Turntables, Arms & Cartridges

Audio-Technica was founded by Hideo Matsushita in an apartment in Shinjuku in April 1962. He had gained an appreciation of vinyl from listening sessions while working at the Bridgestone Museum of Art in Tokyo, and took this as his inspiration to develop cartridges. Matsushita's first pick-ups were the AT-1 and AT-3, and the success of the pair meant a move to a dedicated factory in 1965, where Audio-Technica still resides. Innovations around this time included the development of an elliptical diamond stylus in 1964, and the company's first tonearm, the AT-1001, in 1965. The first 'VM' dual-magnet design was the AT-35X in 1967, the company also establishing OEM production for other brands.

The 1970s saw A-T sidestep into headphones and microphones plus a further expansion of its tonearms and cartridges. The AT1000 MC was released in 1981, followed by the iconic Sound Burger portable turntable in 1982. Launched in the late '80s were the AT33 and AT-OC9 models, alongside a surprise manufacturing offshoot dedicated to sushi-making robots! Such diversification in and out of the audio business saw A-T ride out the 'vinyl decline', letting it – along with Ortofon and a precious few others – take advantage of the much-vaunted vinyl revival in the new century. Hideo Matsushita passed away in 2013. He had been succeeded by his son, Kazuo Matsushita, as President of A-T in 1993.