What do 80 years of JBL, 60 years of Bowers & Wilkins, and a decade with Samsung sound like?

Three milestones arrive together

JBL turns 80. Bowers & Wilkins turns 60. The Samsung-HARMAN partnership turns 10. All three dates land in 2026. Dave Rogers leads the Lifestyle Division at HARMAN. Armin Prommersberger serves as Chief Technology Officer. They spoke to Samsung Newsroom on October 26, 2026. The conversation covers history, engineering philosophy, and where connected audio might go next.

The brand began in cinemas and studios. The 4310 studio monitor was built for professionals who needed critical listening. That professional DNA moved into the home with the L100 loudspeaker. The L100 became the brand’s best-selling loudspeaker. Bowers & Wilkins took a different path. The 801 loudspeaker became a reference monitor at Abbey Road Studios. That studio has worked with some of the world’s most celebrated artists. Different personalities. Same refusal to compromise.

Curiosity beats comfort

Rogers says obsession with quality and experience must never change. Products and technology will change. How people feel remains the standard. Prommersberger picks curiosity. The moment an engineer says “good enough” is a problem. HARMAN has quite a few people who find “good enough” deeply irritating. The Nautilus loudspeaker proves the point. Matrix cabinet technology had already reduced unwanted vibration. John Bowers and his research team asked whether the cabinet itself was part of the problem. Five years of research followed. A tapered-tube design emerged 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 made you successful.

Ten years of combined scale

The partnership started with AKG, a HARMAN company. Audio expertise met Samsung’s mobile technology, design, and scale. The result enhanced products people already use every day. The approach broadened to the Automotive Digital Cockpit. Samsung brings displays and connected ecosystems. HARMAN brings automotive and in-cabin expertise. The ambition shifted. It was no longer simply to bring better technology into cars. The goal became seeing cars as part of people’s connected lives. Rogers says the teams learned to turn differences into strengths. Samsung has an extraordinary ability to turn ideas into technology that touches lives on an enormous scale. That mindset challenges HARMAN in a good way.

A day with fewer seams

Prommersberger describes a typical day. You wake up. Galaxy devices help you start. You leave home and get into your car. The vehicle adapts to your journey and the preferences you chose to share. Your audio experience continues naturally. Information is prioritized based on the situation while driving. The cabin adjusts to the people inside. On the way home, car and home work together to make the transition feel almost seamless. A truly connected day should have fewer seams. 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.

Intelligence that stays invisible

The CTO expects technology to understand environment, preferences, activities, and needs much better. That creates new possibilities for sound, mobility, and connected experiences. Technology should become more intelligent so the experience can become more human. If they get it right, people won’t notice the complexity underneath. They’ll simply feel the difference. Rogers looks 80 years ahead. People may not remember every technology launched. 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. The people they shared those moments with. Technology changes quickly. Human emotion doesn’t. The opportunity is to keep bringing those two things together.

The interview does not say how many JBL or Bowers & Wilkins units are still in use. It does not list specific products coming next. It does not quantify the engineering headcount at HARMAN. The anniversary dates and the partnership timeline are the only hard numbers the document provides.