R.I.P. Onkyo...

[kodabmx]

Onkyo has filed for bankruptcy...
https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Companies/Classic-Japanese-audio-brand-Onkyo-files-for-bankruptcy

Apparently, they sold their AV line to Sharp and Voxx... The name will continue but it'll probably be crap.
Bell and Howell used to make excellent projectors etc and now they are a name on cheap motion lights.

RCA used to make good parts and sets, now if I'm not mistaken, it's just a trademark of Thomson and now stands for Renowned Crap Association.

 

[adason]

Its a pitty. They used to make great stuff.
Even some iconic. Maybe we could use this thread to post pics of their most memorable products.
I still have onkyo cassette deck and cd player.

 

[adason]

Grand Integra m510

 

[jean-paul]

Audio as a business is pretty bad at the moment. Onkyo certainly won't be the last. People want crap and therefor buy crap. Stuff is only interesting when it can be connected/controlled by their smart phone, there is the business whether we like it or not. People that like serious audio devices and quality will be seen as surviving dinosaurs. Eh, we already are seen as that 🙂

 

[planet10]

We sold a lot of Onkyo in the late 70s, they stood out above most of the other Japanese receivers and amps of the day. Superb tuners.

dave

 

[planet10]

Audio as a business is pretty bad at the moment. Onkyo certainly won't be the last.

We are living in a time of great change. We see much consolidation, one can put huge piles of brands together and say “same owner”.

dabe

 

[adason]

Grand Scepter...

 

[adason]

https://onkyo.com/countryselector/70th/en/

 

[adason]

Cassette deck ta-2900 and 2090

 

[Salas]

I still have onkyo cassette deck

Superb tuners

Indeed. It is ONKYO gear I had chosen to restore as my tape and FM sources. Not overpriced oldies. Sad to see this classic company finally go.

 

[adason]

Tuner t-9090

 

[kodabmx]

Cassette deck ta-2900 and 2090

This is tape deck porn and I want one.

 

[Guerilla]

I always liked early 80ies Onkyo. You would pay a little extra for all the lights, but nothing wrong with that. Sansui went over the top with lightshow in that period. I now have a nice later, more modest looking Onkyo deck for transfering. I Imagine most cassette decks from big names were OEMs by late 80ies? I also want both the depicted. Just as I want a Luxman just for looks.
Cheers!

 

[Salas]

Onkyo decks were still Onkyo. Luxman decks were Alpine.

 

[ranshdow]

In the early 90's I had a little portable Onkyo CD player. It got me through college and well into grad school.

 

[Guerilla]

 

[planet10]

Luxman decks

They went thru a crappy phase.

dave

 

[Salas]

@Guerilla
That Conion boombox you posted and this set were made by the Coney Onkyo Company of Kobe Japan. As well as many portable radios.
But they appear to be a different company than Osaka Denki Onkyo.

 

[NareshBrd]

Sansui is long gone, and a lot of other Japanese makers are no longer active in audio systems, and if at all, the production is farmed out to low cost countries like China.
Part of the trend towards net based storage, and the use of solid state storage.
And streaming too, you can watch or hear your choice of material on your device.
Sad, but there is hardly any volume in the market for mid to high end audio.
And once you do buy a unit, it lasts a long time, not something that is renewed every few years.

The British brands like NAD, Quad and so on are now Chinese owned, and if you look at the list of defunct USA makers, Carver, Soundcraftsmen, and many other prominent names come up.

Sad, but the essence of life is change...

As an aside, the LED lighting business has forced big lighting companies to divest, as LED production does not need the expensive glass processing lines to blow and extrude molten glass.
Philips has Signify as the new lighting business, GE has Current now, Siemens already had Osram, and others may be found by searching.

 

[Guerilla]

@planet10 The one or those I like are from around aquisition by Alpine, so Im not sure who designed it. Im also not sure if all departements of Alpine were very inferior. I really like the sound of all the duo/beta equipped amplifiers Ive heard. I Imagine they are all bases on preaquisition designs, but maybe not same quality.
@Salas Yes maybe they are not related, but. In Denmark Onkyo hifi was imported and sold exclusively by Audioscan directly to consumers without a distributor. They also sold the boomboxes, so maybe the two Onkyo companies were related or just colaborating about distribution. Btw. boomboxes were designated as ghettoblasters in DK.
@NareshBrd Isnt NAD now owned by Pickering Group? -Could have changed.
Cheers!