If we were to go into the histories of every vintage audio brand, we’d be here all day (don’t tempt us). But we thought it would be fun to dive into the stories behind our best-selling audio brands. That way, you know the backstory of the gear you buy.
If you're a history buff, enjoy this all-you-can-eat buffet! If you're just interested in the history behind the audio brands you own, feel free to scroll through (we've arranged them in alphabetical order for you) or use Ctrl+F to find yours. Really, we won't be offended. Pinky promise!
But fair warning: this article may cause vintage audio shopping...
Akai Electric Company Ltd. (better known as simply “Akai”) was founded by Masukichi Akai and his son, Saburo Akai, in 1929. Beginning as a Japanese electronics manufacturer in Tokyo, Akai became internationally known for its audio equipment. During the late 1960s and 1970s, the company built a strong reputation for hi-fi equipment, including reel-to-reel tape recorders, cassette decks, and receivers.
It became particularly well-known for its innovations in magnetic-tape technology. If you’re a tape head, you’re likely familiar with Akai’s GX (Glass and Crystal ferrite) tape heads, which use a core made of single-crystal ferrite covered in a mirror-smooth layer of hardened glass, greatly improving their resistance to physical wear.
It later expanded into video equipment and introduced several notable VCR features, including one of the earliest on-screen display systems for setup and playback.
Then, in the 1980s, Akai established Akai Professional, which focused on musical instruments and production equipment. Akai reduced its traditional hi-fi operations until it ultimately filed for insolvency in 2000 after a period of serious financial and corporate problems. The collapse was followed by investigations and litigation involving the company's management, accounting practices, and the transfer of its ownership to Hong Kong-based Grande Holdings.
OUR REFURBISHED AKAI PRODUCTS INCLUDE...
Bose Corporation was founded in 1964 by Amar G. Bose, an MIT professor and engineer. His interest in audio began when he bought a high-end stereo system as a graduate student and was disappointed by its sound. This led him to study psychoacoustics, the way people perceive sound. He was especially interested in how reflected sound could create a realistic listening experience, so Bose built his company around this research-driven approach.
This approach led him to challenge the conventional loudspeaker design so that the company’s first speaker, the Model 2201, used 22 small drivers to take advantage of the reflections from room walls, but listening tests didn’t meet Bose’s high expectations. More research led him to the conclusion that technical measurements didn’t necessarily correspond with how listeners perceived sound quality. This led Bose and his company to emphasize listening tests and human hearing over conventional audio specifications.
Eventually, it produced the Bose 901 in 1968. If you’ve ever seen one, you’d notice the unconventional design more than anything else: nine total drivers, eight aimed toward the wall behind the speaker and one facing the listener. This created a reflection of sound designed to replicate the sound of a live performance. It became such a success that Bose’s consumer base grew rapidly in the 1970s. After that, the company bloomed into a music powerhouse that still produces incredible headphones, wireless Bluetooth speakers, and soundbars even today.
OUR REFURBISHED BOSE PRODUCTS INCLUDE...
Denon didn’t become “Denon” until several years after it was founded in 1910 by American entrepreneur Frederick Whitney Horn. Founded in Japan, it originally started as Nippon Chikuonki Shoukai. The company became an early pioneer in Japanese recorded sound, producing some of the country’s first cylinder records and playback equipment. The Denon brand as we recognize it today came from a merger of Denki Onkyo (not the other “Onkyo” brand), which means “electric sound.” This became shortened to simply “Denon” in the late 1940s as part of the brand name Nippon-Columbia.
Throughout the rest of the 20th century, Denon built a reputation for professional recording equipment and hi-fi audio. The company produced Japan’s first professional disc recorder technology (which, fun fact, was used to record Emperor Hirohito’s 1945 surrender broadcast), then eventually moved on to consumer audio.
