Aiwa

Aiwa (, stylised aiwa) is a Japanese consumer electronics brand of Aiwa Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of Towada Audio holdings. The current company was established in 2017 and creates mainly audio products; the brand is also licensed to or owned by other companies in different regions of the world, producing various electronics. The original Aiwa company was founded in 1951 and was one of the leading creators of audio products such as speakers, boomboxes and stereo systems. After stagnating in the latter half of the 1990s, Aiwa was merged into Sony in 2002 and then unsuccessfully relaunched as a low-cost brand until discontinuation by 2008. Aiwa was relaunched as an independent company in Japan in 2017 by Towada, two years after it was first revived by an American firm. In Japanese the Aiwa name is a combination of 愛 (ai) and 環 (wa), roughly meaning "circle of love". Aiwa logo microphone1.jpg|First Aiwa logo, showing a microphone (1951-1959) AIWA LOGO.svg|AIWA logo (1959-1991) AIWA altes logo.svg|Aiwa logo and the last of the original company (1991-2003) Aiwa-new-Logo.svg|Aiwa logo under Sony (2003-2008) AIWA altes logo.svg|Logo (same as 1991) in use for all Aiwa products presently in all regions (2015-present) The company was founded on June 20, 1951, as AIKO Denki Sangyo Co., Ltd., manufacturing microphones, and changed its name to Aiwa Co., Ltd., on March 10, 1959. The founder Mitsuo Ikejiri served as president until 1969 when Sony purchased a majority share in Aiwa. The electronics giant had by 1982 a 54.6% stake in the company, effectively giving it a majority control. Aiwa was listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange from October 1961 until September 2002. The company was a leading manufacturer of audio products, including headphone stereos, minicomponent stereo systems, portable stereo systems, minidisc players, CD and cassette players, and car stereo systems throughout the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. Despite not having the brand power like Sony, Aiwa products were popular due to its more affordable cost, while still providing good quality.