Both brands are part of HARMAN, a wholly owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics. In 2026, the companies mark three milestones — JBL’s 80th anniversary, Bowers & Wilkins’ 60th anniversary, and 10 years of the Samsung-HARMAN partnership.

Samsung Newsroom spoke with Dave Rogers, President of the Lifestyle Division, and Armin Prommersberger, Chief Technology Officer, both at HARMAN, about the values that have shaped the two audio brands, the evolution of the Samsung-HARMAN partnership, and what lies ahead.

A Legacy of Pioneering Spirit and Innovation

Q. What has allowed JBL and Bowers & Wilkins to remain relevant across generations?

Rogers: JBL has never assumed that what worked yesterday would be enough for tomorrow. The brand has expanded beyond cinemas and studios into festivals, cars, homes, headphones, and portable speakers.

Technology, listening habits, and culture have changed, but the reason people care about sound remains the same. Sound evokes emotion, creates memories, and brings people together.

The journey from the JBL 4310 studio monitor to the JBL L100 loudspeaker captures this well. The 4310 was developed for professionals whose work demanded critical listening. JBL then carried that professional audio DNA into the L100, bringing professional-grade sound into the home. The L100 went on to become the brand’s best-selling loudspeaker. More than a technological evolution, this transition reflected JBL’s ability to connect the people who shape culture with those who live it.

Bowers & Wilkins has followed a different path from JBL. Designed for accuracy, its 801 loudspeaker became a reference monitor for engineers at Abbey Road Studios — the recording studio that has worked with some of the world’s most celebrated artists — reflecting the brand’s commitment to acoustic precision and fidelity to the original performance.

Different personalities, but the same refusal to compromise on what matters.

Q. What is one core value of JBL and Bowers & Wilkins that should never change?

Rogers: Our obsession with quality and the experiences both brands deliver. Products and technology will change, but how we make people feel — that’s the standard.

Prommersberger: Curiosity. The moment an engineer says, “That’s good enough,” we have a problem. Fortunately, we have quite a few people at HARMAN who find “good enough” deeply irritating.

Bowers & Wilkins’ Nautilus loudspeaker is a great example. The brand had already made significant progress in reducing unwanted vibration with its Matrix cabinet technology, but John Bowers and his research team questioned whether the cabinet itself was part of the problem. That question led to five years of research and ultimately to the development of Nautilus, featuring a tapered-tube design to absorb unwanted sound from the back of the drive units.

Good engineering is not only about solving problems. Sometimes, it is about becoming uncomfortable with the solutions that have already made you successful.

Q. And what must continue to change?

Prommersberger: Technology. People’s expectations don’t stand still, and we’re moving toward experiences that understand context, adapt intelligently, and become more personal.

Today, we still do a lot of work for our devices — choosing modes, opening apps, and adjusting settings. With AI and greater connectivity, technology can better understand us and adapt more naturally to our needs.

The breakthrough will not be that our devices can do more. It will be that we have to manage them less.

Complementary Strengths, Shared Ambition

Q. What have Samsung and HARMAN achieved and learned over 10 years of partnership?

Rogers: One of the earliest examples was bringing HARMAN’s audio expertise into the Galaxy experience through AKG, a HARMAN company. We combined our knowledge of sound with Samsung’s capabilities in mobile technology, design, and scale to enhance products people already use every day.

We then applied this approach more broadly through the Automotive Digital Cockpit, combining Samsung’s strengths in displays and connected ecosystems with HARMAN’s automotive and in-cabin expertise. The ambition was no longer simply to bring better technology into cars but to see them as part of people’s connected lives.

We’ve learned how to turn our differences into strengths.

Throughout our journey together, we’ve also learned to think bigger and faster. Samsung has an extraordinary ability to turn ideas into technology that touches people’s lives on an enormous scale. That mindset challenges us — in a good way.

The Future of Sound That Moves People

Q. Samsung and HARMAN share a vision for connected experiences. What could that look like throughout someone’s day?

Prommersberger: Imagine a typical day. You wake up, and your Galaxy devices are ready to help you start the day. When you leave home and get into your car, the vehicle can adapt to your journey and the preferences you’ve chosen to share.

Your audio experience continues naturally. Information is prioritized based on the situation while you’re driving, and the cabin adjusts to the people inside. On the way home, your car and home can work together to make the transition feel almost seamless.

A truly connected day should have fewer seams in it. Users shouldn’t have to think about which app to open or which setting to change. They should simply feel that technology understands the flow of their day and gets out of the way.

Q. What excites you most about the next 10 years?

Prommersberger: I think technology is going to understand us much better — our environment, preferences, activities, and needs. That creates new possibilities for sound, mobility, and connected experiences.

Technology should become more intelligent so the experience can become more human. If we get that right, people won’t notice the complexity underneath. They’ll simply feel the difference.

Rogers: Eighty years from now, people may not remember every technology we launched. But they’ll remember the experiences those technologies made possible — the concert they felt part of, the song they couldn’t stop playing, the drive they’ll never forget, and the people they shared those moments with. Technology changes quickly, but human emotion doesn’t. Our opportunity is to keep bringing those two things together.

