D’oh, didn’t notice the “electronics” qualifier in the OP. :smack:
Please ignore both previous post and this post.
mmm
That’s OK. Towards the end, Studebaker used Delco radios, and that name is now among the undead, too.
Not many people know that CBS merchandised radios and TVs during the 50s, after taking over Hytron, a radio and TV tube maker. The sets were branded CBS-Columbia, the tubes CBS-Hytron.
I thought Sharper Image was always just a brand name. They did have a chain of stores but the products were just things that they put their name on and marketed. I bought a Sharper Image product at their store that I found later was sold by the manufacturer under their own name. I don’t think they ever manufactured or even designed the products, though they may have spec’ed out and commissioned them. (I’m not sure what the whole story is about the Ionic Breeze; that seemed to be a product exclusive to SI.)
Someone mentioned “Muntz”-Earle “Madman” Muntz was a California entrepreneur who made it big in used cars. He used his profits to get into the TV business, and later made 8-Track players for cars. In the late 1970’s, he tried to get into the big screen (projection) TV business-was he successful in that?
I don’t like much of their stuff anymore but I do have a Sony TC 500 Reel to Reel, portable tape deck I purchased in 1963, ( if 55 pounds is really portable but it can be all hooked together and has a handle to carry it with if you can. ) It is going strong…
Well one of my new neighbors drives a near-mint Studebaker Hawk.
Is that “pre-logic” or post? I remember it being a big deal when you didn’t have to pause between forward and rewind. I’m old.
I remember Candle. Great little B&W portable tv we had for the Atari.
Marantz could indeed be found at the local “audiophile” shop in my hometown, and probably still is. Most of that shit is all the same. They also hawked Yamaha heavily, and the result is I still have CD players, a high-end dual cassette deck, EQ (which I never used) and receiver from 1990-1992 that work perfectly and have never been cleaned.
NAD was another audio gear company that I never hear of anymore.
Years and years ago, it was pretty common knowledge that “Sears” brand tube TVs (the massive ones with the wood fixtures–heavy as shit) were actually Sony. They used to last forever.
Is “Sanyo” still going strong? They were fairly cheap and looked and sounded it.
Back in the days when the Japanese were trying hard to rid themselves of the “cheap junk” reputation, there were a number of Taiwan-based manufacturers that sold extremely cheap copies of Japanese gear. I seem to remember names like “SOMY” and “FUJIMA”-obvious take-offs on Japanese brands. Anyway, I remember one store selling “One transistor” radios! These things had terrible sounds, and poor selectivity-but they sold for a few dollars. Doubtless, few survive toady.