Lenco is a Dutch owned brand of audio & video equipment, part of Commaxx International NV and a sister company of Trebs BV. However, when audio hobbyists refer to Lenco, especially Lenco turntables, they are typically referring to the defunct Swiss firm Lenco AG, a turntable manufacturer prominent during the 1950–1980s.
History
Lenco was founded in 1946 in the Swiss Burgdorf by the couple Fritz and Marie Laeng. Fascinated by sound technology, the Swiss Fritz Laeng started an electrical business in 1925 and his wife, Marie, became the driving force. The couple started a small factory, based on the production of turntables. The famous name Lenco was Marie's idea. Reliability of the turntables and the excellent technical service were the key concepts. Thus began the reputation of the brand. In 1961 was founded another factory, in Osimo, the Lenco Italiana. Due to some sales problems, the production had to be reduced. Being a long term project, Lenco Italiana made at the beginning, mainly motors. Later, in the 1970s the Italian factory started to produce turntables and cassettes decks. One of the Lenco partners was ExLibris-Komet. Komet produced suitable designs for Lenco record players with built-in tube amplifier. Another Lenco partner was Goldring, an audio equipmentmanufacturing company. Goldring produced phono cartridges and exported them all around the world and even Lenco turntables in the 1970s and Lenco L75 was marketed via Goldring as a GL75, their logo being as indication of high quality products. The state of the art of the company was L 75, which was introduced in 1967. The legendary L 75 was presented as a "4 kilogram turntable of 312 millimeter and its aluminum housing" and it was the best-selling Lenco record player. As time went on, the company evolved and exported the products to more than eighty countries around the world. 1974 was a black year for the company. A serious loss, Marie Laeng, the heart and the soul of the company died. The engine and the soul of the company was missing. In these times the entire world economy was in trouble, the oil crisis, with Sunday driving bans and frightened the consumers in addition. A certain degree of oversaturation of the market and all the economic events have caused demand for luxury products such as Hi-Fi equipment a temporary strong decrease. Another problem came from the Land of the Rising Sun. Asia flooded Europe with a diversity of a good and reasonably priced turntables from all manufacturers. That was enough already to bring a company in trouble, what then in the case of Lenco was reflected to a reduction in the products and staff. In 1977, the bankruptcy of Lenco AG Burgdorf was initiated. Immediately Lenco Audio AG was founded, whose tasks were only to ensure repair, service and warranty for existing Lenco equipment. Lenco AG Burgdorf officially ceased to exist as of this date, but under the custody of Lenco Audio AG, open contracts could be completed and devices of the last generation could be finished. In 1978 the owner of the company Lenco, Fritz Laeng, died. The brand name Lenco was taken in 1997 by the Dutch Lenco STL Group, located in Venlo. At that time they based on low budget products, most of them being made in Hong Kong. In 2015, the company was again acquired, this time by Commaxx International NV. In 2018, the company produces internet radio, DAB+ radios, DVD players, TV sets and other audio equipment, including turntables.
