1962 Wegavision 2000 Werksentwurf Pinakothek-d-Moderne M 2021-05-23

WEGA is a German audio and video manufacturer, manufacturing some of Germany's earliest radio receivers.

History

WEGA, pronounced "Vega", was founded as ''Wuerttembergische Radio-Gesellschaft mbh'' in Stuttgart, Germany in the year 1923. In 1975, it was acquired by

Sony Corporation , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

. They were then known throughout

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

for stylish and high-quality stereo equipment, designed by

Verner Panton Verner Panton (13 February 1926 – 5 September 1998) is considered one of Denmark's most influential 20th-century furniture and interior designers. During his career, he created innovative and futuristic designs in a variety of materials, especi ...

and

Hartmut Esslinger Hartmut Esslinger (born 5 June 1944) is a German-American industrial designer and inventor. He is best known for founding the design consultancy frog, and his work for Apple Computers in the early 1980s. Life and career Esslinger was born in ...

. Sony continued to use the WEGA brand until 2005, when liquid-crystal displays superseded the company's

Trinitron Trinitron was Sony's brand name for its line of aperture-grille-based CRTs used in television sets and computer monitors. One of the first truly innovative television systems to enter the market since the 1950s, the Trinitron was announced in ...

aperture grille-based CRT models. Starting in 1998, Sony released a television line called ''

FD Trinitron/WEGA FD Trinitron/WEGA is Sony's flat version of the Trinitron picture tube. First introduced in 1998 on Sony's 32-inch and 36-inch televisions, this technology was also used in computer monitors bearing the Trinitron mark. The FD Trinitron used comp ...

'', a flat-screen

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

with side-mounted speakers and a silver-coloured cabinet. Sony says that the FD Trinitron WEGA was named after a star ("

Vega Vega is the brightest star in the northern constellation of Lyra. It has the Bayer designation α Lyrae, which is Latinised to Alpha Lyrae and abbreviated Alpha Lyr or α Lyr. This star is relatively close at only from the Sun, a ...

" in English) in the

Lyra Lyra (; Latin for lyre, from Greek ''λύρα'') is a small constellation. It is one of the 48 listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, and is one of the modern 88 constellations recognized by the International Astronomical Union. Lyra wa ...

constellation, and made no reference to the original WEGA firm. Sony has also used WEGA as a name for flat-screen televisions with newer technologies than CRT. Their

flat-panel A flat-panel display (FPD) is an electronic display used to display visual content such as text or images. It is present in consumer, medical, transportation, and industrial equipment. Flat-panel displays are thin, lightweight, provide better l ...

LCD television Liquid-crystal-display televisions (LCD TVs) are television sets that use liquid-crystal displays to produce images. They are, by far, the most widely produced and sold television display type. LCD TVs are thin and light, but have some disadvantag ...

s were branded ''LCD WEGA'' until summer 2005 when they were rebranded

BRAVIA Bravia (stylized as BRAVIA) is a brand of Sony Visual Products Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Corporation, and used for its television products. Its backronym is "Best Resolution Audio Visual Integrated Architecture". All Sony high-defi ...

. There are early promotional photos of the first BRAVIA televisions still bearing the WEGA label. Introduced in 2002, Sony's

plasma display A plasma display panel (PDP) is a type of flat panel display that uses small cells containing plasma: ionized gas that responds to electric fields. Plasma televisions were the first large (over 32 inches diagonal) flat panel displays to be releas ...

televisions were also branded as Plasma WEGA until being superseded by the BRAVIA LCD line. Sony's

rear-projection television Rear-projection television (RPTV) is a type of large-screen television display technology. Until approximately 2006, most of the relatively affordable consumer large screen TVs up to used rear-projection technology. A variation is a video proje ...

s, either Silicon X-tal Reflective Display (SXRD) or LCD-based, were branded as

Grand WEGA A liquid crystal rear projection television system using a patented "optical engine" made by Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major tec ...

until Sony discontinued production of rear-projection receivers.

Importance

The quality of the design by Esslinger was highly appreciated, to the extent that the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

in New York exhibits one example, the ''Concept 51k'' sound-system, for which a special stand was an available option. In 1980 Sony used half of the production in Stuttgart for its Trinitron televisions. WEGA Studio 3214 Hifi und Telefunken L 250

WEGA Studio 3214 Hifi und Telefunken L 250

References

External links

WEGA at radiomuseum.org (German)
{{Authority control Sony products German brands Electronics companies of Germany Manufacturing companies based in Stuttgart Manufacturing companies established in 1923 German companies established in 1923 1975 mergers and acquisitions Manufacturing companies disestablished in 2005