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Legacy
the historicaL DeveLoPment of
the jbL Project LouDsPeakers
Of those who have sought perfection in sound reproduction, only a
few have actually come close. For one thing, it is a costly process.
It is rare indeed when an individual or group is able to triumph over
the constraints of economic and technological realities even once.
At JBL, this has happened nine times. In each case, our engineers
were told to build the speaker system they had always wanted
to build. Whatever resources were required would be made
available. Thus began an ongoing search for new frontiers in
sound reproduction, beginning in the mid-1950s and continuing
to the present day.
The products that have resulted from this venture are now known
as the JBL Project loudspeakers. Each represents the absolute
peak of every technological, material and engineering innovation
available at the time, combined into a single loudspeaker
system. They are Hartsfield, Paragon, Everest DD55000, K2
S9500/7500, K2 S5500, K2 S9800, K2 S5800, Project Everest
DD66000 and K2 S9900.
Although differing in performance details and physical attributes,
all of the Project loudspeakers have shared a common objective
– to elevate sound reproduction to levels defined only by the
limitations of existing materials and technology. The fact that all
Project loudspeakers have many common features, despite
their having been created over a span of nearly sixty years, is a
testimony to the excellence of the technology and manufacturing
techniques upon which JBL was built.
defininG the Project concePt
The Hartsfield began a tradition at JBL that continues today. First,
engineer a product as close to perfection as possible. When it
reaches that level, make it better.
In 1954, the Hartsfield was significant in that it represented not new
technology, but rather a new level of technical manufacturing, in the
spirit of the approach pioneered by James B. Lansing some twenty
years before. Like its Project series successors, it was a high-
efficiency system incorporating compression driver technology and
combining the qualities of high-output, low-distortion, exceptional
stereo imaging and fatigue-free listening. Most important, it was
the first loudspeaker system available to consumers to do all this.
JBL's president in 1954, William Thomas, described the Hartsfield
as the "speaker system we have always wanted to build [with] the
finest components ever made available to serious listeners."
JBL Hartsfield
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