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The history of Denon
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| THE HISTORY OF
DENON - The Originator of Digital
Audio Technology |
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| Nippon Columbia,
which commemorated its 90th anniversary in 2000, is an old firm
based on the philosophy of contributing to society through music. |
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| The birth of Nippon
Columbia |
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| Nippon Columbia
originates in "Nippon Chikuonki Shokai" (Japan Recorders
Corporation), established by Frederick Whitney Horn in 1910. Horn was a
U.S.-born trader, who engaged in importing machine tools in Yokohama
since 1896. He was also engaged in importing recorders. In an attempt to
commercialize records and recorders, he set up "Japan-U.S.
Recorders Manufacturing" in 1907 and put a special-purpose factory
into operation in 1909, thus initiating the manufacturing of records. He
also set up a studio, thus beginning his recording activities. |
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| In 1910, he began
manufacturing recorders, equipped with a wineglass-shaped speaker. Japan
Recorders Corporation, the forerunner of Nippon Columbia, was set up as
an organisation for supervising the sales of these recorders. In 1912,
the company merged with Japan-U.S. Recorders Manufacturing, thus
launching the double-side management of "software and hardware",
an integration of manufacturing and sales. The term "Columbia"
came into the company name, when the company entered into a capital
tie-up with "Columbia, a world-class major record company in 1927.
Japan Columbia Recorders was set up in |
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| 1928, when the
Columbia label and the familiar note was born. The company was then
renamed "Nippon Columbia" in 1946. Then in 1947, the company assimilated Japan Denki Onkyo, which
would help make the "DENON" brand come true later on, in its
network of affiliates. |
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Japan's first
professional-use disc recorder for the broadcasting industry
(developed 1939) |
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| The birth of
the DENON brand |
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| The
DENON brand originated from the merger of Japan Denki Onkyo (commonly
known as "Den-on"), one of the affiliates. Den-on was a group
of engineers in business-purpose audio equipment, dating back to Japan
Electric Recorders Mfg., which was established in 1939. The company was
developing and manufacturing turntables and cartridge tape-recorders for
NHK and other broadcast stations. |
| A typical model
for DENON, the MC-type cartridge DL-103, was the object of joint R&D
with NHK before Den-on merged with Nippon Columbia. It was completed,
the year of the merger. In addition, tape-recorders and other equipment
were released as part of the DENON brand, and all those were models
designed for audio fans, reflecting Den-on's |
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| advanced
technology. However, the DENON brand really established a strong
position with the debut ot the DP-5000, a direct-drive phono-motor with an FG-type
servo, that boasted a brand-new design and predominant performance. |
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| From the popular
brand "Columbia" to "DENON" of audio equipment |
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In the 1960s Nippon Columbia was
engaged in diversification, involving a wide range of product genres
including records, as well as such hardware as stereo sets, radios, TV
sets, musical instruments and electric calculators. |
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| The birth of DENON Digital |
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| In 1972 DENON launched
the world's first practical 8 -channel digital recorder, the DN-023R. It
was a huge machine, consisting of three pieces: a tape transport, monitor
and a signal processor. |
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| 1981 brought the DN-3000FE, the first
professional-use CD player.
Only one year later, in October 1982, the
DCD-2000 hit the market - the world's first consumer-use CD player. |
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| The company
then pursued even more microscopic reproduction quality and noted, what is
called quantizing distortion, which comes from step-like strains of
low-level bits. In 1992, two decades after the company became the first in
the world to have put digital recorders to practical use, "ALPHA
Processing" was announced, an epoch-making technology. This
technology achieves microscopic smoothness by incorporating a capability
consisting of interpolating the 16-bit data of a CD to 20 bits, so as to
approach the analog wave forms during recording. It was first incorporated
in the D/A converter DA-S1, released in 1993. |
The Alpha Processing
technology brought
the company the much acclaimed
"European Audio Invention of the year" award |
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| 1993 |
| Denon's Award
winning twin deck DJ CD player, the DN-2000F, becomes the industry
standard for club DJ's. |
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| 1994 |
| Denon's Alpha
Processor wins the European Audio Award for Innovation. Denon
introduce the first Professional Broadcast Mini Disc recorder, now
a standard in Radio stations world-wide. |
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| 1995 |
| Denon recordings in
the UK include Mahler Symphony No 4 at Abbey Road studios. The Royal
Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Jun-ichi Hirokami also performs the
piece at the Royal Festival Hall. New Studio dedicated to state-of-the-art
digital recording established in Yoyogi, Japan. DVD Video standards are
agreed upon. |
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| 1996 |
| World's 1st Dolby
Digital/THX 5.1 product, the AVP-A1 A/V Pre-amp/Processor is launched
along with matching 3 and 2 channel power amplifiers. |
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| 1997 |
| World's first
commercial music DVD disc released by Denon; Beethoven's Symphony No 3
"Eroica", the Egmont Overture and Chopin's Piano Concerto No 1
recorded in 5-channel surround sound at a live concert at the Alte Oper in
Frankfurt in November 1996. Denon's first DVD Player, the DVD-2000. |
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| 1999 |
| World's first
THX-EX AV component, the AVC-A10SE. THX "Extended" surround
sound is launched for Star Wars - Episode 1 and encodes a further "Surround
Back" channel both for commercial cinema's and home cinema equipment.
The audience can now be truly surrounded in 360 degree surround sound with
panning in any direction. |
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| 2000 |
| World's first
DTS-ES Discrete AV component, the AVC-A1SE. DTS decoding now offers a
digital discrete surround-back channel providing even better separation. |
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| 2001 |
| Denon launch the first
Mini 5.1 A/V system complete with NXT flat-panel speakers and
sub-woofer, the AV-F100. The DVD-2800 is also released, the first
DVD player with Silicon Images Progressive Scan processor. |
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| 2002 |
| DENON LINK
технологията слага началото на нова ера за цирова връзка. |
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| 2003 |
| DVD-2900
Universal DVD player receives many Awards Worldwide, reaffirming the
quality of the brand. |
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| 2004 |
| Denon plots the
future with NS-S100 Network Server and related products. The NS-S100 gains
the Best of CES 2004 Winner: Best of Show award when given an
advance preview at the USA Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, January
2004. This ground-breaking new design is due for launch in Europe in 2005. |
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| пїЅ 2004 Sofia Audio Centre |
Created by:  |
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