CHAPTER 1 – LEGACY: THE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF
THE JBL
PROJECT
LOUDSPEAKERS
Of those few who seek perfection in
sound reproduction, only a handful
have actually achieved it. The price
is always high. It is a rare occur-
rence indeed when an individual or
group is able to triumph over the
constraints of economic and tech-
nological reality even once.
At JBL, this has happened eight
times. In each case, its engineers
were told to build the speaker sys-
tem they had always wanted to
build. Whatever resources were
required would be made available.
Thus began an ongoing investiga-
tion into new frontiers of sound
reproduction, beginning in 1950,
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 that time, combined into a
single system. They are
Hartsfield,
Paragon, Everest, K2 S9500/7500
and
K2 S5500.
The newest models are
the
K2 S5800
and
K2 S9800.
Although differing in performance
details and physical attributes, each
of the
Project
loudspeakers has
shared a common objective: to ele-
vate sound reproduction to levels
defined only by the limitations of
existing materials and technology.
And despite a spread of nearly 50
years, all
Project
loudspeakers
have shared many common
features – testimony to their
foundation on 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, engi-
neer a product as close to perfection
as possible. When it reaches that
level, it is time to make it better.
In 1954, the
Hartsfield
was signifi-
cant in that it represented not
new
technology, but rather a new level
of the all-technical manufacturing
approach pioneered by James B.
Lansing some 20 years before it.
Like its
Project
series successors,
it was a high-efficiency system
incorporating compression driver
technology, one combining the
qualities of high output, low distor-
tion, exceptional stereo imaging
and fatigue-free listening. Most
important, it was the first consumer-
available listening system to do so.
In this respect,
Project K2 S5800
is at once the most advanced and
sophisticated loudspeaker in the
world today (save for the
Project
K2 S9800
) and a speaker whose
technology is deeply rooted in more
than 50 years of tradition. JBL’s
president in 1954, William Thomas,
described the
Hartsfield
as “...the
speaker system we have always
wanted to build...the finest compo-
nents ever made available to seri-
ous listeners.”
He went on to describe the process
behind his creation: “Most people
who own and appreciate fine sound
reproduction equipment look for-
ward to the day when they will be
able to assemble a system without
limitation in just exactly the way
they think it should be done.
“Periodically, a manufacturer gets
this same feeling....The science of
acoustics has provided us with
basic principles – available to all for
achieving precision reproduction.
It is only a matter of incorporating
these methods into a system design,
and then taking every bit of trouble
necessary to build a system pre-
cisely to the design. It isn't easy, but
that’s the way it is done.”
The
Ranger-Paragon,
JBL’s second
Project
system, was the first seri-
ous attempt at a reflecting speaker
system, and broke new ground in
the concept of stereo imaging.
Essentially two independent full-
range speaker systems installed in
a handsome curved cabinet nearly
9 feet long, the
Paragon’s
enclosure
was treated as an extension of its
transducers. In essence, the system
had its own “built-in acoustics.” In
many respects the
Paragon
antici-
pated loudspeaker developments
that would occur years – and even
decades – later.
For nearly 30 years, the
Paragon
remained the most acoustically
viable sound system for the home.
Today, along with the
Hartsfield
,
it is still the most sought-after
speaker in the world.
In 1986, JBL introduced a new
Project
system that retained the
Paragon’s
overall sense of musicality
while upgrading its character by
incorporating three decades’ worth
of continuous development in every
facet of its design. Its name reflected
the pinnacle of achievement it rep-
resented:
Project Everest.
For the first time, the rest of the
sound reproduction chain – and not
the loudspeaker or its transducers –
would impose limits on overall sys-
tem performance. Like the
Paragon
and
Hartsfield, Project Everest
was built around compression
driver technology and addressed
a more refined stereo image than
was previously considered
technically feasible.
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