Integrated Amplifiers

Founded in 1869, seven years before Edison set up his laboratory, Western Electric is so long-established that the company predates that other milestone in audio and electronics – the century-old BBC. Many of the company's achievements, beyond the two most relevant here – the development of the 91A single-ended triode amplifier of 1936 and the 300B triode of 1938 – are at the very least peripheral and at best directly related to our passion.

Among the specialised pursuits of the company were telephony and cinema sound and, unsurprisingly, for much of its history it was a subsidiary of American Telephone & Telegraph (AT&T). It was an early globalist, establishing works in Belgium, while entering a joint venture with Japan at the tail-end of the 19th century. A story as long and rich as Western Electric's demands an entire volume, but you should know that, since 1995, the company has belonged to Charles G Whitener, who has committed the brand to the renewal of its vacuum tube manufacturing.