Kenwood Corporation

Kenwood (ケンウッド, Ken'uddo) is a Japanese brand for consumer electronics. Since October 2008, Kenwood has been owned by JVCKenwood as a result of a merger between Kenwood Corporation and JVC. Kenwood has manufactured electronic equipment such as AM/FM stereo receivers, cassette tape decks/recorders, amateur radio (ham radio) equipment, radios, televisions, cellular phones, speakers and other consumer electronics.
Kenwood was established in 1946 as the Kasuga Radio Co. Ltd. in Komagane, Nagano Prefecture, Japan. In 1960, the company was renamed to Trio Corporation. In 1963, the first overseas office was founded in Los Angeles County, California, United States.
In the early 1960s, Trio's products were rebranded by the Lafayette Radio Company, which focused on citizens band radio.
A&A Trading Co. imported Japanese-made electronics for RadioShack. William "Bill" Kasuga, a bilingual Japanese-speaking manager from A&A, partnered with George Aratani and Yoichi Nakase to establish a company as the exclusive importer of Trio products.
The name Kenwood was invented by Kasuga as a combination of "Ken" (a name common to Japan and North America that was considered acceptable to American consumers due to the Kenmore appliance brand), and "Wood" (referring to the material, as well as suggesting a relation to Hollywood, California). The brand recognition of Kenwood eventually surpassed that of Trio. In 1986, Trio bought Kenwood and renamed itself to Kenwood. George Aratani was the first chairman of Kenwood USA Corporation, and was later succeeded by Kasuga. In October 2008, Kenwood merged with JVC to form a new holding company, JVCKenwood.
Kenwood introduced its Sovereign line of components in 2001. In 2007, Kenwood discontinued its line of consumer audio receivers, home theatre systems, and other home electronics.
Today, Kenwood products include home audio, car audio aftermarket and OEM, in-car entertainment, amateur radio, professional two-way radio, and DECT wireless intercom sectors.
Kenwood produces a variety of audio speakers at different grades, ranging from stage sound to high fidelity. The company introduced the first car stereo speaker to utilize a honeycombed linear plane diaphragm.
Kenwood has offered lines of HF, VHF/UHF, and portable amateur radio models, including some with built-in digital data modes (Automatic Packet Reporting System, built on AX.25 packet radio) and modems needed to send and receive these protocols.
Kenwood launched a series of "Integrated Amplifier" stereo power amplifiers in 1977 and continued their production through the mid-1980s. The design for most of these products featured a true dual-mono path for stereo output (where no electrical components are shared between left- and right-channel amplification). Front plates were typically made in brushed aluminum with aluminum knobs and switches, glass covers, and in some cases analog VU meters.
Amplifiers in this series included (in no particular order):
These were a series of compact high fidelity stereo systems launched in 2000, featuring a new design aesthetic.
The NV-301 and NV-701 both featured a three-layered half-mirrored design. The NV-301 was the basic model with two speakers and a line input (marked for Minidisc and DVD players) while the NV-701 was a 5.1 Dolby surround sound model with A/V inputs. Both models included a three-disc carousel, a cassette player with Dolby B noise reduction, a display, intelligent features, and the ability to save up to 40 radio stations, and used microcomputers to reduce the size of the unit.
Kenwood has produced two-way radios for a variety of communications standards, including wireless DECT intercom systems, the radio frequency PMR446 and its digital counterpart dPMR446, dPMR, the Project 25 standards suite, DMR and NXDN. Their communications product range includes hand-portable and mobile terminals (including Intrinsically Safe, ATEX- and IECEx-certified hand-portable radios), repeaters, infrastructure and application solutions.