Unicorder
Trademark used by Standard Radio for their tape recorders in the 1960's.
Unitra
Polish centralised trading company set up by the government in 1972 which had a similar arrangement going on regards to Polish electronics manufacturers as RFT had in East Germany. Sold products by local companies such as Zaklady Radiowe Kasprzaka (ZK - ZRK), Fonica, Radmor and Diora Świdnica under it's own name both in Poland and internationally, the company was later privatised and still exists as a holding company. Official homepage.
Utility Research
Tiny loudspeaker manufacturer based in Lindgö in Sweden that also distributed a series of French audio products locally, by all accounts they appear to have been a part time concern. Disappeared from view in early 2002.
VEB Elektroakustik Leipzig
East German manufacturer of transducers such as Pickups and microphones, most consumer models were sold under the RFT banner.
Vector Research See --> Damark Industries (USA) Crown Radio (Rest of World)
Vergence Technology, Inc
Founded in 1997 by Chris Byrne and Ken Kantor who had founded the Now Hear This (NHT) company some 10 years earlier, the company was in fact originally introduced to the world as NHT Pro which was not popular with the then owners of NHT, namely Recoton but the parties reached an agreement in 1998 whereby the then renamed Vergence licensed the NHT Pro name from Recoton with the understanding that only loudspeakers intended for the professional markets would be sold under that name. Announced in 2000 that their products would be sold in the future under their own name.
Videoton
Founded in 1938 Hungary as a manufacturer of electronics for Armed forces usage, initially manufacturing for the German Army but after WWII for the various Eastern-Block governments. Entered the consumer electronics business in 1955 with a line of radios and later that decade started manufacturing television sets. Started acting as a subcontractor for American and European computer manufacturers in the 60's but when the COCOM rules where introduced they moved into making consumer products both as an OEM and as a contract manufacturer for a number of European and Asian firms although their loudspeakers where for a time sold under their own brand in the west, these were exceptionally good value in the 1970's and 80's. Privatised in 1991 but is now a exclusively a contract manufacturer with the exception of designing some very specialised test equipment and is known as Videoton Rendszertechnika Ltd. Official homepage.
Vindobona Radio GmbH
Austian enginner Friedrich Horny begun manufacturing radios in Wien in 1923 under his own name, he incorporated his company in 1924 as Vindbona Radio and manufactured radios under the Horny brand, in addition to making passive and active electronic components. The company became the leading producer of Brown Goods in Austria almost from the word go and held a number of patents both locally and internationally, the company registered the brandname Hornyphon in 1927 and used that name on their products thereafter. At a similar time the company entered into a deal with the Dutch giant Philips whereby Vindobona stopped the manufacture of valves and bought them instead from Philips which in return licensed some of their patents, in the following years the company undertook an ambitious expansion plan that stretched their financial capacity to the limits and in 1936 the company went bankrupt, but bounced back almost immediately as Radiowerk Horny under the ownership of Philips.
Viking (Canada) See --> Eaton's
Volksamp Inc.
Although this was run as a separate company it was actually a project run by Nelson Pass of Pass Labs along with some financial backers, founded in 2000 in an attempt to break into a more cost conscious market with an upgraded line of their Aleph single ended transistor amplifiers that Pass labs had discontinued in the 1990's, but provided them in a more inexpensive housing thus maintaining a lower price point than what the original product archived. Not a success and the company discontinued the line in February 2002.
Vortexion 
British manufacturer of open reel tape recorders and related products such as mixers etc., believed to have been started up in the late 1940's although that is not for certain but was taken over by Clarke & Smith (S.T.D.) in the early 70's after the passing of it's founder.
Voyd Design 
British turntable manufacturer run by designer Guy Adams, also sold a number of turntable related upgrades for third party decks such as power supplies etc. Disappears around the turn of the millennium for reasons unknown, it's former proprietor is now working in the computer business and no service is provided for older products from the company.
Warm Audio Systems
Manufacturer of valve amplification based in New Zealand, nothing seen or heard from them since late 2001, more information would be welcome.
Watts See --> Cecil E. Watts Ltd
Waveform Acoustics
Small Canadian high end loudspeaker manufacturer run by John Ötvös from 1984 to 2000 when he decided to retire from the audio business and focus on the manufacture of high quality furniture, the company's intellectual property is for sale (or was in late 2002). Waveforms products were extremely popular with classical recording studios and in fact apparently the only competition that Bowers & Wilkins (B&W) got in that area. Soundstage has a factory tour from 2000 that has lot of background info on the company and so has this tour from 1997, Mr. Ötvös seems to be a very hospitable gentleman.
