Denon DJ

Founded by American entrepreneur Frederick Whitney Horn in association with Japanese partners, Nippon Denki Onkyō Kabushikigaisha (which literally translates “Japan Electric Sound Company”) first came into existence in 1910 as part of Nippon Chikuonki Shokai (the Japan Recorders Corporation). The two words – ‘denki’, the Japanese for ‘electric’, and ‘onkyo’, the Japanese for ‘sound’ – would become essential for the future of the company.

At the time, Denon’s parent company was making single-sided recording discs and gramophones, until then used for little more than voice recording. After all, this was only a few decades after Edison first invented his phonograph, which ‘wrote sound’ onto a wax cylinder, and Emile Berliner had only recently started the transition from cylinders to the kind of discs we still play, In the process coining the term ‘gramophone’. Back in America, shoppers were still being intrigued by a cylinder player announcing ‘I am the Edison Phonograph’!

The new company became not only the first consumer audio manufacturer to sell a gramophone, but also Japan’s first record company. That illustrates why Denon – as the name of the company soon became in the 1930s, taking the first syllables of Denki and Onkyo – has always been at the forefront of ‘Electric Sound’, not only producing the equipment made to reproduce music and movie audio, but also being a key part of the recording process.

Until 1985, all of Denon’s efforts had been focused on music recording and reproduction in stereo, but all that changed with the announcement of its first AV amplifier, the AVC-500. Denon was still in the age of the VHS video cassette back then but, in addition to audio and video switching for up to three VCRs, the AVC-500 also had what a contemporary review called ‘a surround -sound feature for adding ambience to stereo programs,’ and onboard amplification – 2x25W! – to drive either normal stereo front speakers or rear ambience speakers.

As history has proven decade after decade, Denon’s mission has always been to create products that combine the highest standards of sound quality and reliability to convey the passion and emotion of music and movies, the vision of musicians and creators. The people at Denon continuously pursue innovations that change everything, and they believe there is new excitement ahead. With the spirit of innovation, Denon moves on to the future.

Denon’s top selling product for Solotech over the decades has been the Prime Go. With up to 4-hours of built-in, lithium-ion battery power, Prime Go is the ultimate, backpackable, most portable standalone DJ console ever. Prepare DJ sets on a plane, train or car, use as a fully featured pro-grade back-up for larger events, or play outdoor, mobile, after-party or club gigs. Powered by a dedicated, multi-core internal processor, the Prime Go runs ‘Engine OS.’ A purpose-built embedded software platform built for DJs offering you super-fast track load times, intuitive navigation, management, and search, so you can be at your creative best. The mission for Engine OS is clear, to keep evolving, providing more creative features to enhance the DJ’s performance and experience.