National Aura See --> Teslar
Nesco
Originally a hi-fi shop founded in Reykjavík, Iceland in the 60's, the name I believe is taken from the owners large land holdings in Reykjanes (Reykjanes Company = Nesco), became the largest seller of hi-fi products in the country in the 70's in no small part thanks to aggressive marketing campaigns. They noted that some of the established European and American brands that supplied them with budget consumer level audio were increasingly selling them rebadged Asian sourced components and often the same unit with different badges at quite varying prices. The company decided to start importing directly from the same OEM sources using their own brandname with spectacular success, and soon started to re-export them to Scandinavia and later to the rest of Europe. Best know for low budget TV's and for a time one of the best known Northern European supplier of budget Brown Goods but actually had the best price/performance ratio CD players and turntables out there at the time, the emphasis on at the least reasonable audio quality from those is possibly due to the companies origin as an out and out hi-fi retailer. Financial mismanagement meant that the company went out of business in the mid-late 1980's but the brand continued until the latter half of 1999 at the least, if in a more limited fashion and under the auspices of the original company's COO. However the company left an interesting legacy, after it's initial success in the 1980's there sprang up a number of companies in Denmark in particular that used the same business model, many of those still with us today. Yours truly did at one time actually employ the son of the company's founder, one Guðlaugur Sigurjónsson but I never had the good sense to query him further on the history of the company and these day's he utterly refuses to answer my SMS messages, e-mails, hoodoo invocations, etc.. etc.. etc.., undoubtedly for very sound reasons. Not to be confused with early 20'th century USA based radio manufacturer National Electric Signalling Company that is often abbreviated to NESCO.
Nikko Audio
A division of the Japanese company Nikko Electric Works that specialises in manufacturing electric and communications equipment, company established in December 1948 and the audio division was closed in the early 1990's. Their line of hi-fi was noted for excellent value for money and in particular their electronics (i.e. amps and tuners) were considered extremely impressive on a value basis, however the company never got the hang of the glittery marketing tactics that other Japanese brands used and only gained limited distribution, mostly confined to North America and Australasia, the audio division was also know as ASTI Pacific. There is an highly unusual twist to the company's history, so unusual that I am going to include it here even it happened after the company left the audio business, when the Asian markets started to slump due to the "Asian Flu" of the mid 90's Nikko's chairman and principal shareholder Goto Tsunemoto was one of the first Japanese CEO's to try western methods to in responding to the slowing sales, he initiated a series of layoffs that were done without consulting employees and unions in stark contradiction to local tradition. This backfired spectacularly when the employees used a novel method of revolting, as collectively they owned just over 10% percent of the company due to bonuses and such, and under Japanese commercial law a shareholder with 10% or more of ownership can request a liquidation of the company the employees forced the company into bankruptcy protection even though the finances of the company were basically sound, so in 1998 Taunemoto-San was forced to resign from the company's board and it was taken over by a investment company controlled by the Rotchilds later that year. Please note that the company never made televisions or suchlike, the sets and video recorders that appeared with this name in North America were sold by someone that appropriated the trademark. Official homepage.
Nishikawa Denpa
Japanese manufacturer of PA systems that sold phonographic products under the Permax brand name, unsure about the timeline but certainly active in the late 40's and early 50's.
NIVICO See --> JVC
Nokia
Finnish company that started out as a manufacturer of rubber wellington boots in the early 20th century but is probably better known these days as a manufacturer of mobile phones. Bought Luxor in 1984 in order to bolster their standing in the TV manufacturing business, but they already owned Finnish TV manufacturer Salora. Although they are arguably back in the audio business they are mostly known for selling hi-fi products under this name for a year or so in 1988/9 after they had bought out C. Lorenz and renamed it Nokia Graetz GmbH., Nokia was mostly interested in getting hold of the TV side of the ITT/Lorenz business and thus closed down the Austrian arm of the company that manufactured hi-fi's and radios as soon as they could (the old Ingelen factory). The company Salora and with it mosf of their Brown Goods related operations to Finlux sometime during the 1990's. Official homepage.
Optimal Acoustic Laboratories (OAL)
Norwegian manufacturer of high end amplifiers also known as Optimal Audio, stopped production in 1999 but IP and the rights to the name were bought by Musical Innovation and that company provides service and performs upgrades for the OAL line of products.
Optronica
A brand used by Sharp in the early/mid 80's in an attempt to break into the mid/high end market. Despite having a line of interesting and high quality products the venture was a failure especially since some products were labeled Optronica and some were branded with both names, creating confusion. Sharp has however re-entered the high end audio market with some success.
Orion See --> Tungsram
Osaki
A brand used by UK based retailer Rumbelows for low budget Brown Goods, despite the oriental sounding name the only products seen under this brand were actually made for them in Western Europe.
Next Page : Defunct Audio Companies. P & Q