Denon became a separate company in 2001 and merged with Marantz the following year to create D&M Holdings. Sound United acquired D+M Holdings in 2017, bringing Denon into a larger family of premium audio brands; Sound United was subsequently acquired by Harman International in 2025. Today, Denon remains best known for its home-theater and hi-fi products, particularly A/V receivers and amplifiers.
OUR REFURBISHED DENON PRODUCTS INCLUDE...
Dual began in 1907 in St. Georgen, Germany, with two brothers, Christian and Joseph Steidinger. The brothers got their start developing clockwork mechanisms and components for gramophones. In 1927, the company adopted the name Dual, inspired by its dual-power gramophone system that could operate either electrically or with a traditional wind-up mechanism. From there, Dual expanded from supplying parts to manufacturing complete record players and turntables under its own brand.
After World War II, Dual became one of Europe’s leading turntable manufacturers and built a strong reputation during the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. Its products were especially respected for precise German engineering, reliable automatic mechanisms, and long-term durability. Dual turntables became common in home hi-fi systems, and the company eventually broadened its product range to other consumer electronics, but turntables remained its speciality.
Growing competition from lower-cost Japanese electronics during the 1970s placed increasing financial pressure on Dual, and the company declared bankruptcy in 1982. It was subsequently acquired by Thomson and later sold to Schneider Rundfunkwerke, while the Dual brand and its various product lines were divided among different companies during the 1990s.
OUR REFURBISHED DUAL PRODUCTS INCLUDE...
Fisher got its name from founder Avery Fisher, a book and typographical designer with a serious love for music. After he developed audio components that surpassed many professional standards of the era, he founded the Philharmonic Radio Corporation in 1937. During World War II, the company shifted toward wartime electronics, and Fisher later sold it, though he remained involved in its operations. After the war, he returned his focus to music reproduction and established the Fisher Radio Corporation in New York in 1945.
During the next three decades, “The Fisher” became a well-known name in hi-fi audio. It was responsible for advances in audio circuitry and built a reputation for exceptional engineering and sound quality, going on to be known for its warm-sounding tuners, amplifiers, receivers, and radios during the Golden Age of audio.
Fisher Radio was eventually acquired by Emerson Electric in 1969, and the brand became more commonly known as “Fisher.” Emerson then sold the company to Sanyo Electric in 1975, and by 2000, Fisher products had been absorbed into the Sanyo brand. Then it was Panasonic’s turn to acquire Sanyo, and the remaining product lines were folded into Panasonic. However, Avery Fisher continued serving as a consultant through much of this period until he died in 1994, leaving behind a legacy still recognized in the audio world.
OUR REFURBISHED FISHER PRODUCTS INCLUDE...
Harman Kardon, as you would probably assume by the name, had two co-founders, Sidney Harman and Bernard Kardon. These two former executives founded the company in 1953 with the admirable goal of making hi-fi sound accessible to everyday listeners. The company quickly became an important player in the emerging hi-fi market. Only a year after it was founded, it introduced the Festival D1000, which combined a tuner, amplifier, and control unit into a single compact chassis.
Kardon retired rather early on in 1956, and Harman continued leading the company. Other notable products like the Festival TA230, Citation II, and the highly-regarded 330-series helped establish the brand as a serious competitor throughout the late 1950s, 60s, and 70s. It also embraced emerging technologies such as Dolby noise reduction and eventually grew powerful enough to acquire JBL in 1969.
Sidney Harman eventually reorganized the growing business as Harman International Industries, while retaining Harman Kardon as one of its flagship brands. In 1976, after being appointed Deputy Secretary of Commerce under President Jimmy Carter, Harman was required to divest his business interests and sold Harman International to Beatrice Foods. Although the company went through significant ownership and management changes afterward, Harman Kardon endured as a premium audio brand that’s still well-known today.
OUR REFURBISHED HARMAN/KARDON PRODUCTS INCLUDE...
