jbl

Various accessories that include Apple's new Lightning connector are gradually trickling out onto the market, and JBL is the first to announce Lightning-equipped speaker docks.

The smaller $99 battery-powered model, the JBL OnBeat Micro, which gets about 5 hours of power from four AAA batteries, retails for $99 while the $199 JBL OnBeat Venue LT offers wireless Bluetooth connectivity and its dock can also accommodate the iPad Mini and the fourth-generation iPad with Retina Display. Unfortunately, of course, the docks aren't compatible with older iPhones unless you use an optional adapter. … Read more

It's hard to imagine now, but there was a time when audio and video products were introduced that were so revolutionary that their impact was felt literally decades after their introduction.

Take the JBL L100 Century. It was the first speaker I fell in love with. Its brilliant orange "waffle" foam grille and white 12-inch woofer looked so cool in the early 1970s when the competition's speakers were all drab brown boxes with boring cloth grilles. The JBL was the ultimate "rock" speaker of the era, so my Hendrix and Led Zeppelin LPs never … Read more

"Copper," the new BBC America crime drama, is set in NYC in 1864, while the Civil War was still raging. I was intrigued because the 10-part series was created by Tom Fontana, who did "Homicide: Life on the Street" and "Oz," and on a more personal level, my old friend Frank Morrone is a sound mixer for the show. We met in 1999 when I was writing a feature story on mixing sound for Ron Howard's film "Edtv," and more recently, Morrone shared some of his experiences about mixing sound for … Read more

Do you like wires? Neither do we. And thankfully, you don't really need them anymore when you're using a smartphone.

No matter your preference -- iPhone, Android, Windows Phone, BlackBerry -- any decent modern smartphone is equipped with wireless Bluetooth capability. In addition to hands-free calling with headsets and stereo headphones, phones can also be used as wireless music sources for an increasingly large array of Bluetooth speakers -- perfect for listening to MP3s on the phone, or Web-based audio services like Spotify, Pandora, Amazon Cloud Player, iTunes Match, or anything else.

As someone who uses Bluetooth gadgets daily, I'd frankly feel lost without my handy assortment of hands-free mobile toys. And I've collected a list of some of CNET's favorites. … Read more

I nearly fell off my couch when I saw Harman Kardon and JBL ads in the middle of the Grammy Awards show on Sunday night.

Audio-brand awareness in the mainstream is mostly limited to Bose and Beats by Dr. Dre, but now it looks like Harman, the parent company of AKG, Harman Kardon, JBL, Mark Levinson, Lexicon, and Infinity is starting to flex its muscles. I spoke with Chris Dragon, the senior global marketing director of Harman, to learn more about the campaigns.

JBL's "Hear the Truth" ads will feature many of the world's top musical … Read more

JBL and Infinity, both brands of Harman International, will show aftermarket amps and speakers to enhance car audio.

JBL detailed its GTO series of amps in a press release, highlighting the amps ease of installation. The amps come with RCA-to-bare-wire adapters along with a CD to explain installation.

Once installed, the audio output can be fine-tuned. JBL fits the amps with color-coded knobs and LEDs to tell an amateur installer when the configuration is optimized.

The amps range from 640- to 1,935-watt maximum power output, and include multichannel and mono blocks among the GTO range. Prices run from $199.… Read more

Add one more portable Bluetooth speaker to the growing list as JBL has announced that its mini UFO speaker, the On Tour iBT, is now available for $199.99.

The On Tour iBT weighs slightly more than a pound, is battery-powered and comes with a tabletop stand to "display an iPad in portrait or landscape mode so it can serve as an impromptu home theater or the audio output to a video conference."

While JBL is certainly eyeing iPad owners as its target audience, the unit works just fine with Android tablets and smartphones, as well as any … Read more

Another AirPlay-compatible device has hit store shelves.

Harman's JBL On-Air Wireless AirPlay Speaker Dock, which launched today, allows users to play music from their iTunes library or iOS-based devices over their wireless network. The device's screen displays album artwork and song information to let users know what's on at any given time. In addition, the speaker features a iPod/iPhone dock to let users charge their devices or play music when they can't stream content via AirPlay. The device also offers an FM radio tuner.

Apple's AirPlay service allows for video, music, and photos to be streamed over a wireless network to compatible devices. However, the JBL speaker joins a relatively small number of products that actually work with Apple's AirPlay service, including the Apple TV, Denon AV receivers, and the Klipsch Gallery Series, among others.… Read more

Many people are turned off the home theater experience by big, expensive speaker systems, but that's not the only way to do surround sound. JBL announced two compact 5.1 speaker systems this morning--the Cinema 300 (for $500) and Cinema 500 (for $700)--each featuring a 150-watt subwoofer. The Cinema 300 system is particularly small, with each front/surround speaker measuring just 9.25 inches high. Both speaker systems are available now and you can check our their full specs at their respective product pages (Cinema 300 and Cinema 500).

We can't say we're crazy about the "dynamic JBL Weave" styling from the press photos--especially with plenty of other stylish options in this price range--but we'll be willing to overlook some aesthetic shortcomings if they deliver better-than-expected sound quality.… Read more