Rotel is a family-owned

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

ese manufacturer of hi-fi audio and video equipment: home theater,

amplifiers An amplifier, electronic amplifier or (informally) amp is an electronic device that can increase the magnitude of a signal (a time-varying voltage or current). It may increase the power significantly, or its main effect may be to boost th ...

compact disc player 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 audio ...

s, etc. Rotel was started by Tomoki Tachikawa in Tokyo Japan in 1957 as a hi-fi electronics manufacturer. It is currently run by the nephew, Peter Kao. In the early 1980s Rotel joined the B&W Group forming a strategic alliance with

Bowers & Wilkins Bowers & Wilkins, commonly known as B&W, is a British company that produces consumer and professional loudspeakers and headphones. B&W was founded in 1966 by John Bowers in Worthing, West Sussex, England. In October 2020, B&W was acquired ...

and established exclusive distribution networks in North America and several European markets. Classé Audio later joined the group. Over the next 20 years, Rotel appointed virtually all Bowers & Wilkins distributors globally. In 2000 the B&W Group established Rotel Europe in the UK to consolidate all Rotel sales and support activities outside North America. The Classé brand was acquired by Sound United in 2018. In October 2020 Sound United LLC also acquired Bowers & Wilkins. Rotel maintains an exclusive network of specialist hi-fi dealers around the world.

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* Japanese companies established in 1957 Audio amplifier manufacturers Compact Disc player manufacturers Japanese brands Audio equipment manufacturers of Japan Electronics companies established in 1957 {{tech-company-stub