Infinity Systems was founded in 1968 by a trio: Arnie Nudell, John Ulrick, and Cary Christie. They wanted to focus on applying advanced materials and engineering to loudspeaker design. The company’s first major product, the Servo-Statik, combined electrostatic speaker panels with an innovative servo-controlled woofer. This approach was unconventional enough to establish Infinity early on as a company willing to push beyond the traditional, and their ingenuity didn’t stop there.
During the 1970s and 80s, Infinity became particularly renowned for their EMIT and EMIM planar speaker drivers. These drivers used lightweight diaphragms and powerful magnets to reproduce high and midrange frequencies with exceptional speed and detail. These led to the renowned Infinity Reference System (IRS), a four-tower flagship featuring dozens of EMIT tweeters and EMIM midrange drivers alongside twelve large woofers. They sold for a mere $65,000 in the 1980s, but they were enough to cement Infinity’s reputation among serious audiophiles.
Infinity was eventually acquired by Harman International in 1983, but Arnie Nudell remained with the company for several years before departing and later founding Genesis Technologies. Infinity remained part of Harman International through its acquisition by Samsung Electronics in 2017.
OUR REFURBISHED INFINITY PRODUCTS INCLUDE...
JBL was founded by James Bullough Lansing, the co-founder of Lansing Manufacturing Company (1927), which later became part of Altec. Once Altec evolved into Altec Lansing, Lansing left the company in 1946 to establish his own loudspeaker business, eventually known as James B Lansing Sound.
After Lansing’s death in 1949, vice president William H Thomas took control of the struggling company and led it through two decades of substantial growth. The JBL brand name was formally introduced in 1955, and the company became known for iconic products such as the Hartsfield and Paragon home loudspeakers, as well as professional studio monitors.
In 1969, JBL was acquired by the Jervis Corporation, led by Sidney Harman, and later renamed Harman International. Under Harman, JBL expanded across both consumer and professional audio, developing successive generations of home speakers, studio monitors, concert sound systems, and advanced driver technologies.
OUR REFURBISHED JBL PRODUCTS INCLUDE...
JVC, short for Japan Victor Company, is a Japanese electronics brand founded in 1927 as the Victor Talking Machine Company of Japan. It began as a subsidiary of the American Victor Talking Machine Company and initially produced phonographs and records. After RCA acquired Victor in 1929, JVC expanded into radios and television technology, producing Japan’s first locally made television in 1939. Following World War II, the company continued developing consumer electronics and became majority-owned by Matsushita (now Panasonic) in 1953.
JVC became especially influential during the 1970s and 1980s when it began introducing several innovative audio and video products. This list concentrates on audio brands, but it's worth mentioning that JVC’s most important achievement was the development of the VHS format. JVC released the first VCR, the HR-3300, in Japan in 1976. VHS then competed with Sony’s Betamax format in the well-known videotape format war. By the mid-1980s, VHS had gained much broader industry support and became the dominant format for home video recording and movie rentals.
However, it created some notable audio gear as well. Everything from receivers to CD magazine changers to cassette decks. But as the electronics industry changed, JVC underwent major corporate restructuring. In 2008, it merged with Kenwood to form JVCKenwood, which it remains today, and in 2011 the JVC name replaced the Victor electronics brand in Japan.
OUR REFURBISHED JVC PRODUCTS INCLUDE...
Kenwood is a Japanese consumer electronics brand founded in 1946 as Kasuga Radio Co. Ltd. in Komagane, Nagano Prefecture, Japan. The company initially focused on radio and audio equipment and changed its name to Trio Corporation in 1960. As it expanded internationally, Trio established its first overseas office in Los Angeles County in 1963 and became increasingly well known for products such as stereo receivers, cassette decks, amateur radio equipment, and other consumer electronics.
The Kenwood name was created for the North American market by William “Bill” Kasuga, working with George Aratani and Yoichi Nakase to import and distribute Trio products. The name combined “Ken,” which was considered familiar to both Japanese and American consumers, with “wood,” suggesting quality and also loosely connecting the brand to Hollywood. Kenwood eventually became better known than the Trio name, and in 1986 the company formally adopted the name Kenwood Corporation.
