Integrated Amplifiers

In 1937 Nozomu Matsumoto developed Japan's first dynamic loudspeaker, the A-8. A year later his company – Fukuin Shokai Denki Seisakusho – opened its doors in Tokyo. In 1961 he rebranded the company as Pioneer and listed it on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. A year later, he launched the world's first separates stereo system with detachable loudspeakers. In the early 1970s, the fine sounding PL-12D turntable put Pioneer on the global hi-fi map and soon the company was making impressive cassette decks, and in-car hi-fi too. In the late '70s Pioneer launched LaserDisc, a highly innovative video disc format read by a laser that gave great picture quality, and proved a massive hit in Japan. Pioneer kept its commitment to hi-fi alive, and had a huge success with the A-400 in the spring of 1990, striking a chord with audiophiles on a budget wanting a stripped-down, no-nonsense value-for-money amp. Later in the new decade, the company took an early lead with its excellent DVD players and car satellite navigation technology, while also making some of the finest plasma TVs on the planet. Now, coming full circle, Pioneer is back into two-channel stereo again.