Famous names in HiFi bastardized over the years

And almost all of them American companies! The Asians had a knack for purchasing some well known companies with brand acceptance, and, well, I'm sure you can figure the rest out. I have separated each company into WAS and IS descriptions  below.



                                                              ALTEC  LANSING


  This is probably the most obvious, why I thought of it first. Rumor had it that James B. Lansing (of the original Altec Lansing fame) committed suicide in the '60s because he couldn't take the pressures of the business. Can you imagine what he would say today?            


                        WAS                                                                                                IS
       A Classic American icon                                                    A computer speaker company                                                                            
                                                                                                         

 


                                                     ACOUSTIC  RESEARCH   (AR)

      Another classic American company, famous for the speakers and turntables. You can now buy AR branded cables and accessories at Home Depot.

                   WAS                                                                                         IS

One of the highest quality speaker                                              Mass merchandising company
companies in their day, dedicated.                                              targeting mainly big box stores

   





















                                                                     


                                                                              KLH  


 Another New England speaker company like AR. Had a few other components, famous for their table radio as well. Henry Kloss was a brilliant man and went on to found several other  companies.


                  WAS                                                                                               IS

         A speaker company                                                                     A speaker company

                                                                        FISHER

    Fisher evolved over the years and changed hands a few times. Emerson Radio bought them I believe in the '70s, and the first Japanese owner years later was Sanyo. I give Sanyo credit for inventing the "rack system" as we know it. Not really sure who owns them now, or if the brand is even still around? Does anybody really care? Avery Fisher was a brilliant man, and made some of the best gear available at the time.


                            WAS                                                                                         IS?

Arguably among the finest gear                                                                 Maybe still around?
  money could buy at the time.                                                                                              

                                                                   MAGNAVOX

  Famous mainly for their stereo consoles in the '60s and '70s,  Their "MX" line of receivers were fire hazards as I mentioned earlier in my blog. I sold them at  THE Audio Threshold. Philips has owned them for several years, and like KLH and AR they are more tuned in to the big box stores. Basically a Dutch General Electric.

                                   WAS                                                                         IS

    A popular mainstream                                                                      A full range mainstream
       HiFi company.                                                                                 electronics company                                                                                                                          

                                                                       SANSUI


 This is one of few Japanese companies from the very beginning. I had to laugh a few years ago when I went to Best buy to get a cheap second television for my living room. I found a Sansui 25" at a good price, and as the nice young guy from the store brought it out to my car he proceeded to explain to me who Sansui was. "Basically part of Orion, a big car audio manufacturer". as if this would help to reinforce my purchase.


                            WAS                                                                                      IS
 A company with some of the most                                             All types of audio/video  gear
 attractive and well made gear of the '70s,                             catering to the budget crowd of
often thought of as the Japanese McIntosh                                   big  box mainstream  stores.

The list could go on to mention other companies like RCA, who basically was a huge electronics conglomerate that only dabbled in Hifi. Hewlett Packard had a handful of audio products, and many other companies that have just plain given up on HiFi and are in different businesses altogether.  How much clout in a name? Probably  works for a while. Kudos to the Japanese company Clarion (think car stereo) whom  for a while owned McIntosh and didn't change a thing. They liked them just the way they were. The mindsets like any other industry vary tremendously. Then there is overcoming multi - product corporations like Yamaha with motorcycles, and Mitsubishi with cars and world war II fighter planes.

  It's all in a name...................