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| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Electronics |
| Founded | 1946; 79 years ago (1946), inTokyo, Japan |
| Founder | Masukichi Akai |
| Defunct | 2000; 25 years ago (2000) |
| Products | Hi-fi equipment |
| Parent | Mitsubishi Electric (c. 1987–1994) International Semi-Tech Microsystems (c. 1994–1999) Grande Holdings (1999–present; brand name) |
Akai (Japanese:赤井,pronounced[a̠ka̠i]) was a Japanese electronics manufacturer, established as Akai Electric Company Ltd inTokyo in 1946. It was best known outside Japan for itstape recorders during the 1960s and 1970s. The company became bankrupt in 2000 and since then third-party products have been marketed under the Akai brand name, which has since been owned byGrande Holdings ofHong Kong.
In its earlier history, Akai had made many innovations in the development ofmagnetic tape-based audio technology. Around 1980, the music divisionAkai Professional was founded, offering production and stage equipment for modern music. After the controversial collapse of the business in 2000,[1] the Akai brand came under the ownership of Hong Kong basedGrande Holdings. The company now distributes a range of electronic products, includingLED TVs,washing machines,clothes dryers,air conditioners, andsmartphones. These products are developed through collaborations with other electronics companies with relevant expertise. The Akai Professional electronic instrument division had already been spun off in 1999[2] and operated under separate ownership;[3] this unit is now owned and operated byinMusic Brands.
Akai was founded by Masukichi Akai and his son, Saburo Akai (who died in 1973[4]), asAkai Electric Company Ltd. (赤井電機株式会社,Akai DenkiKabushiki Gaisha), aJapanese manufacturer, in 1929.[4][5][6] Some sources, however, suggest the company was established in 1946.[note 1]
The company's business eventually became disorganized, and it exited the audio industry in 1991. At its peak in the late 1990s, Akai Holdings employed 100,000 workers and had annual sales of HK$40 billion (US$5.2 billion). The company filed for insolvency in November 2000, owing creditors US$1.1 billion.[1] It emerged that ownership of Akai Holdings had passed toGrande Holdings in 1999, a company founded by Akai's chairmanJames Ting. The liquidators claimed that Ting had stolen over US$800 million from the company with the assistance of accountantsErnst & Young, who had tampered with audit documents dating back to 1994.[7] Ting was imprisoned for false accounting in 2005,[7] and E&Y paid $200 million to settle the negligence case out of court in September 2009.[8] In a separate lawsuit, a former E&Y partner, Christopher Ho, made a "substantial payment" to Akai creditors in his role as chairman of Grande Holdings.[1]
The "Akai Professional" division, specializing in electronic instruments, became a separate business in 1999.[2] It was acquired in 2005 by businessmanJack O'Donnell (later becoming a part of hisinMusic Brands group)[3] and is no longer associated with the main "Akai" brand.
Akai's products includedreel-to-reel audiotape recorders (such as the GX series),tuners (top-level AT, mid-level TR and TT series),audio cassette decks (top-level GX and TFL, mid-level TC, HX, and CS series),amplifiers (AM and TA series),microphones,receivers,turntables,video recorders, andloudspeakers.
Many Akai products were sold under the nameRoberts in the U.S.,[citation needed] as well asA&D in Japan (from 1987, following a partnership withMitsubishi Electric),Tensai, andTransonic Strato in Western Europe.[citation needed] During the late 1960s, Akai adoptedTandberg'scross-field recording technologies (using an extra tape head) to enhance high-frequency recording and later switched to the increasingly reliable Glass and Crystal (X'tal) (GX) ferrite heads.[citation needed] The company's most popular products[citation needed] included the GX-630D, GX-635D, GX-747/GX-747DBX, and GX-77 open-reel recorders (the latter featuring an auto-loading function), the three-head, closed-loop GX-F95, GX-90, GX-F91, GX-R99 cassette decks, and the AM-U61, AM-U7, and AM-93 stereo amplifiers.
Akai manufactured and badged most of its imported hi-fi products under theTensai brand (named after the Swiss audio and electronics distributorTensai International[citation needed]). Tensai International served as Akai's exclusive distributor for the Swiss and Western European markets until 1988.
Akai limited its consumerhi-fi product line in the United States and Europe toward the end of the 20th century.[citation needed]
Akai produced consumervideo cassette recorders (VCRs) during the mid-1980s. The Akai VS-2 was the first VCR to feature anon-screen display,[9] originally named the Interactive Monitor System. By displaying information directly on the television screen, this innovation eliminated the need for the user to be physically near the VCR to program recordings, read the tape counter, or perform other common functions. Within a few years, all competing manufacturers had adopted on-screen display technology in their own products.
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In 1984,[2] a new division of the company[10] was formed to focus on the manufacture and sale ofelectronic instruments, and was called Akai Professional.
