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Jensen/Rola/Muter speaker history

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Posted on September 12, 2010 at 08:19:27
Thermionic27609
Audiophile

Posts: 411
Joined: March 29, 2009
 As I've been working on more vintage musical instrument amps, I've been getting curious about the relationship between Jensen and Rola, so I decided to do a little online research. I'm particularly interested in what happened around 1972 when, reportedly, Jensen's Chicago production was closed down and taken over by Rola. It's not easy to find out very much about this history; it's easy to find out about British Rola/Celestion, but that's not what I'm after.

In 1943 Peter L. Jensen left The Jensen Manufacturing Company, and, at some point (by 1956 for certain) Jensen Mfg. was acquired by The Muter Company of Chicago.

In 1945, The Muter Company of Chicago acquired The Rola Company of Cleveland, Ohio from the widow of the founder.

Thus, for years, even though I would have assumed they were independent competitors, Jensen Mfg. and Rola were both subsidiaries of the same parent corporation--Muter.

Around 1972, all Jensen speaker production was moved to the Rola production facilities (still in Cleveland?). I've heard rumors that this was due to declining quality of the Jensen drivers, but I don't know if that's the whole story. (Worn-out production equipment? Bad management? Changing market?)

And I found a reference to McIntosh engineers checking out "the Rola-Jensen speaker manufacturing facilities in Punxsutawney and Dubois, PA" in 1973.

Anyone got the inside story?

As a disclaimer, let me say that I'm aware that things aren't necessarily true or accurate just because something is posted online :-) The "facts" above come from other sources.

David

 

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RE: Jensen/Rola/Muter speaker history, posted on November 16, 2011 at 14:08:53
JohnNEO


 
I worked for Jensen from 77-80. The Jensen offices and engineering were across the street from O'Hare Airport in Schiller Pk, IL. The Rola office was in Cleveland but the plants were in Pauxetauny (sp) and Dubois, PA. Around 77 the company's parent company changed from Muter to something else. I don't recall. I don't know when Jensen left the south side of Chicago near Midway Airport or if Rola made speakers in Cleveland before moving to PA. One Rola plant made mostly Jensen (primarily car speakers) and some higher quality OEM audio speakers and the other made OEM speakers for the auto companies. The company was EXTREMELY successful at that time since they basically invented the car "audio" market. Car radios were called receivers to mimic home Hi-Fi and they fought car companies from making car radios "standard." Home audio was dropping fast. Around 79-80, the company was acquired by the Esmark Co. (a conglomerate who also owned Swift meats). I believe they built another plant in the Carolinas in partnership with a Japanese co. also for the auto market. The Carolinas probably had cheaper labor than PA. Some time in the mid-80's the then president along with some executives took the company private. The competition in the car audio business was intense at that time. They ran it into the ground and eventually sold the name to Audiovox. My guess is that the factories closed.

 

RE: Jensen/Rola/Muter speaker history, posted on February 21, 2015 at 08:29:44
AJAYQ
Audiophile

Posts: 1
Location: North Central PA
Joined: February 21, 2015
 The 2 ROLA plants were approx 15 miles apart in Clearfield/Jefferson County PA. The DuBois plant located behind Tom Mix Drive is now operated as a industrial uniform/carpet cleaning business by Paris Industries. The Punxsutawney plant is located off PA 36 at Horatio Street and is now being used by Triangle Spring Corp as a leaf spring manufacturing plant along with their main PA plant just south of DuBois off of US 219
AJAYQ

 

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