Denon

This article is about the audio equipment manufacturer. For other uses, see Denon (disambiguation).
Denon
株式会社デノン
Corporation
Industry Electronics
Founded Japan (1910)
Key people
 Frederick Whitney Horn, founder
Products Audio, visual
Parent D&M Holdings
Website www.denon.com

Denon (株式会社デノン Kabushiki Kaisha Denon) is a Japanese electronics company that was involved in the early stages of development of digital audio technology, while specializing in the manufacture of high-fidelity professional and consumer audio equipment. For many decades, Denon was a brand name of Nippon-Columbia, including the Nippon Columbia record label. In 2001 Denon was spun off as a separate company with 98% held by Ripplewood Holdings and 2% by Hitachi. In 2002 Denon merged with Marantz to form D&M Holdings. The Denon brand came from a merger of Denki Onkyo and others in 1939.

History

The company was originally established in 1910 as part of Nippon Chikuonki Shokai (Japan Recorders Corporation), a manufacturer of single-sided disc records and gramophones.[1] The company was originally called 日本電氣音響株式會社 - Nippon 'DENki ONkyo Kabushikigaisha' which was shortened to the name of DEN-ON in Japanese. The company is actively involved with sound systems electric appliance production and later the company has been merged with other related companies as a result of this the company name became Denon.

There followed a number of mergers and tie-ins over the next few decades as firstly the company merged with Japan-US Recorders Manufacturing in 1912 and then in 1928 the brand “Columbia” was introduced when the company became Japan Columbia Recorders. A further change of name occurred in 1946 when the company renamed itself Nippon Columbia.[2]

The Denon brand was first established in 1947 when Nippon Columbia merged with Japan Denki Onkyo.[3] D&M Holdings Inc. was created in May 2002 when Denon Ltd and Marantz Japan Inc. merged.[4]

Today, the company specializes in professional and consumer home cinema and audio equipment including A/V receivers, Blu-ray players, tuners, headphones, and wireless music systems. Denon is also known for high-end AV receivers and moving coil phonograph cartridges. Two M-series models, the Denon M31 and M30, were the most successful radio hi-fi's in the mid-2000s. Since being released to the micro hi-fi DAB market, they have received several awards in Europe.

Product timeline

Denon DX1/90 audio cassette tape

See also

Companies portal

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Denon.
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