Over the following decades, Kenwood developed a strong reputation in home audio, car audio, and amateur radio equipment. It introduced higher-end products such as its Sovereign component line in 2001, although it later moved away from some traditional home electronics categories. In 2008, Kenwood merged with JVC to form JVCKenwood, bringing two long-established Japanese electronics brands under the same company.
OUR REFURBISHED KENWOOD PRODUCTS INCLUDE...
Klipsch Audio Technologies (originally established as Klipsch and Associates) was founded in Hope, Arkansas, in 1946. Founded by engineer and audio pioneer Paul W Klipsch, the company was created with a single purpose in mind: to design high-efficiency, high-fidelity loudspeakers for home audio. Its most famous product, the Klipschorn, was patented by Paul Klipsch in 1946 and became the company’s flagship speaker.
Horn-loaded speaker technology eventually became the company’s forte. The company promoted horn designs because they could deliver high efficiency, low distortion, wide dynamic range, controlled sound direction, and a relatively flat frequency response. Over time, Klipsch refined its designs by changing horn materials and shapes, including the introduction of a Tractrix-flare midrange horn in 1989, which was intended to reduce unwanted coloration and create a more open sound.
Klipsch expanded beyond the Klipschorn with well-known models such as the La Scala, Cornwall, Heresy, and Belle, while later developing product lines for home theater, multimedia, and headphones. Its speakers have also been used in commercial theaters and other large venues. In 2011, Klipsch Group was acquired by Audiovox, but the Klipsch brand still focuses on high-performance audio products.
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Marantz began in the early 1950s with Saul Marantz. Marantz was a passionate music lover and classical guitarist who was dissatisfied with the high-fidelity equipment available at the time. Working from his home in Kew Gardens, New York, he designed the “Consolette” preamplifier in 1952 and soon established Marantz as a leading name in quality audio. The company’s reputation grew with each new model. Marantz’s Model 9 power amplifier was even used by NASA at tracking stations during the Apollo program.
In 1964, Marantz was acquired by Superscope. This change in ownership didn’t hinder them in the slightest, and it only gave the company further resources to expand production and development. During the late 1960s and 70s, Marantz increasingly manufactured products in Japan through its relationship with Standard Radio Corporation, which later became Marantz Japan. This period became one of the company’s most successful eras, highlighted by the famous 2200-series receivers, which helped make Marantz one of the most recognizable names in home audio.
In 1980, Philips acquired most of the Marantz brand and its international operations. It entered another period of consolidation and change in the 2000s when Marantz Japan acquired the brand and its overseas subsidiaries from Philips in 2001, and the following year merged with its longtime competitor Denon to create D&M Holdings. D&M was acquired by Sound United in 2017, which itself became part of Masimo in 2022. In 2025, Harman International, owned by Samsung, acquired Marantz along with Denon, Bowers & Wilkins, and Polk. Amazingly, despite these changes in ownership, Marantz has continued to emphasize the philosophy established by Saul Marantz: combining technical excellence with emotional musicality.
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Nakamichi was founded in Tokyo in 1948 by Etsuro Nakamichi. It began as a small research institute that provided engineering work for major companies, government organizations, and universities. Over time, the company developed its own reputation for exceptionally engineered audio equipment, particularly cassette recorders. Its breakthrough came in 1973 with the Nakamichi 700 and flagship 1000 Tri-Tracer, among the first cassette decks to use a three-head design that allowed users to monitor a recording directly from the tape as it was being made.
Throughout the late 1970s and 80s, Nakamichi became closely associated with pushing the cassette format far beyond what most people thought was possible. Nakamichi’s most famous product, the Dragon cassette deck, arrived in 1982. Its automatic azimuth-correction system continuously optimized tape-head alignment during playback, helping the Dragon achieve performance that was above and beyond what anyone expected. The deck became an icon of the cassette era and remains highly prized by collectors and audio enthusiasts.
