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JBL is an American company that manufactures loudspeaker and associated electronics. There are two independent divisions within the company – It Consumer and Its Professional. The former produces audio equipment for the consumer home market while the latter produces professional equipment for the studio, installed sound, tour sound, portable sound (production and DJ), and cinema markets. It is owned by Harman International Industries, a subsidiary of South Korean company Samsung Electronics.

It was founded by James Bullough Lansing (1902–1949) who was a pioneering American audio engineer and loudspeaker designer most notable for establishing two audio companies that bear his name, Altec Lansing and JBL, the latter taken from his initials.

Lansing and his business partner Ken Decker started a company in 1927, in Los Angeles, manufacturing 6- and 8-inch speaker drivers for radio consoles and radio sets. The company was called Lansing Manufacturing Company, from March 1, 1927.

In 1939 Decker was killed in an airplane crash, the company soon began having financial troubles without Decker’s guidance and in 1941, Lansing Manufacturing Company was bought by Altec Service Corporation, after Lansing’s Contract expired in 1946 he left the company and founded Lansing Sound inc. in which later the name changed to James B. Lansing sound and even later shortened to JBL sound