Avery Fisher was an amateur violinist, who began a remarkable career by building radios to improve sound quality for his own enjoyment. His achievements include the first transistorized amplifier and the stereo radio-phonograph combination. He sold his hi-fi components at premium prices, earning them a reputation as the Cadillac of sound equipment.
Fisher graduated in 1929 from New York University. He worked for two publishing firms, G. P. Putnam's Sons and Dodd, Mead & Company during which he began his endeavors in audio design, even the Fisher Radio's logo (The golden swallow) was developed by his own hand. He constructed his radios to obtain better sound than available models delivered. By 1937 he had made significant improvements in the design of amplifiers, tuners and speakers and established his first company, Philharmonic Radio.
After WWII Fisher sold Philharmonic Radio and started a second audio company in New York, Fisher Radio, which produced high-fidelity components from a factory on the site now occupied by Lincoln Center. His engineering staff was comprised of the brightest audio technicians lured away from European companies.
In 1956 Fisher produced the first transistorized amplifier. Two years later the company developed the first stereo radio and phonograph combination. From 1959 to 1961, the company made important improvements in AM-FM stereo tuner design, and it increased the power and improved the sensitivity of its components.
When the audio market veered toward mass merchandising in 1969, Fisher sold the company to Emerson for $31 million. Emerson later sold it to Sanyo of Japan. Fisher consulted for both Emerson and Sanyo.
As a philanthropist, Fisher was very influential, sitting on the boards of the New York Philharmonic, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and Marlboro Festival. Lincoln Center's Philharmonic Hall was renamed Avery Fisher Hall in 1973 after he donated $10.5 million. Fisher was born in Brooklyn on March 4, 1906 and died in 1994.
