R.I.P. Onkyo...

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#29
kodabmx said:
Sony and Yamaha...
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But in each of those, particularily Sony, audio kit is only a part of their business, so they have breadth instead of numbers (or brands).

Harmon:
AIR – a cross-platform runtime system for building desktop applications and mobile applications
AKG – microphone/headphones
AMX – video switching and control devices
Arcam – high end home audio – amplifiers and audio components
AXYS Tunnel – Amplifier for public tunnel
Bang & Olufsen Automotive – car audio
Becker – car infotainment
BSS Audio – signal processing
Crown International – pro amplifiers
dbx – signal processors
DigiTech – guitar products
HALOsonic – Noise Management Solutions
HardWire – guitar pedals
Harman Kardon – home/car audio
HiQnet – control network for digital audio equipment, supporting communication over TCP/IP, USB and RS232
Infinity – home/car speakers/headphones
JBL – home/car speakers & amplifiers, professional speakers, headphones
Lexicon – digital processing
Mark Levinson Audio Systems – home/car audio
Martin Professional – stage and architectural lighting and effects fixtures
Revel – home/car speakers
Selenium – home, car and professional speakers, amplifiers, sound tables/mixers
S1nn GmbH & Co.
Soundcraft – mixing consoles
Studer – mixing consoles, sold to Evertz Microsystems 2021[32]

Voxx International:
808 Audio
Acoustic Research
Advent
Audiovox
CarLink
Champ
Chipmunks
Code-Alarm
Directed Electronics
FlashLogic
Hirschmann
Incaar
InVision Technologies
Jamo
Jensen Electronics
Klipsch
Magnat
Onkyo
Prestige
Pursuit
PursuiTrak
RCA
Surface Clean
Terk
Zentral Home Command

Not sure where Onkyo goes.

dave
 
#30
Onkyo never moved with the times and thus no longer relevant. Some years ago They purchased Pioneer’s consumer division, and together with Integra kept putting out more and more AV/HT receivers to a diminishing crowd. We’ll how can you survive? TVs are big enough for a HT like experience but doesn’t need dedicated theatre room; everyone finds TV sound good enough and if they want an upgrade get a soundbar +/- compact subwoofer. Who’s buying the AV receiver??

Pioneer; another one that never moved with the times, and stuck to their guns with plasma televisions.

meanwhile AudioPro (Sweden) which has been around 40+ years and is expanding and going into global markets. They were building speakers with amplifiers and built in equalisation from the beginning.

You need to be flexible and go where the market is are going (what your consumer wants)
25 years ago I was in university, which is when I got started in DIY audio and my engineering friend says “DSP is where it’s going” when he saw me building passive crossovers and I said “but no-one is buying it”
“It’ll cheaper and cheaper; they’re like computer chips right?!”

well he was right as I was wrong.

so sometimes you also have to see the benefits before others realise.
AudioPro (Sweden) which has been around 40+ years and is expanding and going into global markets. They were building speakers with amplifiers and built in equalisation from the beginning.

Fast forward 25 years and we are part of the dying crowd. I bet readership at DIYaudio is decreasing whilst ASR is increasing. We’re moving into a future where when things break people just buy another. We can all bemoan but that is the state of things.

my kid who was born in 21st C hasn’t used a speaker without voice control or needing a separate amplifier in his bedroom. And the sound is far better than I what I had as a 10 year old in the 20th C.

Little birdie told me that one of the reasons Samsung bought Harman was NOT to acquire the considerable IP for the live sound or dwindling home audio market , but to leverage their IP to take over the car audio market.

Our kids future silent electric cars will have amazing audio as standard…
 
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#32
That's because most modern stuff is so miniaturized, it's almost impossible to fix... Or when the parts to repair it cost more than a new one...
Take those DC-DC boost boards I use. I can buy it complete for less than I can buy just the transformer. Why would I build/repair my own?
 
#33
Bought a few SMSL leftover devices and there are some linear PSUs among them. When I wanted to change the output voltage and looked for the right transformer it turned out that the transformer would be more expensive than the complete PSU 🙂 For another project I need 10000 µF 16V snap in caps which now cost ... 5 Euro a piece. It is a fast death to DIY electronics the way things currently are.
 
#35
When I need to buy cheap average quality stuff I better quit. When building I use quality parts produced by reputable brands otherwise my DIY devices can not compete with ready made stuff.

This PCB wants snap in caps and I mostly use CDE or Rubycon nowadays. That LCSC company will also charge shipping costs and wants a minimum order I guess?

edit: i am doing something wrong with my usual distributors it seems as the very same snap in cap I found costs less than dollar at Arrow...

https://www.arrow.de/products/381lx103m016j012/illinois-capacitor
 
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#38
jean-paul said:
True and a pity considering the environmental issues. It seems the green posse hasn't picked that up yet.
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https://www.repaircafe.org/en/

I'd love to add a couple of links to sites of political parties to show that improving repairability of products and doing something against planned obsolescence has their attention, but that would be against forum rules. They are very easy to find anyway.
 
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#40
jean-paul said:
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 🙂
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It sure is. All that's available in the big box stores is crapola and people love it. Hi-fi components are considered fringe and only available from internet vendors like Crutchfield and Parts Express. Nobody goes to the store and picks out speakers and a receiver any more.

The new generation doesn't even know what hi-fi is. I was at the computer warehouse store (Microcenter) and the salesman was trying to sell me on the "best speaker ever made." He demo'd it for me (It was a tiny bluetooth speaker) and of course it was crap. I asked him if he's ever heard of hi-fi and he said "Of course I've heard of wi-fi. But this is bluetooth" DUH I'm really that stupid. I said "No, hi-fi." He accused me of making the word up.

Yes gentlemen, we're that long in tooth. We are laughingstocks for young bucks with wooden sticks shoved in their noses. Hi-fi will die with us I'm afraid.
 
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