Kenwood Corporation
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| Type | Public TYO: 6765 |
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| Industry | Consumer electronics, electronics |
| Founded | 1946 |
| Headquarters | Hachiōji, Tokyo, Japan |
| Key people | Haruo Kawahara CEO |
| Products | Consumers electronics |
| Revenue | $1.68 billion USD (2006)[1] |
| Operating income | n/a |
| Net income | n/a |
| Employees | 4,424 (2006) |
| Parent | JVC Kenwood Holdings |
| Website | Kenwood Corporation |
Kenwood Corporation (株式会社ケンウッド Kabushiki-gaisha Ken'uddo) (TYO: 6765) is a Japanese manufacturer of amateur radio as well as Hi-Fidelity and portable audio equipment.
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[edit] History
The company first started in 1946 as the Kasuga Radio Co. Ltd. In Komagane City, Nagano Prefecture, Japan. In 1960 the firm was renamed "Trio Corporation". 1963 saw the foundation of the first overseas office of Trio, in Los Angeles, California, USA.[2]
In the early 1960s, The LaFayette Radio Company rebranded and sold Trio's products, unfortunately focusing on the doomed 23-channel CB radio.
Their component HiFi reaches back to the all valve era, with their stereo receiver-amplifiers often having 2 tuning dials and 2 separate tuners, some of which would tune in multiple carrier AM stereo broadcasts.
Innovation at the company was very significant during this period. Trio built oscilloscopes, such as the popular 10 MHz CS-1562A.
A group of Japanese American audio enthusiasts consisting of Bill Kasuga, Yoichi Nakase and George Aratani, who also founded Mikasa & Company started an import company in 1961 that would satisfy their desire for high-quality audio recording equipment. They came across Trio, and started importing their electronics. During that period, Japanese manufactured goods were considered low-quality but Kasuga had faith in Trio's products and decided to create an American-sounding name for them. He described the origin of Kenwood as being an alliteration to Kenmore Appliances, with "Ken" being a Japanese and Western name, and "Wood" being a reference to the durable substance as well as Hollywood.[3]
The brand recognition of Kenwood would surpass that of Trio's, and in 1981, Trio decided on using the Kenwood name worldwide and renamed itself Kenwood Corporation in 1986.[2]
Kenwood introduced Japan's first FM tuner and solid state amplifier. The company introduced an amplifier with integrated audio and video signal switching in 1981. This product is seen as a precursor to today's home cinema systems.
In 1984, Kenwood designed and manufactured the first anti-theft car stereo receiver.
Kenwood introduced its Sovereign line of components in 2001. This high-end line competes with prestige brands of other manufacturers such as Pioneer Elite, Sony ES, Onkyo Integra, and Matsushita Technics. In the car audio market, the "eXcelon" line similarly competes Pioneer Premier and Sony Mobile ES brands.
Kenwood announced its intention to merge with JVC after Matsushita spun off the company. The new company formed JVC Kenwood Holdings on October 1, 2008.
[edit] Notable products and inventions
[edit] Amateur radio transceivers
Kenwood has offered distinct lines of HF, VHF/UHF, and portable amateur radio models, not to mention some with built-in Digital data modes (APRS, built on AX.25 Packet) & the modems needed to send & receive these.
Among the product lines, the "TS" series of HF transceivers can be said to be among Kenwood's flagship products. These radios cover the HF ("high frequency") bands, from 1.8 to 30 MHz, and can easily let the user communicate around the world, via voice, CW (Morse), PSK31 or RTTY (digital modes of communication), with output power of around 50-100 Watts. These included:
- TS-800 series—From the late 1970s, the TS-820 was one of the first Kenwood transceivers to gain widespread acceptance in the Amateur Radio community. The original model included a single VFO (variable frequency oscillator), although a second VFO could be purchased as a stand-alone option; a matching receiver, the R-820, was also available, which permitted split frequency operation. A digital display was another option, availablle to be retrofit to the original device. With the digital display installed, a TS-820 could be named a "TS-820S": all future Kenwood HF transceivers have used the "S" designation to signify presence of a digital display, though the feature has long since become standard equipment.
- TS-900 series—From the mid-1980s, the TS-930S and, to a greater extent, the TS-940S represented a step-up in features, size, and cost from the 800-series models. Introduced around 1986, the TS-940S was considered a classic of its time which was later succeeded by the TS-950. It was Kenwood's first model to permit the HF transceiver to be fully controlled by a personal computer (via RS-232 cable and an aftermarket interface, the IF-232). In later years, this became standard equipment on almost all serious HF radios, and some radios would drop the human interface features entirely, being controlled entirely by a remote computer. The TS-950SDX was the last of this fine series, and its receiver is still a strong performer even when compared with much newer and more expensive radios.
- TS-400 series—with models including the TS-430S, TS-440S, TS-450 and TS-480, these units featured a smaller size, were operated on 12 Volts -- meaning batteries could be used—and were suitable for use as a portable base station, such as during Amateur Radio Field Day. The TS-420 was one of the first compact HF rigs offering "full coverage" receive, literally from 1-30Mhz. The TS-440S added direct keyboard entry and an internal auto antenna tuner option. All at a very attractive price point not seen with the main competitors of the time.
- TS-600 series—These models were mainly identical to their 400 series counterparts but offered the 6 Meters band as an addition. For example the TS-450S and the TS-690S have the same exterior and mostly the same specifications on the 1.8-30 MHz HF bands, but adding the 6 Meters band.