Throughout the year, HARMAN has showcased JBL’s iconic products from different eras in major cities — including Los Angeles, Amsterdam, Vienna, Munich, Nagoya, and Tokyo. The Seoul exhibition marks the final stop on the global tour, with a specially curated experience that reflects the city’s cultural identity and changing lifestyles over the decades.

Spanning three floors, the JBL Playback Gallery brings together 80 years of JBL history and its latest products, alongside an exhibition dedicated to the 60th anniversary of premium audio brand Bowers & Wilkins. Samsung Newsroom got an exclusive preview ahead of the opening.

JBL Heritage: A Journey Through 80 Years of Sound Heritage

At the heart of the exhibition was the “JBL Heritage” section on the second floor. Under the theme “A Legacy of Sound,” the space chronicled eight decades of audio innovation through signature JBL products displayed in recreated living rooms from the 1920s, 1950s, and 1970s — capturing the atmosphere of each era.

The 1920s living room featured a 1929 Jackson-Bell radio equipped with speakers produced by Lansing Manufacturing, a company founded in Los Angeles in 1927 by JBL founder James B. Lansing. The model offered a glimpse into the early work that laid the foundation for the brand.

In the 1950s living room, the JBL Paragon blended into its surroundings like a piece of furniture. Launched in 1957, the home stereo speaker system housed left and right speakers in a single cabinet. Each unit required approximately 100 hours of woodworking and featured a distinctive curved wooden design.

Complete with a turntable and vinyl records, the 1970s living room illustrated how professional audio technology made its way into homes. On display was the JBL L100 Century, a home loudspeaker launched in 1970 based on the 4310 studio monitor introduced in 1968. It went on to become one of JBL’s most successful home loudspeakers.

Beyond the period-inspired settings, “Playback Gallery: A Story of JBL Through the Ages” charted major milestones — from James B. Lansing’s early speaker designs and the founding of JBL to technological advances in recording studios, cinemas, and concert venues. The speakers on display and their stories revealed how the brand’s innovations have contributed to the evolution of music over the past 80 years.

▲ The “Playback Gallery” showcases key moments and products from JBL’s 80-year history.

The “Pro to Home” section explored how JBL’s professional audio technologies developed for cinemas and recording studios have evolved for home use. Among the highlights was the Summit K2, the latest model in a high-end loudspeaker lineage dating back to the introduction of Project K2 in 1989. Building on the series’ pursuit of exceptional home audio performance, the Summit K2 combines advanced acoustic technologies with powerful dynamics and nuanced musical detail.

JBL Today: Sound in Everyday Life

While the second floor explored JBL’s history, the first floor focused on the brand today. Positioned at the entrance was the L100 Classic 80, a limited-edition model that combines the iconic design of the original 1970s L100 with modern technology. Produced in just 800 pairs worldwide to celebrate JBL’s 80th anniversary, each set features a commemorative plaque engraved with the signature of Chief Systems Engineer Chris Hagen and a unique serial number.

This year also marks a decade since Samsung Electronics announced its acquisition of HARMAN, JBL’s parent company. The portable speaker and headphone zones reflected how the partnership has brought JBL products into more aspects of everyday life.

Inspired by Seoul’s contrasting day and night scenes, the space featured two distinct zones. “Seoul by Night” evoked an urban campsite against the backdrop of N Seoul Tower after dark, with Bluetooth speakers and PartyBox models on display. Meanwhile, “Seoul by Day” recreated a city street in daylight, featuring JBL headphones and earbuds designed for everyday listening.

An art wall created in collaboration with Korean artist DAWN added a local touch. The artwork reimagined JBL’s 80th-anniversary campaign logo using traditional Korean patterns, bronze bells, and the colors of “dancheong,” a decorative painting style found on traditional Korean architecture.

Bowers & Wilkins: Six Decades of True Sound

On the third floor, the exhibition concluded with “60 Years of True Sound,” a section dedicated to Bowers & Wilkins’ 60th anniversary. Founded in the United Kingdom in 1966, the premium audio brand joined HARMAN’s portfolio following its acquisition of Masimo’s audio business last year.

The display introduced founder John Bowers’ “True Sound” philosophy and followed the brand’s evolution through signature products — from its first speaker, the P2H, to the iconic Nautilus. At the center of the space stood five models from the recently unveiled flagship 800 Series Diamond D5 lineup.

The exhibition also highlighted Bowers & Wilkins’ longstanding relationship with Abbey Road Studios, where numerous Grammy Award-winning recordings have been produced. Since the original 801 was introduced at the studio in 1979, successive generations of the 800 Series have served as reference monitors for engineers and producers working on music recordings and film soundtracks. Personal audio products, including wireless headphones, were also on display.

The preview offered just a glimpse of what awaits visitors when the exhibition opens. Starting October 24, guided tours will introduce visitors to JBL’s 80-year history, while product demonstrations will offer a chance to hear its signature sound firsthand.

JBL’s 80-year history reflects how the changing ways people create and enjoy music. Technologies developed for recording studios and live venues have found their way into homes and everyday life through loudspeakers and portable audio products. Bringing together iconic products from different eras and the latest models, the JBL Playback Gallery invites visitors to discover the brand’s enduring pursuit of better sound.