[RedCoat23]

Probably a good idea.

Who knows how they may restructure web pages and we'll end up with broken links. This site has a degree of insight into the workings of a commercial company I've rarely seen elsewhere. It would be a shame if that hard-won knowledge was lost with the passing of the old guard...

[rdgrimes]

Is it time to archive all the tech sheets linked to in the Technical Reference forum here before they disappear?

They may be gone already, at least for Synthesis gear. I noticed that today on some Google searches, the images are only available in cache, links are broken.

[Ian Mackenzie]

JBL's approach to Greg's departure could have been done differently.

Looking at the Harman Board none of them have grown up in the industry or the business. Given the scale of JBL Auto segment the business is now about scale and numbers. A far cry ftom the cherished Legacy business we love to read about in the Library.

I doubt this action will win the respect of the industry and could make doing business challeging in the immeduate future.

Its fair to say Greg will be remembered as one of the most well liked members of the JBL Engineering Team.

I recall sending a request to the JBL Service Department enquries portal way back 2003 for tuning and network schematics of the JBL 4345. At the time l was keen to build a diy clone like the 4345 and figured getting a reply back from JBL was a long shot.

But a couple of days later l received a personal email from Greg on how to tune the 4345 and complete engineering technical data sheets of the system. Greg was very enthusiastic about getting the project going and encouraged me to bi amp the system. Apparently a nephew of one of of the team picked up the enquiry and it soon found its way to Greg's office as he was one of the few people then who was still around from when the 4345 went into production cc1983.

The 4345 remains my favourite and most enjoyable diy loudspeaker.

[Ducatista47]

I just ordered a JBL Studio 2 subwoofer and turned up this video in the official site. It is a little unsettling to see it at this point in time.

[JBLGUY]

Anytime an area ends it is sad. What will folks in the future know of the great music to come from classic JBL speakers....so sad really

[tomt]

What does $1.97/gal. gas and a ....

wondering about that myself.

last week -

I just ordered a JBL Studio 2 subwoofer and turned up this video in the official site. It is a little unsettling to see it at this point in time.

the comments from that video -

• Replies: 117
• Views: 9,881

[SEAWOLF97]

Also the 'elephant-in-the-room' income disparity now, and changed perceptions of what's desirable. Most people or families can't afford a $12-20k 4365 or K2, or $8k 1400 Array. Even if they could, I think almost everyone I know with traditionally middle-class jobs would think you're completely nuts if you said you wanted to spend that much on a stereo/music system. Even a $1000.-2000. pair of speakers seems ridiculous when they'd rather put it into a car, house, TV, or latest Apple gadget.

When I rejoined "THE World" in 1972 . my big stereo souvenirs were Pioneer CS-77a's. They were fine, until I stopped in to a local stereo shop and auditioned JBL L-100's. Wow , I was smitten.

BUT, they were sold at what was called "fair trade" price. ie: NO discount, full bore MSRP of $273 each.

Relating back to LP's quote above .... they were just plain "out of reach" . Going to school on GI Bill payments of $289/mo. It just wasn't going to happen.

Fortunately for most of us, those speakers aged/depreciated as we grew older and more able to purchase them. Now almost all of us can buy classic (non new) JBL's on a whim. Fortunately also, many are either still in good shape or can be rehabbed into the condition that we desire.

All this makes me wonder whether we are helping to decrease demand for new product and therefore impact Greg's value to the new Harming Corp ?