Onkyo

Your Onkyo receiver got me thinking about past audio brands:

I remember buying an Aiwa surround sound system (in a box). As it turns out they have since been bought out by Sony in 2002.

At which point, according to wikipedia:

January 2003 Sony announced the rebranding and relaunch of Aiwa as a "youth focused, PC-Centric" electronics brand. A new logo was presented to the world's media along with a statement of Sony's intention to invest in and "revitalize" the Aiwa brand.

Apperantly, despite their new logo (pictured above), they failed around 2003 because "the brand strength of Aiwa was primarily concentrated in the 30-60 year old market and lacked credibility with the 13-25 year old target market."

That brought me to the speakers I purchased, made by Technics (according to the manufacturer, the correct pronunciation is like the word techniques.)

A quick glance at Technics website led me to believe that they are no longer in the business of home audio and solely manufacturer turntables and other deejaying equipment. Before arriving at such a foolish conclusion I went to wikipedia. Here I learned that Technics is a wholly owned subsidiary of Panasonic among other things.

Technics was created in 1965 to manufacture "premium loudspeakers marketed domestically by Matsushita."

Originally created by Panasonic to show off their high-end offerings, by the early 1980s Technics ended up offering an entire range of equipment from entry-level to high-end. Matsushita retired the Technics name almost completely in the early 2000s, "except in Japan where the brand is still popular."