EICO, New York
EICO was established in New York City in 1945 to manufacture electronic test equipment in kit form. A wide variety of test equipment remained the company’s mainstay during the time it was in the electronics business, however EICO often augmented their product lines with what was thought fashionable. Their largest secondary market was audio equipment.
In the late 1960s, EICO introduced a line of solid state electronics audio equipment referred to as Cortina. EICO left the audio market in the late 1970s and the electronics market some time later. EICO existed as a property management company until 1999, when the company was liquidated at the request of the shareholders.
EICO: the short history
The original page leaves out the beginning. EICO was founded in 1945 by Harry Ashley, who ran a radio repair business, and its first product was the model 113 VTVM and signal tracer, advertised in Radio News in July 1946. The company worked from 84 Withers Street in Brooklyn and later from Northern Boulevard in Long Island City, and by December 1956 it had sold over a million instruments.
Wikipedia also connects the company's decline to its amateur radio line: problems with the 753 SSB transceiver of the 1960s hurt EICO's reputation. By the mid-1970s its only audio products were kits made for it in South Korea.
| Founded | 1945, New York City |
|---|---|
| Founder | Harry Ashley |
| First product | Model 113 VTVM / signal tracer (1946) |
| Hi-fi years | Early 1950s to mid-1960s |
| Solid-state audio | Cortina line, late 1960s |
| Closed | Liquidated 1999 |
Questions collectors ask
What does EICO stand for?
Electronic Instrument Company.
Did EICO sell its amplifiers as kits?
Yes. EICO hi-fi tuners, preamplifiers and amplifiers were sold as kits or fully assembled, following the company's test-equipment kit business.
Sources: Wikipedia: Eico.
