Dual is a brand name of audio and video

electronics The field of electronics is a branch of physics and electrical engineering that deals with the emission, behaviour and effects of electrons using electronic devices. Electronics uses active devices to control electron flow by amplification ...

History

In 1907, brothers Christian and Joseph Steidinger began manufacturing clockwork and

gramophone A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

parts in the

Black Forest The Black Forest (german: Schwarzwald ) is a large forested mountain range in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is t ...

town of St. Georgen. In 1927, Gebrüder Steidinger (Steidinger Bros.) adopted the name ''Dual'' in reference to the dual-mode power supplies it pioneered. The power supplies allowed gramophones to be powered from

mains electricity Mains electricity or utility power, power grid, domestic power, and wall power, or in some parts of Canada as hydro, is a general-purpose alternating-current (AC) electric power supply. It is the form of electrical power that is delivered to h ...

or with a wind-up mechanism. Soon thereafter, Dual began producing

turntables A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

of its own. After World War II, Dual became the biggest manufacturer of turntables in Europe, with more than 3,000 employees working in several factories. Throughout the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, Dual introduced

audio cassette The Compact Cassette or Musicassette (MC), also commonly called the tape cassette, cassette tape, audio cassette, or simply tape or cassette, is an analog magnetic tape recording format for audio recording and playback. Invented by Lou Otten ...

players,

VCR A videocassette recorder (VCR) or video recorder is an electromechanical device that records analog audio and analog video from broadcast television or other source on a removable, magnetic tape videocassette, and can play back the recording. ...

CD players A CD player is an electronic device that plays audio compact discs, which are a digital optical disc data storage format. CD players were first sold to consumers in 1982. CDs typically contain recordings of audio material such as music or aud ...

, and other

consumer electronics Consumer electronics or home electronics are electronic (analog or digital) equipment intended for everyday use, typically in private homes. Consumer electronics include devices used for entertainment, communications and recreation. Usually r ...

. But when Japanese consumer electronics started entering European markets in the 1970s on a large scale, Dual as most other traditional German manufacturers underwent a big crisis: Japanese products usually offered more features at a cheaper price in a much more modern package. Dual went bankrupt in 1982, and was sold to French electronic manufacturer

Thomson SA Thomson may refer to: Names * Thomson (surname), a list of people with this name and a description of its origin * Thomson baronets, four baronetcies created for persons with the surname Thomson Businesses and organizations * SGS-Thomson Mic ...

. In 1988, Thomson sold Dual to German manufacturer

Schneider Rundfunkwerke AG Schneider Rundfunkwerke AG was a German manufacturer of mass market audio equipment. History The origins of the company trace to 1889 in Türkheim, Swabia, Germany, when Felix Schneider founded a company manufacturing industrial woodworking tools. ...

. In 1993/4, Dual was finally split off into * ''Dual Phono GmbH'', i.e. the Dual line of turntables, which were acquired by the German company ''Alfred Fehrenbacher GmbH'', which has continued to produce them in the Black Forest town of St. Georgen. Dual turntables

Made in Germany Made in Germany is a merchandise mark indicating that a product has been manufactured in Germany. History The label was introduced in Britain by the ''Merchandise Marks Act 1887'', to mark foreign produce more obviously, as foreign manufacture ...

are manufactured on the same traditional product line. They are easy to identify with the manufacturing code beginning with CS xxx. * ''Dual DGC GmbH'' (Germany) sells mostly rebranded consumer electronics made in

Far East The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons. The ter ...

, including turntables (production code DT xxx). DGC products are exclusively sold in Europe. * For the American market, after the insolvency of Schneider Rundfunkwerke AG in 2001,

TCL Holdings TCL Technology (originally an abbreviation for Telephone Communication Limited) is a Chinese electronics company headquartered in Huizhou, Guangdong Province. It designs, develops, manufactures, and sells consumer products including televisio ...

, a

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

company, purchased the Dual assets and brand, and it began marketing its own products under the name. In 2002, Namsung Electronics, a

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...

company, bought the rights to use the name in the

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...

and began selling lower-priced (but generally well-reviewed) consumer electronics under th
Dual
marque. The main product lines are home audio, mobile audio, marine audio and GPS receivers.

References

External links

DUAL CS record players

Dual Electronics Corp.
the U.S.-based subsidiary of Namsung Corp.
Fehrenbacher
manufacturers of the Dual CS turntable line
Unofficial Dual website
with history and reference sections
Vintage Cassette Decks
collection of Dual vintage cassette decks {{Authority control Audio equipment manufacturers of Germany Companies based in Baden-Württemberg Phonograph manufacturers Electronics companies established in 1927 German companies established in 1927 Consumer electronics brands German brands Sankt Georgen im Schwarzwald

History

See also

References

External links