Nakamichi also applied its engineering philosophy beyond cassette tape. The 1983 TX-1000 Computing Analog Turntable was unique in that it detected and compensated for off-center records, improving pitch stability and playback accuracy. As digital audio became increasingly important, Nakamichi introduced products such as the Dragon CD system, which combined a multi-disc changer with the company’s Music Bank mechanism and vibration-control techniques. Even today, Nakamichi remains an iconic name in the audio industry.
OUR REFURBISHED NAKAMICHI PRODUCTS INCLUDE...
Onkyo was founded in Osaka, Japan, in 1946 by Takeshi Goda, who had previously worked in audio at Matsushita Electric. Originally known as Osaka Denki Onkyo K.K., the company adopted the Onkyo Corporation name in 1971. The name “Onkyo” refers broadly to sound, acoustics, and resonance, reflecting the company’s focus on audio reproduction.
In 1969, the company introduced its Integra amplifier series, which later developed into a separate premium home-theater brand. Onkyo continued to grow in popularity among consumers for home audio and theater gear, and in 1993, the company became one of the early adopters of Lucasfilm’s THX standards and introduced the first THX-certified consumer AV receiver, helping to establish Onkyo as a major name in home theater. In 2015, it continued to expand when it acquired Pioneer’s Home Electronics business, bringing Pioneer’s home theater products under the same corporate umbrella.
However, as the traditional hi-fi market contracted and consumer habits shifted toward smartphones, streaming, and wireless speakers, Onkyo started to suffer financially until in 2021, Premium Audio Company partnered with Sharp to acquire Onkyo’s home audio/visual business. The original Onkyo corporate entity filed for bankruptcy in May 2022, but the Onkyo brand itself survived under the ownership structure established by PAC and Sharp.
OUR REFURBISHED ONKYO PRODUCTS INCLUDE...
Pioneer’s humble beginnings began in 1938. Founded by Nozomu Matsumoto in Tokyo as a radio and speaker repair shop, it wasn’t until 1953 that Matsumoto succeeded in developing the first domestic dynamic speaker made of original parts. Named A-8, it was marketed in Japan under the Pioneer brand. It later became the origin of the first hi-fi speaker.
For the next few years, Pioneer continued to be true to its name. In 1960, Pioneer became the first company to develop headphones in Japan (SE-1). The aim was to reproduce the original recorded sound as accurately as possible. Then in 1962, Pioneer introduced the PSC-5A, the world’s first separate stereo featuring detached speaker systems. Differing from the standard all-in-one stereos of the time, this product changed home audio forever.
From the 1970s through the early 2000s, Pioneer became known for pioneering new consumer electronics technologies. It helped develop interactive cable television, introduced LaserDisc players for industrial and home use, and produced major advances in car audio, including early component stereos and the first automotive CD player. Beginning in the mid-2000s, Pioneer faced increasing financial pressure and gradually reduced or sold several major businesses. In 2025, it withdrew from the optical disc drive business, ending another long-running product category, and in December 2025 Pioneer was acquired by CarUX, a subsidiary of Taiwan-based InnoLux Corporation.
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Panasonic dates back to 1918, when Kōnosuke Matsushita founded Matsushita Electric Housewares Manufacturing Works in Osaka. Although the company began with electrical household products, it moved into radios and other electronics during Japan’s postwar consumer boom. The Panasonic name itself has a strong audio connection: it was first used in 1955 for speakers sold outside Japan, with the name combining “pan,” meaning “all,” and “sonic,” meaning “sound.”
Panasonic’s most important contribution to high-fidelity audio came through Technics. Technics became known worldwide for stereo components, especially turntables. The Technics SL-1200 became one of the company’s most famous products, earning a reputation for precision, durability, and high performance. During the 1970s and early 1980s, Matsushita also produced stereo receivers, CD players, shortwave radios, and other specialized audio components, while experimenting with products like analog synthesizers. Together, Panasonic and Technics became major names in both home hi-fi and music-oriented electronics.
