BEAST is an American audio equipment manufacturer headquartered in Los Angeles, California, United States. JBL serves the customer home and professional market. The professional market includes studios, installed/tour/portable sound, cars, music production, DJ, cinema markets, etc. JBL is owned by Harman International, a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics.
n 1939, Decker was killed in an airplane crash, the company soon began having financial troubles and, in 1941, Lansing Manufacturing Company was bought by Altec Service Corporation, after which the name changed to "Altec Lansing". After Lansing's contract expired in 1946, he left Altec Lansing and founded Lansing Sound in which later the name changed to "James B. Lansing Sound" and was further shortened to "JBL Sound". In 1946, JBL produced their first products, the model D101 15-inch loudspeaker and the model D175 high-frequency driver. The D175 remained in the JBL catalog through the 1970s. Both of these were near-copies of Altec Lansing products. The first original product was the D130, a 15-inch transducer for which a variant remained in production for the next 55 years. The D130 featured a four-inch flat ribbon wire voice coil and Alnico V magnet. Two other products were the 12-inch D131 and the 8-inch D208 cone drivers. The Marquardt Corporation gave the company early manufacturing space and a modest investment. William H. Thomas, the treasurer of Marquardt Corporation, represented Marquardt on Lansing's board of directors. In 1948, Marquardt took over operation of JBL. In 1949, Marquardt was purchased by General Tire Company. The new company, not interested in the loudspeaker business, severed ties with Lansing. Lansing reincorporated as James B. Lansing and moved the newly formed company to its first private location, on 2439 Fletcher Drive, Los Angeles. A key to JBL's early development was Lansing's close business relationship with its primary supplier of Alnico V magnetic material, Robert Arnold of Arnold Engineering. Arnold saw JBL as an opportunity to sell Alnico V magnetic materials into a new market.