I’m sure we’ve all seen Emerson TVs. They are typically sold at the cheaper retailers out there. I’ve always assumed (probably correctly) that Emerson televisions (and DVD players) suck.
One day I was looking at an ad bulletin in my newspaper and it listed Emerson TV/DVD combos on sale, and I said “Who would buy Emerson, they have to suck?” Well my uncle who was with me said, “Well I remember Emerson used to be one of the premier electronics companies, and I think they were once one of the biggest American ones.”
This interested me somewhat. So I tried to look up this Emerson company, see if they really were once a good company. But alas despite all my searching I could never find a website, or any information whatsoever about this Emerson company that makes TVs.
I’ve found an Emerson Electric Company, and I thought that may be it, but they don’t mention even remotely home electronics production anywhere on their website.
I was wrong again, Emerson appears to be an independent company, headquartered in New Jersey. The Emerson line of electronics appears to be made by Funai, or something. Not sure, but at this point I’d say the thread no longer serves a purpose unless people just feel like throwing in comments about Emerson Radio Corp.
The company is Emerson Radio (stock symbol MSN) with HQ in Parsippany, NJ. It has been in business for over 50 years and is in the niche of lower cost consumer electronics and sporting goods. Not a particular big company (under $300M per year in revenue) and less than 400 employees. Its stock has not done well in the last few years. Here’s their website.
Emerson electronics are considered low-end because they sell for cheaper than anything else. As far as I know emerson doesn’t produce any plasma TV’s, or high end stereo equipment. For the most part they produce TV’s that sell for 20-30 dollars less than any name brand TV, DVD players that sell for 20-30 less than any name brand equipment, and stereos that sell for 20-30 less than any name brand stereo. They cut prices by having speakers with foam surrounds, plastic everywhere, MONO TVS!!! Its almost 2005 for christsake, is it too much to ask for stereo.
I’ve never seen Emerson equipment available with any sort of extended warrantee, although I believe they have a 30-90 day parts warranty. Personally I think their stuff looks cheap, but performs Ok for the money.
If thats not the definition of a low-end brand I don’t what is.
My first Emerson VCR (4-head stereo) was about $300 in the late 1980s lasted a little over ten years. My second one (4-head non-stereo) lasted eight, cost about $150. My third one (same as 2nd) was about $100 & is now about 5 yrs old & still going good.
Now the only real question that remains is the one involving my uncle. He made the claim, that in his day, Emerson was a very respected company.
I think to get to the root of this we have to employ the aid of old people (old being anyone older than me, I’m 33 years old FYI) who may remember Emerson from way back when.
I wouldn’t necessarily be surprised if Emerson was once considered a quality brand and now is not. RCA for example doesn’t strike me as a great brand and I really just get the “cheap” feel from them eventhough RCA basically pioneered the television.
I will say though that a lot of the “off” brands really can surprise you with their longevity and their quality. I had a cheap Admiral VCR that I bought in 1990 that was still working well into 2003 or so (at that point I was only using it to make occasional automated recordings) when it was replaced by a DVD-Recorder.
I’m not trying to hijack here, but I’d also like to know where emerson TV’s are manufactured. If they were once manufactured in the US, and are now manufactured in Korea or someplace similar, it would go a long ways towards explaining the shift in attitude about the brand name.
Well from what I can tell Emerson leased out all the manufacturing of their televisions to Funai, and Funai has factories throughout mainland Asia, I remember seeing a few factories listed in Thailand.
well, just IMHO, but I think thats what happened to the emerson brand name right there. A similar thing happened to Epiphone guitars. They used to be a beloved manufacturer of American guitars used by stars ranging from BB King to the Beatles. Now they’re korean made knockoffs of Gibsons.
Well, let’s pause here – Martin’s uncle says he remembers when Emerson was a “premier” and “big” brand. He may not have meant they were specially great, just that at some time they used to be big-sellers and popular.
Popularity =/= quality. I can very well imagine that before the invasion of the market by Toshiba, Panasonic, etc., Emerson would have been considered an OK middle-of-the-road brand at a good price. Hey, at that time people thought the AMC Rambler was an OK car at a good price.
IOW it may be that it’s just that the average consumer’s expectations were raised; meanwhile, Emerson stayed with what they knew: selling inexpensive electronics.
I recall Emerson stereos back in the 60s. They were common, but not considered high end: the type of stereo a college kid on a budget would buy back then for his first set.
Emerson
RCA
Zenith
Sylvania
These were the TVs people grew up with throught the sixties, seventies, and then started to fade in the 80’s.
In the 80’s, Sony…Hitachi…Sanyo…Mitsubishi…well, they started to dominate, as low-cost overseas production drove down costs (1980…color 19" Zenith = 650-750 bucks).
"Free trade’ (which isn’t equal trade) now ensures that US electronic companies don’t stand a chance. Those that hung on contracted to produce low end stuff overseas.
Quite frankly, when your company is in the pits, you can’t exactly produce cutting edge stuff, but you get reliable equipment mfgr’d overseas. It is ‘lack of frills’ that keeps costs down…not lack of quality. Sometimes, since there is less to go wrong, less does go wrong. But you won’t find tons of settings, inputs, outputs, etc, etc.
Even earlier. By the mid-70s Panasonic and Toshiba were starting to administer a serious beating to the “American” brands. And it wans’t just low cost, it was relative quality-for-the-buck, too. I remember our '74 Toshiba. Funky little white rouded “space” looking set, on turntable base – but its AFT pulled in and held a signal in tune (this was at the time most TVs made you manually set the “fine tuning”, v-hold and h-hold with dials, boys and girls) like a pitbull. I almost cried in '93 when I had to finally say goodbye.
By the 80s the US brands were selling relabeled Japanese and the Japanese brands were selling relabeled Taiwanese and the Koreans were moving in (and by now everybody is selling relabeled Chinese, at the lower end).
Indeed.
Nowadays, with every part of the even the dinkiest system microprocessor-controlled, and most components being standard subcontractor pieces anyway, it’s damn hard to tell the difference unless you’re at the “high end” where you are actively looking for HD and multiple auxiliary features. If all you want is a screen and a speaker, anything is “good enough”. The next trend to look out for are the “Heier” and other Chinese brand-X type appliances that are invading the low end, specially through the two "-Mart"s and their equivalents.
Was the EMERSON brand part of EMERSON ELECTRIC? (years ago). I think that American firms like GE, Westinghouse, and Philco actually made TV sets in the past. Later, when the asian producers bombed the market, these firms sold or closed down ther consumer electronics businesses. EMERSON ELECTRIC now is a big producer of electric motors, generators, etc…not consumer electronics.
And yes, Chinese-made TV sets are flooding the market…even the Japanese cannot compete with China (not too astounding when you learn that many Chinese factories are staffed with prison labor (0$/hour wages).
ralph124c Was the EMERSON brand part of EMERSON ELECTRIC? (years ago).
No.
I worked for Emerson Electric from 66 to 71. Emerson TV was not part of the EE conglamorate of companies.
EE began as electric motor manufacturer.
In 66 to 71 the part of the company I worked for was the Electronics and Space Division.That part of the company was sold off in the mid 70s iirc.
Many of the TV brands mentioned above went out with the advent of transistor TVs. I sold a few of the last Sylvania TVs. They were OK tvs but the japanese just kicked our collective asses with their quality cheaper tvs.
FWIW Sylvania manufactured TV tubes and later transistors.
One of the other big name brands that couldn’t compete was Motorola.
Zenith was one of the last to go.