Other series include the 100, 500, and the new 2000 series. The TS-2000 is Kenwood's current top of the line model. It includes all-mode operation on HF, 6 meters, 2 meters, 70 centimeters (420 - 450 MHz), and in the "X" model the 23 centimeters band (1.24 - 1.30 GHz). Kenwood also offers a "B" model which is a transceiver without display or controls and is completely controlled by a remote computer or a separate control unit. This allows using it as a mobile transceiver where the main unit is placed in the trunk or an area that provides enough room to house it, possibly closer to the antenna, and have a control unit in the front of the car. A setup like this allows the control unit to be placed closer to the driver and the transceiver closer to the antenna which shortens the cable, reducing possible interference.
Kenwood has not entered the "big box" high end HF radio market that has become the high ground in the amateur radio market. While the TS-2000 offers solid performance in a very compact package, it is missing key features found in the high end offerings from Icom and Yaesu.
- Radios with built-in Digital data modes & modems (for APRS)
Kenwood TS-2000 also have built-in Digital data modes (APRS, built on AX.25 Packet), as do the mobile TM-D710A (which replaced the earlier TM-D700A) and handheld TH-D7 series. A UK White Paper shows a number of applications of the popular APRS (ie, Automatic Position Reporting System, a.k.a. Automatic Packet Reporting System).
[edit] L-series product line
In the late 1970s Trio Kenwood put to use their experience in DC to high-frequency amplification used in oscilloscopes and embarked on what was to become their signature high-end audio gear, the L-series (or Lab-series). Starting with the L-05, 7 & 9 pre/power amplifiers, the L-07T tuner and the L-07D direct drive turntable.
In 1979 they started the New-Separate amplifier series with the L-01A integrated amplifier and matching L-01T tuner. In 1983/4 the L-03A and T where launched, but were aimed primarily on the Japanese market. The first L-series CD-player was the L-03DP which had a front loading mechanism much like a casettedeck. In 1989 the L-1000 series were launched. The L-1000 series consisted of a control amplifier, power amplifier, tuner and CD-player. The last line of the L-series came in 1994 with the L-A1 integrated amplifier and the L-D1 CD-player. After 1994 no new L-series were launched.
Most of the L-series were designed by Kenwood, but manufactured by Kensonic (known today as Accuphase). In 1978 Kenwood introduced it's KR-4070 Stereo Receiver that sold for around $315.99 & it puts out 40 wpc sounds more like 80 wpc. It features 1 phono,1 Aux, 2 Tape Inputs Loudness on/off,AM,Auto Muting,FM,Mono,& Separate Bass & Treble Controls.
[edit] D.R.I.V.E.
DRIVE stands for Dynamic Resolution Intensive Vector Enhancement. This IC invented in the early 1990s is intended to enhance soft signals in CD players by interpreting the signal and then relaying it through various filters in order to recreate as close as possible the signal as it was recorded. Many improvements were released with new versions of the DRIVE ICs.
[edit] T.R.A.I.T.
TRAIT stands for Thermally Reactive Advanced Instantaneous Transistor. This means that the thermocouple necessary to compensate for temperature effects in power transistors is housed inside the transistor instead of the traditional place on the heatsink. This minimizes the time difference between actual temperature of the transistor and measured temperature on the heatsink. This improves the sound quality of the amplified signal.
TRAIT transistors have 5 pins instead of the normal 3 (Base, Collector, Emitter or Gate, Source, Drain for MOSFET's) TRAIT transistors, manufactured by Sanken Electronics, were used in the mid 1990s for the first time in Kenwood amplifiers. TRAIT is called K-Stat in the USA.
[edit] TrueX Optical Drives
In 1998, Kenwood released the TrueX line of personal computer CD-ROM drives, first at the speed of 40x, then 52x and 72x. The TrueX CD-ROM drives use a low rotational speed (approximately 6x to 10x) with seven laser pickups functioning in parallel to read data at faster overall speeds. After the initial marketing hype died down these drives had numerous problems, most notably the inability to correctly handle copy protected CDs and the drives suffered from very poor reliability.
[edit] NV-301/701
These were 2 hi-fi systems were released in 2000 as part of the NV series of hi-fi systems. Both had half mirror, acrylic blue and silver panels. The NV-301 was a standard 2 speaker system, and the NV-701 a 5.1 surround sound system. Both had a 3-disc CD player and a cassette deck with Dolby B Noise Reduction. The design of the 2 hi-fi systems was so sleek and modern that even today they still look new (i.e. ageless) especially compared to other systems (only the flat hi-fis are more modern). The feature to distinguish these from a brand new unit is the large headphones jack, new hi-fis tend to have the small jack these days.
[edit] HD30GD9 Media Keg MP3 Player (for sale in Japan only)
In 2006 Kenwood released its own high end digital HDD MP3 player. While lacking in features such as a video player the HD30GD9 makes up for it in the quality of its music playback.
[edit] HD60GD9 Media Keg MP3 Player (for sale in Japan only)
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In 2007 Kenwood introduced the HD60GD9, unlike most of the MP3 players on the market that focus on forms and extra capabilities, Kenwood's new Media Keg focuses entirely on sound quality. It is one of the only MP3 players with superior digital amplifier equipped with a vibration-free plastic shell and gel mount for the hard drive, as well as a non-magnetic metal frame used inside the device, to help the system prevent interferences. Kenwood's new "Supreme EX" decoder for better compressed music file reproduction.
[edit] Lamborghini Murciélago
Kenwood Corporation Multimedia Car Audio Products are standard equipment on Lamborghini Murciélago models.
[edit] SsangYong Rexton R-Line
A Kenwood GPS/entertainment system comes standard in the SsangYong Rexton R-line.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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