Kenwood Corporation

Kenwood(ケンウッド,Ken'uddo)is a Japanese brand for consumer electronics. Since October 2008, Kenwood has been owned byJVCKenwoodas a result of a merger between Kenwood Corporation andJVC.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. inKomagane,Nagano Prefecture,Japan. In 1960, the company was renamed to Trio Corporation. In 1963, the first overseas office was founded inLos Angeles County, California,United States.
In the early 1960s, Trio's products were rebranded by theLafayette Radio Company, which focused oncitizens band radio.
A&A Trading Co. imported Japanese-made electronics forRadioShack. William "Bill" Kasuga, a bilingual Japanese-speaking manager from A&A, partnered withGeorge Arataniand 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 theKenmoreappliance brand), and "Wood" (referring to the material, as well as suggesting a relation toHollywood, 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 withJVCto 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 includehome audio,car audioaftermarket andOEM,in-car entertainment,amateur radio, professionaltwo-way radioandDECTwirelessintercomsectors.
Kenwood produces a variety of audio speakers at different grades, ranging from stage sound tohigh fidelity. The company introduced the first car stereo speaker to utilize a honeycombed linear planediaphragm.
Kenwood has offered lines ofHF,VHF/UHF, andportableamateur radio models, including some with built-in digital data modes (Automatic Packet Reporting System, built onAX.25packet radio) andmodemsneeded 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 aluminium with aluminium knobs and switches, glass covers, and in some cases analogVU 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 forMiniDiscandDVDplayers) 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 wirelessDECT intercomsystems, the radio frequencyPMR446and its digital counterpartdPMR446,dPMR, theProject 25standards suite,DMRandNXDN. Their communications product range includes hand-portable and mobile terminals (including Intrinsically Safe,ATEX- andIECEx-certified hand-portable radios),repeaters, infrastructure and application solutions.