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.

As JBL celebrates its 80th anniversary in 2026, the company’s history is closely intertwined with how people create and enjoy music. Audio technologies refined in recording studios and live venues have made their way into everyday life, while JBL’s products have evolved alongside changing listening habits. Decades of innovation and experience have helped define JBL’s signature sound.

Samsung Newsroom traces JBL’s 80-year journey through its iconic products and defining moments in the infographic below.

Samsung Newsroom spoke with Dr. Sean Olive, Acoustic Research Senior Fellow for HARMAN International, where he has worked since 1993. He directs the Corporate HARMAN X Sound Quality Group, whose research has mainly focused on the perception and measurement of sound reproduction including loudspeakers, room acoustics, automotive audio, headphones, and smart speakers.

Dr. Sean E. Olive, Senior Fellow, Acoustic Research HARMAN INTERNATIONAL

Q. What are the current music listening trends especially amongst a young generation and how does the context of listening to music influence our experience?

Music today is heard under many different contexts and environments often serving as an accompaniment to daily activities such as exercise, commuting, work, and shopping.

Among Millennials, digital streaming of music has become the preferred means to listen to music. They listen to 75% more music on a daily basis than Baby boomers.¹ A 2016 study from Northwestern University found that when it comes to music discovery, young people value convenience the most, favoring music services that are available across many platforms for easy access.

Moreover, new channels of digital music distribution such as music apps have made it easier for consumers to access a deeper catalogue of music from different artists and genres than ever before. Millennials in particular like to select their own tracks and tend to jump across platforms to hear the songs they like, and will skip songs they don’t like after hearing a few bars. We’ve moved from listening to entire albums from the same artist to listening to individual tracks from multiple artists across different genres, which has not only significantly affected our experience, it impacts how music is created, recorded and distributed.

Q. Does the equipment matter when we’re listening to music or does a great song suffice?

Good equipment can’t fix a bad song or performance but it can make it sound wonderful. Good equipment allows us to hear all the notes of the music from the lowest pipe organ note to the highest overtones of the piccolo accurately reproduced with correct spectral balance and dynamic nuances. There is nothing more exciting than to experience a Beethoven Symphony reproduced through your audio system at home at concert levels without strain or compromise.

Q. What are some practical tips on how we can improve the quality of the music we listen to on a regular basis, including improving our listening experience?

For headphone listening, the fit and seal of the cup or ear-tip is critical to hearing good bass. If sound leaks out of your ear you are less isolated from background noise and will hear less bass.

For loudspeaker listening, proper placement is critical to achieving balanced sound and stereo imaging. The stereo speakers should be equidistant from the listener at an angle of ± 30 degrees in order to hear instruments properly distributed between the speakers. Moving them 1-2 meter away from the walls can reduce excess bass or muddiness. The speakers should be angled towards the listening spot with the tweeter at the same height as the ears of a seated listener.

Q. What does a listener need to pay attention to when they choose the device on which they listen to music?

Many speaker systems, particularly portable Bluetooth systems have limitations in how much bass they can reproduce particularly at higher volume levels. To hide this fact they will sometimes add extra upper bass, or for active speakers, they will reduce the bass as you turn up the volume making it sound thin and anemic. Apart from that, listen to tracks with instruments that cover the entire spectrum and listen for how smooth and even-balanced the sound is. The spectral balance should be smooth and even and sound neither bright/dull, or too full/thin. When you turn up the volume, the balance shouldn’t change significantly or get harsh and fuzzy (an indication of distortion).

Lexicon SL-1

Q. HARMAN launched Lexicon SL-1 recently. What are HARMAN’s expectations for the launch?

Musicians are probably familiar with the Lexicon brand, which invented digital reverberation. This is truly a unique loudspeaker in that the sounds radiated from it range from a narrow focus for an intimate sound to a very broad omnidirectional pattern without a significant change to the timbre of the sound. This gives you the option of hearing a very focused sound or a very spacious sound depending on the choice of music, room acoustics or personal taste. The so-called stereo sweet spot can also be beamed to wherever the listener chooses to sit.

Q. With technological innovations in audio technology, can more people become audiophiles and learn to appreciate high quality audio production and subtle differences that elevate the music to another level?

It is clear from HARMAN’s sound quality research over the past 25+ years that most naive listeners can hear and appreciate better sound quality when given the opportunity to compare different products side by side whether it’s loudspeakers, headphones or lossless versus low-bit MP3 music. With the decline of brick-and-mortar audio stores replaced by internet sales there are fewer opportunities to test products side by side. So, we have to figure out how to educate and reach more consumers on what is good sound, better communicate the benefits, and make it easier for them to find and achieve critical listening. The opportunities are huge since audio is consumed everywhere (car, home, cinema, work, gym and on-the-go). For example, we are working on a consumer-focused version of our listener training software called “How to Listen” that we hope to make available soon.

Q. How can you meet the balance between professional level sound quality and popularization?

HARMAN makes audio products for both professional and consumers. The sound quality targets are essentially the same. Any film, television, or music track mixed on a JBL professional monitor or AKG headphone should sound much the same on our higher quality consumer products. The differences mainly lie in the industrial design, features and user experience.

HARMAN Luxury Audio Studio in Munich, Germany

Q. HARMAN recently opened a luxury studio in Munich, Germany. Could you tell us a little bit about the studio and the features of the studio that you want people to know about?

Dedicated to the Art of Listening, the new Luxury Studio celebrates and showcases HARMAN’s award-winning luxury audio brands through a uniquely immersive approach.

