Electori Co., Ltd. is a company engaged in the system design of professional audio and video equipment, as well as the import and sale of high-end consumer audio equipment. Its headquarters are located in Kaigan, Minato, Tokyo.
Credited On
- Unlucky Morpheus - XIII Live at Toyosu PIT - Unlucky Morpheus, released March 9, 2022 (
ANKM-0038). Instrument Support [楽器協力].
History
Translated from the ja.wikipedia article エレクトリ (CC BY-SA 4.0), revision 110648266.
Overview
The founder, Ichiro Hattori (服部一郎, 1931–1993), began his career as an engineer designing camera exposure meters after graduating from the Tokyo University of Science. He subsequently moved to the United States and stayed in New York, where he worked as a sales engineer at Seconic Corporation, the American subsidiary of the optical equipment manufacturer Sekonic.
After returning to Japan, Hattori established a company importing and selling American hi-fi products from companies such as Altec Lansing and Fairchild. It is said that he named the company Electori by combining “Electric” with his surname, “Hattori”.
Consumer Business: The ALTEC Era
The origins of Electori’s consumer business date back more than half a century, when it concluded an agreement to serve as the general import and sales agent for Altec Corporation, a company established as a subsidiary of Western Electric, the American giant in theatrical sound systems. Electori subsequently began importing and selling Altec speaker systems and other products, primarily for consumers.
At the time, the Altec brand had little recognition in the Japanese market, and Electori’s sales staff reportedly found it extremely difficult to secure contracts even when promoting Altec products to long-established specialist audio retailers in Akihabara. Electori held listening events branded “ALTEC EXPLOSION” at Yamaha Hall and other large venues throughout Japan. Products demonstrated at these events included large systems bearing the designation “The Voice of the Theatre” before their model numbers, such as the Altec A4 and Altec A5, theatrical speaker systems originally intended to be installed behind cinema screens, as well as the comparatively smaller Altec A7. Although these products were not sold in the American consumer market, they gradually became widely known among dedicated Japanese audio enthusiasts. Electori later independently proposed that Altec develop products for the Japanese consumer market, resulting in products including the Malaga, Digue, Crescent, and Mini Monitor 8A.
Consumer Business: McINTOSH (McIntosh)
In 1980, Electori became the general import agent for the American company McIntosh Laboratory. Electori focused on the company’s McIntosh XRT20 speaker system and its sister model, the McIntosh XRT18, and conducted demonstrations of the XRT series throughout Japan. In selling the XRT series, Electori also followed McIntosh headquarters’ policy by providing a voicing service: when products were installed in users’ homes, specialist engineers from its technical department visited with measuring instruments and performed adjustments using dedicated equalizers.
The high level of skill of Electori’s technical department and its extensive after-sales service for customers have been consistent policies since the company’s founding, and the company is also known for the high degree of customers’ trust in its products.
However, after Gordon J. Gow—who, together with the founder, had remained a pillar of McIntosh’s management and product development since its establishment—died of a heart attack on June 25, 1989, the company underwent numerous changes in parent ownership, including a transfer to Clarion. In 2007, it became a subsidiary of D&M Holdings. As a result, McIntosh Japan, a subsidiary established by D&M, became the Japanese agent for McIntosh products. From 2012, when the company left the D&M Holdings group, Electori again assumed responsibility for the general import and sales operations for its products.
Electori’s consumer division currently imports and sells equipment from brands including not only McIntosh, but also MAGICO, PASS LABORATORIES, METRONOME, AMPZILLA, EMT, and NORDOST.
Establishment of the International Audio Society of Japan (IASJ)
Electori is a member of the International Audio Society of Japan (IASJ; Nihon Intanashonaru Odio Kyogikai, 日本インターナショナルオーディオ協議会). The IASJ is a voluntary association of incorporated companies that import or manufacture high-end audio products. It was formed as an expanded successor to the former Imported Audio Council, with the aim of promoting and developing internationally outstanding audio products and related equipment.
In 1984, Hattori, the founding president, contributed to the establishment of the Imported Audio Council, the predecessor of the organization. Since then, Electori has invariably exhibited at the Tokyo International Audio Show, formerly known as the Dream Imported Audio Show, one of Japan’s leading trade fairs for high-end audio equipment.
Meanwhile, in consideration of the expansion and strengthening of its professional audio equipment-related business, another pillar of Electori’s operations, the company became a consolidated wholly owned subsidiary of Hibino Corporation through a merger and acquisition on March 11, 2016, and remains so today.