Since 1970

Olavi Räsänen Oy began manufacturing loudspeakers in 1970. The manufacturing of loudspeakers began in the famous Kenkävero vicarage in Mikkeli. Another entrepreneur had begun producing loudspeakers in Kenkävero by the end of the 1960’s, but in the autumn of 1970 it was Olavi Räsänen Oy who became recognized for manufacturing loudspeakers.

At first, there were around twenty people manufacturing loudspeakers which were exported to Sweden, whilst in Finland for Hirvox and Radio-Sointu were manufactured loudspeakers for stereo packages as their own brands.

For years, an important part of Olavi Räsänen Oy's loudspeaker production was the manufacturing of loudspeakers using the customers' own brands (OEM) such as Blaupunkt, Philips, Rank Arena and Telefunken. By 1974, 90 percent of the production was exported. In just a few years, Olavi Räsänen Oy had become the leading loudspeaker manufacturer, and years of growth were still to come.

The manufacturing of loudspeakers in Kenkävero ended during the early part of 1974 and the operations moved to Seurala industrial estate, where it is situated nowadays as well. After the move, the production increased to between 300 and 400 loudspeakers a day. That same year Olavi Räsänen Oy signed a tripartite agreement with another Finnish company Kaukomarkkinat Oy and Japanese manufacturer Matsushita Electric to became the only company in Europe to use the National Panasonic brand.

The company started putting more money into its own research and development programs during 1977; this resulted in the completion of the testing and measuring laboratory. The first OR-Loudspeakers branded loudspeaker was well received in the market later that year.

When the cooperation with the Japanese decreased more investments were made to own R&D. New products were launched and by the end of the 80s Olavi Räsänen Oy held the position of the significant loudspeaker manufacturer.

The 80’s also saw loudspeakers manufactured for new Japanese brands as well including Fischer, Yamaha and Hitachi. The annual production increased to over 200 000 loudspeakers out of which a significant proportion was exported.

In the beginning of the 90s, the competition tightened when products manufactured in Europe, Japan and other Far Eastern countries found their way to Finland.

The past ten years have been stable in Mikkeli. Since 2004, Olavi Räsänen Oy has also manufactured loudspeakers under the Chorus brand.

Since the beginning of 2009, Olavi Räsänen Oy has imported British Black Rhodium loudspeaker cables to Finland.

Today we are happy to state that OR-Loudspeakers are 100% Finnish design and manufacturing. The high quality and durability are the most praised properties of our products. This is supported by several official tests carried out by different hi-fi magazines.