Akai (Akai Electric Company, Ltd.) was a Japanese consumer electronics producer founded in 1929. The brand is now owned by the Grande Group of Hong Kong, who also owns Japanese brands Nakamichi and Sansui. It is now used on rebadged electronics manufactured by other companies. Nakamichi Corporate Logo Nakamichi is a historic high end audio audio company most famous for its innovative and very high quality cassette decks. ... Sansui 9090DB receiver/amplifier Sansui Electric Co. ...

Image File history File links Logo_akai. ... Image File history File links Logo_akai. ...

Historical products

The GX-747

The manufacturer's most notable product was of reel-to-reel (most notably, the GX series) audiotape recorders, tuners, audio cassette decks, amplifiers, video recorders, and loudspeakers. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (640x826, 40 KB)The Akai GX-747 Reel To Reel Tape Recorder File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (640x826, 40 KB)The Akai GX-747 Reel To Reel Tape Recorder File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... A reel-to-reel tape recorder (Sony TC-630), typical of those which were once common audiophile objects. ... A Sansui TU-X1 stereo FM tuner. ... Typical 60-minute Compact Cassette. ... Generally, an amplifier is any device that uses a small amount of energy to control a larger amount of energy. ... The videocassette recorder (or VCR, more commonly known in the British Isles as the video recorder), is a type of video tape recorder that uses removable videotape cassettes containing magnetic tape to record audio and video from a television broadcast so it can be played back later. ... Closeup of a loudspeaker driver. ...

Many Akai products were sold under the name Roberts in the US. In late sixties, along with Tandberg, Akai has pioneered Cross-Field recording (using extra head), which facilitated high frequency recording. Later they switched to Glass-ferrite epitaXial (GX) heads, famous for reliability.

The most famous open-reel models are GX-747, GX-77 (unique model with auto-loading).

Prominent cassette decks included three-head, closed-loop GX-F95, GX-9, GX-R99.

The company limited its consumer Hi-Fi product line in the United States in the 1990s.

Akai Introduces The Interactive Monitor System (On-Screen Display)

Akai was a leading brand of video cassette recorder in the 1980's. The Akai VS-2 was the first VCR manufactured to have an on-screen display, which was originally named the Interactive Monitor System. This innovation eliminated the need for the user to be physically near the VCR to program it to automatically record TV programs, tune in TV stations, read the tape counter and other common features by displaying the information on the television screen. It took several years for competing manufacturers to adapt on-screen display technology to their own products.

Akai Professional

In 1984 a new division of the company was formed focusing on the manufacture and sale of electronic instruments, known Akai Electronic Musical Instruments Corporation, or Akai Professional. An electronic musical instrument is a musical instrument that produces its sounds using electronics. ...

The first product released by the new subsidiary, the S612 12-bit digital sampler, was the first in a series of affordable samplers. An AKAI MPC2000 sampler // [edit] Overview The emergence of the digital sampler made sampling far more practical, and as samplers added progressively more digital processing to their recorded sounds, they began to merge into the mainstream of modern digital synthesizers. ...

Some of their other early products include the Akai AX-80 8-voice analog synthesizer, and the Akai AX-60 and AX-73 6-voice analog synthesizers. The AX-60 borrowed many ideas from the Roland Juno-106, but used a real VCO, and had the ability to have a split keyboard. The Roland Juno-106 was a hybrid digital/analogue polyphonic synth manufactured by Roland Corporation in 1984. ...

The S612 was superseded in 1986 with the introduction of a "professional" range of digital samplers, starting with the 12-bit S900 in late 1985, the 16-bit S1000 in 1988, and the S3000, which notably featured writable CD-ROM and hard disk recording. An additional release of note were the Z4 and Z8 24-bit 96kHz samplers. 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Akai () is a Japanese consumer electronics producer founded in 1929. ... The CD-ROM (an abbreviation for Compact Disc Read-Only Memory (ROM)) is a non-volatile optical data storage medium using the same physical format as audio compact discs, readable by a computer with a CD-ROM drive. ... Typical hard drives of the mid-1990s. ...

Akai also produces several Digital MIDI sequencers and digital synthesizers such as the MPC range (MIDI Production Center), a line of integrated sampler/drum machine and MIDI sequencers that look like a drum machine. In the field of electronic music, a sequencer was originally any device that recorded and played back a sequence of control information for an electronic musical instrument. ... A digital synthesizer is a synthesizer that uses digital signal processing (DSP) techniques to make musical sounds. ... MPCs - originally MIDI Production Center but now Music Production Center - are a series of hardware sampler made by Akai. ...

New Ownership

In late 2004 the Akai corporation was bought out of bankruptcy by Grande Group. [1]

Also in 2004, following a US distribution deal, the Akai Professional Musical Instrument division was acquired by Numark, which previously purchased the audio electronics corportation Alesis out of bankruptcy. The three brands operate under the banner Numark Industries LLC of Cumberland RI. Numark Industries is a global DJ equipment brand that make DJ Mixers, Turntables, DJ CD Players and now they have just introduced DJ DVD Mixing consoles. ... Alesis is a manufacturer of electronic musical instruments based in Cumberland, Rhode Island. ...

Current products

Beginning in early 2003 the consumer electronics company began undergoing a re-exposure, marketing various rebranded video products manufactured by Samsung. In the same year, Akai began to distribute home appliances such as HVAC units, vacuum cleaners, water filtration devices, and refrigerated store showcases. All-air and air-water HVAC systems use air ducts, outlets, and inlets installed throughout their buildings. ... Regular vacuum cleaner for home use. ... In polluted or even unfiltered mountain water there are lots of parasitic organisms and inorganic chemicals that are dangerous to humans. ...

During the Christmas season of 2006 BestBuy was selling Akai DLP rear projection televisions, and Costco was selling Akai LCD HDTV's. Akai HDTVs can be found at select RadioShack locations, some of which also carry Scott HDTVs which are rebranded Akai TVs with a few added features. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... The DLP Logo Digital Light Processing (DLP) is a technology used in projectors and video projectors. ... Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ: COST) is a membership warehouse club chain and headquartered in Issaquah, Washington, United States, with its flagship warehouse #1 in nearby Seattle. ... LCD redirects here. ... High-definition television (HDTV) means broadcast of television signals with a higher resolution than traditional formats (NTSC, SECAM, PAL) allow. ... The exterior of a typical free-standing RadioShack store. ...

The Akai Headrush looping pedal has been made famous by KT Tunstall, who uses it to loop her own instruments, vocals, and percussion in her live performances. She does this to build up a song from scratch, using sound effects and looping percussion to create the layers. Kate KT Victoria Tunstall (born June 23, 1975) is a Grammy nominated Scottish singer-songwriter from St Andrews, Scotland. ...

External links

• Akai
• Akai Professional
• Akai tape decks
• Remove Akai DVD Region Restrictions
• Vintage Cassette Decks Collection of Akai Vintage Cassette decks and other brands.