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Defunct Audio Companies

96.3.220.186
Posted on October 2, 2015 at 14:19:53
Trout Mask Replica
Audiophile

Posts: 11
Joined: September 1, 2000
 Found this site today. Maybe it has been posted here before but it is interesting and informative. There sure have been a lot of audio related businesses that have come and gone. The guy who put this list together has WAY to much time on his hands.

http://audiotools.com/dead.html

 

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RE: Defunct Audio Companies, posted on October 2, 2015 at 15:04:12
Cameraman
Audiophile

Posts: 396
Location: 33701
Joined: September 25, 2011
 The only problem that some of them had really good products
Thanx

 

RE: Defunct Audio Companies, posted on October 2, 2015 at 16:09:45
Poinzy
 I was looking for the company that made the little can that "moo"'d when you upended it. I think "visionary" is not too strong a word to apply to those guys.

 

no ADS?, posted on October 2, 2015 at 16:54:23
mbnx01
Audiophile

Posts: 7956
Location: Eagle, Idaho
Joined: October 22, 2004
 A big miss there.





'A lie is halfway around the world before the truth gets its boots on'. -Mark Twain

 

Dunlavey? nt, posted on October 2, 2015 at 17:33:14
slapshot
Audiophile

Posts: 2248
Joined: January 9, 2006

 

Bigger yet, Soundesign, or are they alive? nt, posted on October 2, 2015 at 18:41:42
Byrd69
Audiophile

Posts: 2881
Location: East Syracuse, New York
Joined: August 23, 2004
 .


Your interest may vary but the results will be same. (Byrd 2020)

I can't compete with the dead. (Buck W. 2010)

Cowards can't be heroes. (Byrd 2017)

Why don't catfish have kittens? (Moe Howard 1937)

 

RE: Defunct Audio Companies, posted on October 2, 2015 at 19:52:11
PAR
 Thanks for posting this. I was surprised at how comprehensive the author has been (even though I haven't yet finished reading it). Yes there may be missing companies but he even lists pretty obscure British companies which I expected to be of parochial interest only to us on this side of the pond. I am sure, however, that there are also multitudes of unrecorded defunct audio equipment producers especially from countries outside of N. America or Europe.

Of course much of what is recorded is to be expected given the one man band/cottage industry nature of many manufacturers. It is often really a record of retirement or death rather than of lack of success.

Often the original company may have gone but its successors carry on with the brand or product line and its developments, a normal aspect of capitalism where companies are traded.

It is also a reminder that the industry is, in part, led by fashion.

Mostly it underlines the fact that the only reliable thing in life is change.

 

RE: Defunct Audio Companies, posted on October 2, 2015 at 20:40:55
Bodhi
 The greatest tragedy was seeing Harmon turn 40 years of classic Infinity speakers into cheap, mass market hifi, only to poach their best ideas for their own high end brand Revel. There was actually a photo on the net showing Harmon using Infinity Omega speakers to voice their Revel Gems years ago which mysteriously disappeared.

 

guess we need a list of the funct ones?, posted on October 3, 2015 at 06:15:20
mhardy6647
Audiophile

Posts: 16019
Location: New England
Joined: October 12, 1999
Contributor
  Since: October 23, 2016
 Including, perhaps, the Funk Firm?

all the best,
mrh

 

And no New York Audio Labs (NYAL) (nt), posted on October 3, 2015 at 07:53:52
Dave Pogue
Audiophile

Posts: 11689
Location: DC Area
Joined: October 9, 2001
 nt

 

Xtreme AV and Fulton and TG Audio come to mind, dunno if they're on that list. Nt, posted on October 3, 2015 at 08:32:05
geoffkait
 Nt

 

They missed Snell too. (nt), posted on October 3, 2015 at 08:40:37
reelsmith.
Audiophile

Posts: 13134
Location: CT
Joined: June 7, 2005
Contributor
  Since: January 19, 2010
 .


reelsmith's axiom: Its going to be used equipment when I sell it, so it may as well be used equipment when I buy it.


 

If those companies are defunct..., posted on October 3, 2015 at 10:10:18
Mr. Dick Hertz
 ...there must be a lot of disgruntled customers. If we're going to also list the funct companies, then we need a list of gruntled customers too.

