Crown Audio, also known as Crown International, is an American manufacturer of professional audio power amplifiers and a subsidiary of Harman International Industries. The company was founded in 1947 in Elkhart, Indiana, by Clarence C. Moore as the International Radio and Electronics Corporation (IREC), initially producing open-reel tape recorders before shifting focus to amplifiers in the 1960s. [1]
Design and History
The Crown name and its visual identity trace directly to the company’s early tape recorder products. After IREC had produced vacuum tube tape recorders branded “Royal” and “Imperial,” Moore’s wife and co-founder Ruby noted that the emblem on those products was a fancy crown. She suggested the company should simply be called Crown, and in 1975 stockholders voted to change the corporate name to Crown International, Inc. [1]
The current Crown logo, as registered by Harman International Industries, is an illustration drawing that includes both words and letters. The trademark registration describes the mark as featuring two concentric circles and a crown closed at the top. [2] The wordmark “CROWN” appears as the literal element of the registered mark. [3]
Crown was acquired by Harman International in March 2000 and continues to operate as part of the HARMAN Professional family of brands. [1]
Meaning and Symbolism
The crown emblem has been central to the brand’s identity since before the company adopted the Crown name. The crown symbol on the Royal and Imperial tape recorders directly inspired the company’s renaming in the 1970s, making the crown a foundational element of the visual identity rather than a later addition. [1]
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