- Koss Corporation
Koss Corporation is a
United States company that designs and manufacturesheadphones .Founded in 1953 as the J.C. Koss Hospital Television Rental Company by John C. Koss, after a short time Koss was looking for new ideas, and partnered with Martin Lange to eventually develop a stereo headphone. Based in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin ,USA ; in1991 , Koss Audio & Video Electronics started producing and selling consumer electronics products as a separate company inHazelwood, Missouri ,USA . The Koss family owns more than 75% of the firm.Having only a high-school education, John C. Koss worked with Lange, an engineer, to develop the headphone that launched the company almost by accident, as they came upon the headphone idea as a result of an attempt to market a portable phonograph [ [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1154/is_n8_v78/ai_9237565 Life after near-death - Koss Corp. near bankruptcy | Nation's Business | Find Articles at BNET.com ] ] .
In 1991 Michael J. Koss, son of founder John C. Koss, took over as president and chief executive officer.
In addition to selling headphones under their own brand, Koss headphones are also rebranded as
Radio Shack headphones under license and sold in Radio Shack stores. They will usually have the same drivers as the Koss phones, and these can usually be spotted by the fact that theminijack connector has the Koss logo on it. Radio Shack sells them asTitanium Diaphragm headphones. Some of their more popular products are the Koss Plug and Koss Spark Plug which are noise isolation earphones. Their ability to be adapted to take the high-end Etymotic ear tip (known as the Koss Hybrid), and the popular Koss Porta Pro has contributed to their success. Their budget-priced headphones (the KSC series in particular) are widely regarded as some of the best low-end headphones on the market. [ [http://www.headphone.com/products/headphones/all-headphones/koss-ksc-75.php Koss KSC 75 @ HeadRoom - Right Between Your Ears ] ] As of 1989, all headphones manufactured in North America by KOSS come with a no-questions-asked-lifetime warranty. [ [http://www.koss.com/koss/kossweb.nsf/cs-warrepair :: KOSS :: Welcome ] ]Diversification into related electronics areas in the 1980s ended in disaster for Koss, who filed for bankruptcy after a net loss in 1984 of $6 million. Koss emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in 1985. [ [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1154/is_n8_v78/ai_9237565 Life after near-death - Koss Corp. near bankruptcy | Nation's Business | Find Articles at BNET.com ] ] [ [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1154/is_n8_v78/ai_9237565 Life after near-death - Koss Corp. near bankruptcy | Nation's Business | Find Articles at BNET.com ] ]
Notes
Bednarek, David I., 'Koss Corp. May Be Suffering from Wall Street's Low Interest,' Milwaukee Journal, September 1, 1991.
External links
* [http://www.koss.com/ Koss official website]
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