Birth of the Diatone Speaker and Radio

Diatone Speaker

In the 1940s, Mitsubishi Electric successfully developed a hard-ferrite (permanent-magnet) OP magnet and began laying the groundwork for the commercial production of ferrite. The OP magnet was a key component in the company's Diatone brand speaker, which achieved international acclaim.

The Diatone speaker was developed in the fall of 1945 at Mitsubishi Electric's Ofuna Factory. Its genesis resulted from the recycling of old stocks of magnets into magnetic speakers. At the time, speaker technology was not very advanced, and sales were limited to speaker products made by subcontracted manufacturers. However, since goods were in short supply after the war, and because of strong demand and a promising future market, Mitsubishi Electric forged ahead with full-scale speaker development.