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WEGA is a German audio and video manufacturer, manufacturing some of Germany's earliest
radio receiver In radio communications, a radio receiver, also known as a receiver, a wireless, or simply a radio, is an electronic device that receives radio waves and converts the information carried by them to a usable form. It is used with an antenna. Th ...
s.


History

WEGA, pronounced "Vega", was founded as ''Wuerttembergische Radio-Gesellschaft mbh'' in
Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the Sw ...
, 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 Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
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 i ...
. Sony continued to use the WEGA brand until 2005, when
liquid-crystal display A liquid-crystal display (LCD) is a flat-panel display or other electronically modulated optical device that uses the light-modulating properties of liquid crystals combined with polarizers. Liquid crystals do not emit light directly but ...
s superseded the company's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 An aperture grille is one of two major technologies used to manufacture color cathode-ray tube (CRT) televisions and computer displays; the other is the shadow mask. Fine vertical wires behind the front glass of the display screen separate t ...
-based CRT models. Starting in 1998, Sony released a television line called '' FD Trinitron/WEGA'', 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 advertising, ...
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 ...
constellation A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms a perceived pattern or outline, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object. The origins of the earliest 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 LCD televisions 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 rele ...
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 (Silicon X-tal Reflective Display) is Sony's proprietary variant of liquid crystal on silicon, a technology used mainly in projection televisions and video projectors. In the front and rear-projection television market, it competes directly ...
(SXRD) or LCD-based, were branded as Grand WEGA 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 t ...
in
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
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.


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