As Panasonic expanded into many other industries, dedicated home audio became a smaller part of the corporation’s overall business, but the company maintained its connection to high-end sound through Technics. After years of reduced visibility, Panasonic revived the Technics brand in 2014. Panasonic itself was renamed from Matsushita Electric Industrial to Panasonic Corporation in 2008 and reorganized as Panasonic Holdings Corporation in 2022. Its audio legacy, however, remains closely associated with Technics, which helped establish Panasonic as an important force in twentieth-century hi-fi audio.
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Sansui (meaning “mountain and water,” which reflects a balance between flexibility and strength) was founded in Tokyo in 1947 by Kosaku Kikuchi, and it began as a manufacturer of transformers before expanding into a broader range of audio equipment. Over the following decades, the company became especially known for high-quality amplifiers and receivers.
Sansui’s reputation was built primarily on audio, and the company became particularly respected among hi-fi enthusiasts from the tube era through the rise of solid-state electronics. Its AU-111 tube amplifier became one of its early landmark products, followed by a long succession of solid-state integrated amplifiers and receivers. Receivers such as the 9090DB also became closely associated with Sansui’s peak years. By the late 1970s and early 1980s, Sansui had become an internationally recognized audio brand.
Sansui’s international presence began to decline after it withdrew from the U.S. market in the late 1980s, but the company continued producing high-end audio equipment in Japan. Its later Alpha Series carried the company’s amplifier tradition into the 1990s, and Sansui even revisited its classic tube heritage with the AU-111 Vintage in 1999. Eventually, around 2001, Sansui closed its corporate headquarters and gradually faded from the audio market, though its classic amps are still highly regarded by collectors and vintage audio enthusiasts.
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Sony was founded in Tokyo in 1946 by Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita as Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo, or Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation. Audio was central to the company almost from the beginning: it built Japan’s first tape recorder, the Type-G, and in the 1950s gained international attention with compact transistor radios such as the TR-55 and TR-63. The company adopted the name “Sony” in 1958, derived partly from the Latin word “sonus,” meaning “sound.” Its success with portable radios helped establish Sony as one of the leading Japanese consumer-electronics brands of the postwar period.
Sony played (and lost) their biggest hand with the Betamax VTR, which was outdone by JVC’s VCR, but in terms of consumer audio, it was a powerhouse of their own. It concentrated most of its efforts on making music portable and convenient, and it succeeded. The Walkman was introduced towards the end of the 1970s, and it transformed the way people listened to recorded music. Sony then worked with Philips to develop the CD, which became the mainstream music format of the 1980s and 90s and broadened the realm of portable audio with the Discman CD player.
Sony continued experimenting with new audio recording formats throughout the late 80s and 90s, developing Digital Audio Tape (DAT) and the MiniDisc. It developed S/PDIF digital audio connections with Philips, along with the Super Audio CD (SACD). It also recently (well, relatively recently) introduced LDAC in 2015, which was designed to transmit high-resolution audio over Bluetooth at higher data rates than conventional Bluetooth audio.
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TEAC Corporation can be traced back to 1953, when brothers Katsuma and Tomoma Tani founded the Tokyo Television Acoustic Company in Japan. Three years later, they established the Tokyo Electro-Acoustic Company, and the two businesses eventually merged in 1964 to form TEAC Corporation. From the start, TEAC focused on audio recording technology, particularly magnetic tape equipment.
The TD-102, their first reel-to-reel tape recorder, went on sale in 1957, and it introduced TEAC to the American audio market. Representatives from Lafayette Radio Electronics visited TEAC in 1957, and they were impressed enough with the company to request a modified version of the TD-102 that included a playback amplifier and cabinet. Although the machine was expensive for the time, serious audio enthusiasts loved it.
