[Interview] Sound That Connects: 80 Years of Audio and the Future of Connected Experiences

From shows and automobiles to homes and earphones, top quality noise improves daily experiences. For 80 years, JBL has actually progressed along with altering listening routines while staying deeply linked to music and culture. Bowers & & Wilkins has actually invested 60 years pursuing remarkable noise through accuracy engineering, workmanship, and an uncompromising dedication to recreating the initial efficiency.

Both brand names belong to HARMAN, a completely owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics. In 2026, the business mark 3 turning points– JBL’s 80th anniversary, Bowers & & Wilkins ’60th anniversary, and 10 years of the Samsung-HARMAN collaboration.

Samsung Newsroom talked to Dave Rogers, President of the Lifestyle Division, and Armin Prommersberger, Chief Technology Officer, both at HARMAN, about the worths that have actually formed the 2 audio brand names, the advancement of the Samsung-HARMAN collaboration, and what lies ahead.

A Legacy of Pioneering Spirit and Innovation

Q. What has permitted JBL and Bowers & Wilkins to stay pertinent throughout generations?

Rogers: JBL has actually never ever presumed that what worked the other day would suffice for tomorrow. The brand name has actually broadened beyond movie theaters and studios into celebrations, cars and trucks, homes, earphones, and portable speakers.

Innovation, listening practices, and culture have actually altered, however the factor individuals appreciate noise stays the exact same. Noise stimulates feeling, produces memories, and brings individuals together.

The journey from the JBL 4310 studio screen to the JBL L100 speaker catches this well. The 4310 was established for specialists whose work required crucial listening. JBL then brought that expert audio DNA into the L100, bringing professional-grade noise into the home. The L100 went on to end up being the brand name’s very popular speaker. More than a technological development, this shift showed JBL’s capability to link individuals who form culture with those who live it.

Bowers & Wilkins has actually followed a various course from JBL. Created for precision, its 801 speaker ended up being a referral screen for engineers at Abbey Road Studios– the recording studio that has actually dealt with a few of the world’s most well known artists– showing the brand name’s dedication to acoustic accuracy and fidelity to the initial efficiency.

Various characters, however the very same rejection to jeopardize on what matters.

Q. What is one core worth of JBL and Bowers & & Wilkins that should never ever alter?

Rogers: Our fascination with quality and the experiences both brand names provide. Products and innovation will alter, however how we make individuals feel– that’s the requirement.

Prommersberger: Interest. The minute an engineer states, “That suffices,” we have an issue. We have rather a couple of individuals at HARMAN who discover “great enough” deeply annoying.

Bowers & & Wilkins’ Nautilus speaker is an excellent example. The brand name had actually currently made substantial development in lowering undesirable vibration with its Matrix cabinet innovation, however John Bowers and his research study group questioned whether the cabinet itself belonged to the issue. That concern resulted in 5 years of research study and eventually to the advancement of Nautilus, including a tapered-tube style to take in undesirable noise from the back of the drive systems.

Excellent engineering is not just about fixing issues. Often, it has to do with ending up being uneasy with the options that have actually currently made you effective.

Q. And what must continue to alter?

Prommersberger: Innovation. Individuals’s expectations do not stall, and we’re approaching experiences that comprehend context, adjust wisely, and end up being more individual.

Today, we still do a great deal of work for our gadgets– selecting modes, opening apps, and changing settings. With AI and higher connection, innovation can much better comprehend us and adjust more naturally to our requirements.

The development will not be that our gadgets can do more. It will be that we need to handle them less.

Complementary Strengths, Shared Ambition

Q. What have Samsung and HARMAN attained and discovered over Ten years of collaboration?

Rogers: Among the earliest examples was bringing HARMAN’s audio know-how into the Galaxy experience through AKG, a HARMAN business. We integrated our understanding of noise with Samsung’s abilities in mobile innovation, style, and scale to improve items individuals currently utilize every day.

We then used this technique more broadly through the Automotive Digital Cockpit, integrating Samsung’s strengths in display screens and linked communities with HARMAN’s automobile and in-cabin proficiency. The aspiration was no longer just to bring much better innovation into automobiles however to see them as part of individuals’s linked lives.

We’ve found out how to turn our distinctions into strengths.

Throughout our journey together, we’ve likewise discovered to believe larger and quicker. Samsung has an amazing capability to turn concepts into innovation that touches individuals’s lives on a massive scale. That frame of mind challenges us– in an excellent way.

The Future of Sound That Moves People

Q. Samsung and HARMAN share a vision for linked experiences. What could that appear like throughout somebody’s day?

Prommersberger: Think of a common day. You awaken, and your Galaxy gadgets are all set to assist you begin the day. When you leave home and enter into your cars and truck, the automobile can adjust to your journey and the choices you’ve selected to share.

Your audio experience continues naturally. Info is focused on based upon the circumstance while you’re driving, and the cabin adapts to individuals inside. En route home, your vehicle and home can collaborate to make the shift feel practically smooth.

A genuinely linked day needs to have less joints in it. Users should not need to think of which app to open or which setting to alter. They must just feel that innovation comprehends the circulation of their day and gets out of the method.

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

Prommersberger: I believe innovation is going to comprehend us far better– our environment, choices, activities, and requires. That produces brand-new possibilities for noise, movement, and linked experiences.

Innovation must end up being more smart so the experience can end up being more human. If we get that right, individuals will not observe the intricacy below. They’ll merely feel the distinction.

Rogers: Eighty years from now, individuals might not keep in mind every innovation we released. They’ll keep in mind the experiences those innovations made possible– the performance they felt part of, the tune they could not stop playing, the drive they’ll never ever forget, and the individuals they shared those minutes with. Innovation modifications rapidly, however human feeling does not. Our chance is to keep bringing those 2 things together.