 

RE: no Nobis or Signature Technolgies either, posted on October 3, 2015 at 11:18:34
Jeff Starr
Audiophile

Posts: 1574
Location: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Joined: March 4, 2000
 So not very complete. Although, it would take a lot of time and dedication to research/remember them all.

Then there are those companies that don't seem to be producing product, but offer support, like Camelot. Dead or alive?

This is kind of a good reminder, about buying boutique products. For every rare piece that holds or gains some value, there are many more that become hard to sell, and even worse, get serviced/repaired.
I've made the above mistake, more than once.

 

Spica's gone too AFAIK. nt, posted on October 3, 2015 at 12:45:55
Rick W
 nt

 

B&K is missing. , posted on October 3, 2015 at 20:52:12
MannyE
Audiophile

Posts: 2088
Location: Miami Beach
Joined: March 4, 2001
 And I miss B&K.

 

RE: Defunct Audio Companies, soundcraftsman , posted on October 4, 2015 at 05:19:38
Audioquest4life
Audiophile

Posts: 1842
Joined: March 6, 2004
 Soundcdaftsman is missing also. Owned two A5001's when I was stationed in Germany in the 80's.

Still own one but it needs some TLC and a refurbish.

 

RE: If those companies are defunct..., posted on October 4, 2015 at 11:28:23
BillH
Audiophile

Posts: 3913
Location: Baton Rouge
Joined: December 23, 1999
 I can think of only one funct firm with no gruntled (or disgruntled) customers: LIRPA. Makers of the original Lirpa 1 power amp with 0-100Khz power bandwidth. Other innovative products followed, year after year.

But I agree about too much time, etc. Some of the listings aren't even audio firms, but distributors like Allan Sugar's company or makers of tape, cabinets, furniture, etc.

Still, he lists Audionics, one of my favorites from the Seventies.

 

Audio Concepts, posted on October 5, 2015 at 10:33:32
Brian H P
Audiophile

Posts: 1291
Location: Oregon
Joined: December 18, 2012
 There's an English company by that name on the list, but not Mike Dzurko's outfit. Started in the late 1970s as a DIY supplier with a line of excellent speaker kits. Got out of DIY in the early 1990s (to the advantage of those of us who stocked up on closeout-priced drivers and parts) and focused on developing a line of high end assembled speakers which garnered a number of awards and positive reviews. Mike threw in the towel in 2012, maintained a bulletin board for his former customers on Audio Circle for a couple of years, and now that too is gone. As of awhile back, Meniscus still built and sold his Sapphire XL2 minimonitors.

 

RE: Audio Concepts, posted on October 5, 2015 at 15:41:12
Mick Wolfe
Audiophile

Posts: 3365
Location: AZ
Joined: October 10, 1999
Contributor
  Since: September 4, 2000
 Yep, I thought of ACI too. Still have a Titan powered sub in my HT set-up. Nice guy, great little company. Others that came to mind...Amber, Audire, Hegemann, JSE, Superphon, Bolder, Daybreak and NEAR. That's without even trying that hard. I'm sure the inmates here could come up with a list as big as the one in the link.

 

RE: Audio Concepts, posted on October 6, 2015 at 07:55:32
BillH
Audiophile

Posts: 3913
Location: Baton Rouge
Joined: December 23, 1999
 Oh yeah, easily. I still have an Audire Legato preamp.

 

RE: Audio Concepts, posted on October 6, 2015 at 08:53:31
Mick Wolfe
Audiophile

Posts: 3365
Location: AZ
Joined: October 10, 1999
Contributor
  Since: September 4, 2000
 Ditto.. one of my friends still has my old Crescendo amp.

 

Counterpoint and Sound Valves, posted on October 12, 2015 at 09:40:58
Hyfi
Audiophile

Posts: 733
Joined: January 30, 2002
 Missing

Counterpoint
Sound Valves
Sound Values

 

Also missing Clearfield Speakers (early VRS), posted on October 12, 2015 at 10:04:59
Hyfi
Audiophile

Posts: 733
Joined: January 30, 2002
 Clearfiled Speakers were early von Schweikert when under the Counterpoint umbrella.

 

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