Welltop
A Korean manufacturer of mid range hi-fi based in Bucheon City, also made PA systems and AV electronics but in a more limited fashion, constantly made some of the best audio products to emerge from that country, primarily acted as an OEM for mid and high end manufacturers such as Audio Note UK Ltd., Harman Kardon, JBL and Roksan but also made lower end products and sold products under their own Noblesse brand. Never got much of an attention outside their home country with their own brand and as an OEM faced increasing pressure from start-ups in China, disappeared from view in the summer of 2002 but has resurfaced as GT Electronics with a somewhat different product line-up.
Wilcox-Gay
Stop snickering ... A company based in Charlotte, Michigan, USA that started making amateur radio equipment in the late 1910's and branched into the manufacture of consumer radio products in the late 20's, that proved to be a growth market and their 30's models are some of the more common radios from that time, a couple of them are showcased here. In the WWII the company started the manufacture of tubes and radio transmitters for the US Army and immediately after the war they started selling transmitters for small radio stations and modulators for larger transmitters. In the late 30's they introduced the Recordio instant record cutters both for consumer use and also in the form of record cutting booths that were installed in stores (More info and links : Record Cutters on the grey sidebar) and in the early 50's a tape recorder and were one of the pioneers of television manufacturing, did indeed take part in the testing of colour broadcasts in the 50's and was one of the few USA manufacturers that built their colour TV sets from the ground up, but had financial trouble and closed it's doors in 1960. For those looking for support for old models there is preciously little info on the web apart from a few schematics of old radio models to be found on Notaglia Air and a company that makes replacement glass dials for a couple of radio models the only other suppliers that er have found are usual peddlers of reproductions of user and service manuals. The company may also have traded using the Majestic brand and BTW the name of the company apparently comes from the Wilcox-Gay family that is a well known upper class family in that part of the USA.
Wollensak See --> Revere (ca 1953 to 1960) & 3M (1960 to 1984)
Wright/St.George Laboratories See --> Dayton Wright
Yamamura Churchill
British company that manufactured the designs by Bé Yamamura these included amps, CD players, turntables and loudspeakers. We have minimal information on the Yamamura - Churchill Requiem Turntable archived but note also that the cables the company sold were actually made by A.R.T. and are still supplied by that company, more info : A. R. T. Millenium Cables.
Youxing
Chinese microphone manufacturer, proper name was Enping Youxing one of many manufacturers that sprang up in latter half of the 90's in or around the city of Enping, in the Chinese province of Guangdong (the local equiv. of Silicon Valley), also operated using the Yayin trademark, disappeared from view in early 2003 and all attempts to contact them have been unsuccessful.
Zaklady Radiowe Kasprzaka
The company has it's origins in the Kasprzak radio manufacturer in Warshaw that was active at the least as early as 1955, was usually sold locally with the ZRK brandname but in most exports markets as ZK which is I believe a generic Polish name for "collective" enterprises (a la VEB in the DDR), after Unitra was founded in 1972 most of their consumer products appear using that brand. Best known for their tape recorders that sold quite well in the west in the 60's under a variety of names including Marconi. The company was liquidated in the economic reforms of the early 90's as it was thought that it would never be able to compete in a market economy.
Zaklady Radiowe Radmor See --> Radmor
Zefiro Acoustics
A pioneering manufacturer of high end pro/semi-pro soundcards, run by engineer Greg Hanssen. Stopped selling cards in early 2001 but still maintains a homepage for support purposes. Official homepage.
Zeiss Ikon
This German company is probably better known for their lenses and as the original manufacturer of the legendary Contax cameras, but perhaps less well known is that they did manufacture quality sound systems for movie theatre usage. Since quite a number of these were 2 channel units (rather than stereo per se) quite a few systems got a second life as home amplifiers during the 60's and 70's when the a large number movie theatres were forced to close down due to the advent of TV etc., this is despite the fact that these valve based monsters were the size of a small PBX. Official homepage.
ZK Diora See --> Diora Świdnica
Z-Man
Small comany based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA. Made valve based "sound enhancers" that got a bit of attention in the US audio press, first time we hear of their products is around 1996 but contact lost in 2002 or so.
Zonal Ltd
A long running British manufacturer of blank tape, it's usually classified as a Scottish concern but the only address found was actually in Redhill in the south of England. Produced tape from the 50's into 1999 when they announced their intention to leave the media business. It is unclear if the company is still in operation.
3M See --> Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing Co.
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