The Biggest Successes in A/V Consumer Electronics in the Last 50 Years

[Weekend Warrior]

I thought that the 8-track tape might be included for us old timers.

 

[gene]

I thought that the 8-track tape might be included for us old timers.

It was in this article

Biggest Failures in Consumer Audio

 

[Weekend Warrior]

It was in this article

Biggest Failures in Consumer Audio

Ouch!!

 

[Johnny2Bad]

A little trivia for everyone ...

The Advent 201 was manufactured in Japan by a little known electronics firm, under contract to engineer the entire product. That company saw the potential of the format, and decided to enter the consumer space.

Nakamichi

 

[lovinthehd]

I thought that the 8-track tape might be included for us old timers.

I'm an old timer, had 8-tracks but definitely don't go along with inclusion in the list of biggest successes thing for them...

 

[vqworks]

A little trivia for everyone ...

The Advent 201 was manufactured in Japan by a little known electronics firm, under contract to engineer the entire product. That company saw the potential of the format, and decided to enter the consumer space.

Nakamichi

You made a good reference to Nakamichi but it was really for the transports they built for the Advent 201's predecessor, the Advent 200. The late Henry Kloss wasn't happy with its quality so he later contracted with Wollensak to build the transport for the Advent 201. Henry revealed this in a 1991 interview with Audio Magazine.

This doesn't mean that Nakamichi was capable of building high quality transports. In fact, they were. But I think Nakamichi and Henry Kloss had a different understanding of the standards that Henry was expecting out of the $260 Advent 200. The transport was built under a cost constraint but Wollensak was able to better meet Henry Kloss' expectations at the same cost.

Nakamichi would later show its capabilities in building transports two years after the Advent 201's introduction by introducing the world to its 1000 at a matching $1000 price tag.

 

[johndyson10]

My opinion is that the author has a poor knowledge of consumer electronics. There were all-tube stereo receivers long before silicon transistors came around. (Fisher made at least one.) And vacuum tube equipment wasn't particularly unreliable, or expensive. (Remember Dynaco?) At least we weren't subjected to the myth that Sony invented the transistor radio. (Better check. Maybe I missed it.)

WRT the transistor radio -- Regency Electronics here in Indianapolis along with TI invented the first commercial transistor radio. (just FYI if you didn't already know ). There was a legacy in this area of that kind of thing including the Bearcat scanners. All of the big-time electronics industry is now gone from Indy area (RCA TV stuff, AT&T -- the real part of Bell Labs that did telephones, the original picture phone, the coiled cable patent, the single slot pay phone (my bosses boss had that one), and a lot more). The other tech included the Norden Bomb Sight from WWII, and the original Tomahak cruise missile guidance (my boss at NAFI and a few of my co-workers had that patent), along with the early satellite TV projects at Bell Labs (my project there) and a lot of projects like that at Bell Labs in Indy -- then finally, my very first technical boss who started/owned WFMS in Indianapolis knew and worked for Thomas A Edison. We have seen and been involved in the periphery of a lot of tech here in Indy -- ESSENTIALLY ALL GONE. Practically the last of Technicolors' set top box design is now gone also (I used to work on thata stuff also -- essentially the last vestiges of RCA -- gone.) Sad... US gotta get at least part of their industry back. THIS IS ALL JUST IN Indy, a relatively middling city...

 

[Irvrobinson]

Sad... US gotta get at least part of their industry back. THIS IS ALL JUST IN Indy, a relatively middling city...

Get back part of which industry, John? Consumer electronics? With the exception of smartphones there just isn't a lot of money in it, so US companies tend to shy away. And I think it's even a worthwhile argument that there isn't much in the way of profits in smartphones for anyone except Apple.

 

[johndyson10]

Get back part of which industry, John? Consumer electronics? With the exception of smartphones there just isn't a lot of money in it, so US companies tend to shy away. And I think it's even a worthwhile argument that there isn't much in the way of profits in smartphones for anyone except Apple.

(I know this is off topic, so this is my last response)
Well, I do agree with you from a financial & political standpoint RIGHT NOW things are against middle Americans, but the loss occurred way before the recent times. The damage has been gradual -- for example, the loss of telephone production happened in the 1980's and went to Shrieveport LA, then of course, disappeared entirely to China and elsewhere. There were LOTS of middle income jobs disappearing towards underpaid, underunioned (which I do not ascribe to -- except for those who really need them), and environmentally destructive places. There has to be a place for the middle income people, and the real cost of American labor is really not all that different (all things equal) when compared with other costs nowadays. It is the small marginal difference that pushes industry away. political/tariff pressure in the other countries, -- and the almost nonexistent environmental controls. This bleeding has been happening -- and just a small bias back towards the middle will help to bring some GOOD employment back to our middle income people. (I am not speaking for my own advantage, since I have either been at the very top of middle income, or at the lower end of high income for most of my working life. At some times, I have even been at the middle of high income...) I worry about the future fabric of the US.
John

 

[Irvrobinson]

(I know this is off topic, so this is my last response)

Some forums are managed very tightly, and off-topic discussions are not allowed, but at Audioholics they're practically an art form. That's also one reason I hang around here. The tightly managed forums tend to be the most boring.