AKG, founded in Vienna by Dr. Rudolf Goerike and Ernst Pless, soon became one of the biggest players in the world of sound. Today AKG is synonymous with good sound, stands for passion in music providing the highest quality and ongoing innovation in the world of music. The company was founded in 1947 and within months, the first AKG microphones were being used in radio stations, theatres and Jazz-Clubs. The products (the AKG DYN Series) were at that time manufactured by hand by five workers.
In 1949, the first AKG headphones came on the market. Then, in the early fifties AKG made a breakthrough with several new products: Totally new technologies like the world’s first high quality condenser microphone, the D 12 with its cardioid characteristics, the world’s first remote-controlled multi-pattern capacitor microphone, the C 12 and the D 36 made acoustic history. One of the first customers of the famous C 12 microphone was the BBC in London.
With its growing success, AKG also expanded geographically with a German subsidiary founded in 1955. By the end of the fifties, AKG’s worldwide distribution network had grown to other parts of Europe and abroad.
The seventies began like the sixties ended at AKG: with continuous innovations. The company started in the seventies with the presentation of the BX 20, the world's first, truly portable studio reverberation unit. In 1972 a special stamp by the British Post Office commemorating the 50th anniversary of the BBC showed historical microphones along with models from the AKG catalog. One year later AKG was granted its 1000th patent.
In 1994 AKG became a part of Harman International Industries, Inc. The following years brought a time of restructuring and sharpening of the product line and distribution strategy.
In 2017, AKG celebrated its 70th anniversary, but instead of looking back, AKG is looking toward a bright future with additional growth.
AKG microphones and headphones have a long history on tour and in studio with international musicians such as Frank Sinatra, Eric Clapton, Peter Gabriel, Stevie Wonder, Aerosmith, the Rolling Stones, Rod Stewart, Anastasia, Eros Ramazotti and Simply Red. Not only well-respected internationally, AKG has fans closer to home, with Austria’s most famous pop-star Falco counted as an AKG user, as well as the upcoming Austrian star Christina Stuermer.