The first product released by the new subsidiary was the MG1212, a 12-channel, 12-track recorder.[11] This innovative device used a specialized VHS-like cartridge (the MK-20) and could record 10 minutes of continuous 12-track audio at 19 cm per second or 20 minutes at half speed (9.5 cm per second). One track (14) was permanently dedicated to recording absolute time, and another for synchronization such asSMPTE orMTC. Each channel strip includeddbx type-1 noise reduction and semi-parametric equalizers (with fixed bandwidths). The unit also featured innovations like an electronic 2-bus system, a 12-stereo channel patch bay, and automaticpunch in and out capabilities, among others. The unique transport design and noise reduction gave these units a recording quality that rivaled more expensive 16-track machines using 1" tape. The MG-1212 was later succeeded by the MG-1214, which improved the transport mechanism and overall performance.
Other early products included the AkaiAX80 8-voice analog synthesizer in 1984,[11] followed by theAX60 and AX73 6-voice analog synthesizers around 1986.[12][13] The AX-60 borrowed many design elements from theRoland Juno series, but used voltage-controlled analog oscillators (VCO) as its sound source, unlike Roland's more common digitally controlled analog oscillators (DCO). It also allowed the performer to "split" the keyboard, assigning different timbres to different ranges of keys. The AX-60 featured the ability to interface with Akai's early samplers via a serial cable, using 12-bit samples as an additional oscillator.[14]
The S612 12-bit digitalsampler released in 1985 was the first in a series of relatively affordable samplers, designed in a 19-inch studio-rack format and finished in black.[11] It could hold only a single sample at a time, which was loaded into memory via a separate disk drive utilizing 2.8-inch Quick Diskfloppy disks. The maximum sample time at the highest quality sampling rate (32 kHz) was one second.
The introduction of a "professional" range of digital samplers began with the 12-bit S900 in 1986,[11] followed by the X7000 keyboard sampler in 1986,[15] and the S700 rack-mount version in 1987.[11] Unlike the single-sample S612, these models allowed the use of up to six active samples simultaneously, featured a built-in disk drive, and could be extended with six individual outputs via cable. Additionally, a flash memory extension added another six samples to the memory for multisample playback. The S700/X7000 sampler series were light grey in color, a design choice that remained consistent throughout the entire "professional" range of Akai samplers.
The 16-bitAkai S1000 series followed in 1988, introducing the ability to readCD-ROMs and write to hard disks via SCSI. This range was eventually superseded by the S3000 series in 1993, which offered an optional built-in CD-ROM drive, followed by the S5000 and S6000 models. Additional notable releases included the Z4 and Z8 24-bit 96 kHz samplers.[11]
Sampler Models[16]
Akai also produced several Digital MIDIsequencers anddigital synthesizers such as theMPC range, a line of integrated drum machines, MIDI sequencers, samplers and direct-to-disk recorders.
In December 1999, one year before the application of theCivil Rehabilitation Act [ja] to Akai Electric Company Ltd., the brand of its musical instrument division, Akai Professional, was acquired by a company based in the United States. The new company was named "Akai Professional Musical Instrument Corporation".[2] Akai Professional M.I. was established the same year, but it filed for bankruptcy in 2005.[10]
In 2004, following a US distribution deal, the Akai Professional Musical Instrument division was acquired by Jack O'Donnell, owner ofNumark Industries andAlesis. In 2012,inMusic Brands was formed as the parent company for O'Donnell's companies, including Akai Professional.
In early 2003,Grande Holdings began reintroducing Akai's brands by marketing various audio-visual products manufactured bySamsung. In the same year, Grande started distributing Akai home appliances, includingair conditioners,vacuum cleaners, andrefrigerators. In the 2010s, it began distributing Akaismartphones in collaboration with Chinese smartphone manufacturers such asGionee, in India and other countries.
Akai Professional entered the electronic musical instrument world in 1984 with one purpose – to give artists the tools they need to express and explore new musical ideas.", "In 1999, Akai Professional Musical Instruments Corporation (APMI) was formed."
In 2005 [..] O'Donnell purchased [..] Akai Professional, one of the world's most influential manufacturers of music production gear
民間信用調査会社の帝国データバンク横浜支店によると、音響機器製造のアカイプロフェッショナルエムアイ（横浜市都筑区北山田、駿河道生社長、従業員十七人）は七日までに、東京地裁から破産手続き開始決定を受けた。... 同社は一九九九年十二月、赤井電機（東京都）の電子楽器部門のブランドを買収した米国系企業が、製造・販売目的で設立した。[Abstract: according to the private credit research company,Teikoku Databank Yokohama branch, by the 7th (December 2005), Akai Professional M.I. received a bankruptcy proceedings decision by the Tokyo District Court. ... Akai Professional M.I. was established in December 1999 to focus on the manufacture and sale of electronic musical instruments, by a company of the United States who acquired the brand(s) of the musical instrument division of Akai Electric Company Ltd.]
