Japanese/Asian Speakers???


I've read a lot about US, Canadian and European speakers but so far none about Japanese or Asian made speakers. Does anyone know any GOOD QUALITY (mid to hi-fi) Japanese speakers?
tcco1975c60e

Showing 2 responses by t_bone

As Twl mentioned, the Japanese market is different than the U.S. market. I have lived in Japan for 12yrs and note that the Japanese speakers available here are entirely different than those available elsewhere. I have not found that many single-driver speakers in Japan, and almost all of those tend to be home-made (and there is quite an industry built around DIY tube amps and speakers). It is true that most Japanese homes are small but you should see how audiophiles (mostly older men) will cram a room full of stuff, including HUGE speakers (think giant old cabinet speakers and horns from JBL, Tannoy, and Wharfedale).

Stax made full range electrostatic speakers at one point (along with a whole host of other products) but now only makes headphones. Audio-Technica and SONY also make 'decent' headphones.

Currently, there are several major brands which make mid-fi to high-end speakers for home use in the Japanese market. They include (but are not limited to) SONY, Victor, Pioneer, Kenwood, Onkyo, Diatone, Denon, Yamaha. In the low 4-figure range (USD terms), Pioneer, Victor, and Sony offer eminently respectable speakers. At the very high end, Sony makes some very good super-dollar speakers and studio monitors which are extremely sought after (and even well used, still command megabuck prices). The SONY speakers which were part of the reference system which came out with the SCD-1 were pretty good and someone I know says the best speakers he'd ever heard were massive megabuck SONY electrostats (I've seen them but cannot remember the model number off the top of my head). Among smaller companies, there are a few which make high efficiency designs and are generally considered to be pre-built 'DIY'. I know of but have not heard the Yamamuras. A brand called 'Exclusive' (I think it's somehow tied to a major mfr but can't remember which), probably better known in Japan for their super high-end TTs, made at least one megabuck horn and driver design which has an excellent reputation.
Update:
1) I hadn't seen Ultrakaz' comment yet but he is right.
2) Exclusive is made by Pioneer. They still make speakers which are not as megabuck as I thought (though from memory, some of the older ones are about twice as large as the ones shown). The website, unfortunately only in Japanese, is here.
3) I forgot to include in the previous note that Murata and Pioneer (and undoubtedly others) both make high-end ribbon super-tweeters and that both Fujitsu ("Eclipse" models) and Murata make speakers as well.