Onkyo’s recent past may have been rather turbulent, with the company filing for bankruptcy in May 2022, and the brand then coming under the joint ownership of Sharp and Premium Audio Company (a subsidiary of Voxx) – but today its future looks considerably brighter.
In a press release sent just hours ago, Onkyo has outlined its ‘bold new vision for the future’ and commitment to ‘raising the bar for technology and home entertainment’, which includes the imminent launch of two new ranges at the CES 2025 tradeshow next month.
While Onkyo has drip-fed a few new products into the consumer technology market in the past year, including a Flexus soundbar system in partnership with Klipsch (April) and the 9.2-channel TX-RZ30 AVR (September), its forthcoming launches will be the first whole ranges we have seen from Onkyo in quite some time.
While details are being saved for their CES reveal, which will presumably coincide with the show’s 8th-11th January dates, we do know that we can expect both a ‘home speaker series’ and an ‘electronic separate series’. Indeed, while Onkyo is arguably most renowned today for its home cinema receivers, where it has focused much of its efforts in recent years, it says it will venture into ‘new product categories,’ initially returning to home speakers and ‘advanced speciality’ electronics.
Its new ranges will ‘cater to both everyday audio consumers and high-end, premium hi-fi listeners,’ suggesting to us that its lineup will span the price spectrum. We certainly hope that the electronics series includes budget models, not only because that end of the market is sparse but also because Onkyo has decent form there. The A-9010 was a What Hi-Fi? favourite entry-level stereo amplifier for many years when it debuted in 2015.
Onkyo has also set its sights on new collaborations, following it being the official home audio system of Marvel Television’s Agatha All Along show on Disney+, as well as wider (‘Powered by Onkyo’) integration of its electronics in other branded products.
This Onkyo rebirth is represented by an updated logo (pictured top – the extra spacing represents ‘new possibilities’ and the ‘cinematic wide-screen space’ its AV products deliver) and is backed by new product development in a new facility in its hometown of Osaka, Japan.
The release reads: ‘Within the walls of Onkyo Headquarters, the all-new global Premium Audio Company Technology Center (PACTC) has been established… a hub for innovation where our engineers, technicians and marketing teams collaborate to develop the next generation of ground-breaking audio products.’ This is the workplace of 59 Onkyo employees with an average 22-year tenure, so there's plenty of expertise for the brand to draw from. We for one look forward to experiencing the new fruits of this 'all new Onkyo' next year.
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