TEAC subsequently became known for its open-reel tape decks and recorders, and it remained popular in both Japanese and American consumer and professional audio markets for quite some time. It produced the first consumer four-track reel-to-reel tape recorders in 1969, which were capable of playing pre-recorded Quadraphonic open reel tapes (Q4). TEAC also introduced the first consumer-grade four-track recorders with Simul-Sync in 1972; these machines were capable of overdubbing, allowing musicians to use them as the basis of home recording studios.
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Technics is a Japanese brand originally established by Matsushita Electric (now Panasonic) in 1965. The brand was created as a name for its premium hi-fi products, and it began with high-end loudspeakers before quickly expanding into amplifiers, receivers, tape decks, CD players, and turntables. Although it grew to be recognized as a brand that covered products ranging from entry-level units to audiophile equipment, its reputation was built around precise engineering and serious music reproduction.
Arguably, Technics’ most important contribution to the audio world was the development of the direct-drive turntable. Matsushita engineer Shuichi Obata developed a system where, instead of a belt driving the platter, a motor controls the movement. The aim here was to create a faster start-up, greater durability, and a more consistent speed. These motor-driven turntables first appeared in the professional SP-10 in 1969 and later in the consumer SL-1100 and SL-1200. The SL-1200, introduced in 1972, became especially influential in DJ culture due to how ideal it is for cueing, mixing, back-spinning, and scratching. The upgraded SL-1200MKII became a near-instant industry standard and is still one of the most sought-after DJ turntables today.
But Technics contributed more than simply turntables. In the early 1970s, it introduced innovations in cassette decks, such as an early auto-reverse system, and it continued making both high-end and affordable receivers and amplifiers. Panasonic gradually phased out the Technics name beginning in the 2000s and discontinued it for most products in 2010, but it revived the brand in 2014 as a premium audio line. The SL-1200 even returned in updated form for the brand’s 50th anniversary.
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Yamaha can be traced back to 1887, when Torakusu Yamaha founded Nippon Gakki in Hamamatsu, Japan. Originally a manufacturer of reed organs, the company soon expanded into pianos, producing Japan’s first domestically manufactured piano in 1900 and its first grand piano two years later. Over time, Yamaha became the world’s largest musical instrument manufacturer. It didn’t become influential in electronic and professional audio until around the 1970s, and it wasn’t renamed “Yamaha Corporation” until 1987, a hundred years after its founding.
It began its foray into the audio world with synthesizers like the CS-80, which became highly regarded for its performance capabilities. Yamaha made an even greater impact in 1983 with the DX7, the first commercially successful digital synthesizer. Yamaha’s FM synthesis technology also helped define the sound of popular music during the 1980s, and the company expanded into different home audio equipment, including amplifiers, receivers, cassette decks, and speakers.
Yamaha gradually moved towards computers as well, and in 1988, it began selling what it described as the world’s first CD recorder, while its electronic keyboards and digital instruments became increasingly popular. Yamaha later expanded further into music-production technology by acquiring Steinberg in 2005, and its combination of acoustic-instrument expertise, synthesizer innovation, professional sound equipment, home hi-fi, and digital music-production technology gave Yamaha an unusually broad role in audio history and is probably the reason it's still going strong today.
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While unnecessary in the strictest sense, knowing the inception and the legacy of your audio gear helps breathe life into the music. The legacy of these brands lives on in the gear, and while many of these companies no longer exist, their equipment does.
It also paints a pretty incredible picture: every one of these companies contributed to the world of audio. Different brands offered different perspectives, and even though they didn’t work together (and sometimes almost literally ate each other as business cannibals), they each had a part to play in the creation of sound as we know it today.
Thanks for reading! If you’re interested in any of the gear shown above, just click on the picture, and you’ll be directed to their product page on our website. If you’re looking for other gear from these brands or any other, check out our full list of available products here.
Have a great day!
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