HARMAN’s Luxury Audio Group boasts five prestigious brands—JBL Synthesis, Mark Levinson, Revel, Lexicon and ARCAM—which together deliver the most advanced high-performance audio systems available anywhere in the world. The HARMAN Luxury Audio Studio was designed to serve not only as a billboard for these remarkable, award-winning brands, but to offer HARMAN’s customers and partners the opportunity to interact with them in a wholly original way.

Resembling a musician’s loft, the studio contains a stereo lounge with a vinyl record wall and a conference room. Everything in the studio was designed using materials chosen for their acoustic properties, with vintage layers and textures throughout the space. Completing the studio is a state-of-the-art JBL Synthesis 7.4.4 home theater with Dolby Atmos® to be used as a testing ground for HARMAN’s latest products while providing a luxury in-home experience certain to impress audiophiles and audio professionals alike.

Q. Is there any HARMAN technology applied to Samsung products?

Yes, one example is the new AKG Headphones like the N5005 and N700, and Samsung Galaxy Buds. These new products are designed to conform to the HARMAN Target Curves, which is based on HARMAN X’s research into listener sound quality preferences. The sound profile is very precise and refined, and preferred by the majority of listeners we’ve tested.

In addition, there are already ongoing collaborations between Harman and Samsung in Lifestyle, Professional and Automotive spaces. HARMAN’s expertise, technologies and markets are a natural compliment to Samsung’s so it only makes sense that such collaborations continue.

Q. What will the future look like in the way we listen to music?

We listen to music today more than ever, and this will continue. Autonomous driving is one example where humans will have more free time to actively listen to music with full attention. As we better understand the science of how music and our mode of listening affect our health and wellbeing, we will become more aware and motivated to become active listeners.

¹ Digital Music News : Millennials Listen to 75% More Music Than Baby Boomers, Study Finds (June 2, 2016)

With today’s introduction of the world’s first 3D Cinema LED screen at Arena Cinemas’ Sihlcity theater in Switzerland, Samsung Electronics continues its efforts to make traditional, projection-based cinema technology a thing of the past.

Designed and installed with the help of Imaculix AG, the 3D-ready variation of Samsung’s Cinema LED screen maintains consistent brightness for immaculate delivery of subtitle text, images and minor visual details for viewers wearing 3D glasses. Unlike standard 3D cinemas, the Samsung Cinema LED screen provides consistent picture quality across an entire theater, ensuring a uniform, immersive viewing experience for viewers in every seat.

“Samsung is thrilled to be able to debut the world’s first 3D Cinema LED screen in Switzerland,” said Seog-gi Kim, Executive Vice President of Visual Display Business at Samsung Electronics. “We hope that more movie-goers can experience the Cinema LED screen firsthand as we look to partner with more theaters around the world.”

As the industry’s first Digital Cinema Initiatives (DCI)-certified High Dynamic Range theater display, the Samsung Cinema LED screen invites Swiss consumers into a next-generation viewing experience. Stretching nearly 10.3m (33.8ft) wide and 5.4m (17.7ft) in height, and featuring nearly 9 million pixels, Samsung’s Cinema LED screen delivers exceptional visual quality, technical performance and reliability.

The Samsung Cinema LED display amplifies on-screen content through HDR picture quality. All visuals shine through ultra-sharp 4K resolution (4,096 x 2,160) and peak brightness levels nearly 10 times greater (146fL) than the common cinema standard (14fL). The resulting high contrast showcases bright colors, pristine whites and deep blacks, making it perfect for both 2D and 3D movies. Paired with state-of-the-art audio technologies from HARMAN International’s JBL Professional brand, it is a truly immersive experience.

“Zurich is one of Europe’s burgeoning hubs for the film industry, and an optimal location to introduce a pioneering technology like the Cinema LED screen to the region,” said Eduard Stöckli, owner of Arena Cinemas. “The display’s streamlined design also allows our Sihlcity theater to remove its projector closet, making room for additional seats and allowing us to deliver a more complete, comfortable and innovative setting for our guests.”

First introduced in July 2017, Samsung’s Cinema LED screen has been successfully installed in theaters in Seoul and Busan, Korea and Shanghai, China. The Arena Cinemas partnership marks the first implementation of Samsung’s Cinema LED display in Europe and is the world’s first 3D Cinema LED screen.

Designed as a High Dynamic Range (HDR) LED theater display, the Cinema LED Screen measures nearly 10.3 meters wide and delivers next-generation picture quality with both ultra-sharp 4K (4,096 x 2,160) resolution and peak brightness levels nearly ten times greater (146fL) than those of conventional projectors. All this adds up to distortion-free visuals that feature the brightest colors, the deepest blacks and the whitest whites, and a theater experience that makes viewers feel as if they’re part of the picture.

The Cinema LED Screen’s integration with audio technologies from JBL by HARMAN, meanwhile, provides likewise realistic sound. This state-of-the-art setup includes powerful speakers bordering the screen, proprietary audio-processing technology, and JBL’s Sculpted Surround System. The result of all this innovation is an incredibly accurate sight and sound experience that allows audiences to view films exactly as their creators intended.

Since its debut, Samsung’s first-of-its-kind screen has grabbed headlines around the world, and garnered positive reviews from filmmakers and movie-goers alike, who have tabbed the display as the theater technology of the future. See for yourself, in the video below, what makes Samsung’s immersive screen a game-changer for the industry.