ShowaAudio is an archive of scanned Japanese audio catalogs from the 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s.

Those were the years when Japanese engineers were at their peak. Every major brand — Sony, Technics, Pioneer, Denon, AIWA, and dozens of others — released tens of models a year. Cassette decks with three heads, vertical turntables, music centers the size of a nightstand, tiny portable systems — they tried everything, from wild experiments to carefully refined product lines.

And all of it was advertised. Catalogs, brochures, flyers — with detailed specs, photography, and graphic design that's genuinely enjoyable to look at in its own right. How they laid out the pages, how they featured the flagship separately from the lineup, what kind of promo shots they used — that's a whole story in itself.

My name is Alexander Fedyunin, and I got deep into this. Over 500 catalogs, over 10,000 scanned pages. I'm interested in the equipment itself as well as how it was presented — the brochure format, the model arrangement, the marketing approach. It's impossible not to share.

Everything is freely available — browse, enjoy, pass it along to anyone who might be interested. If you'd like to support the site and help grow the archive, there's a DONATE button below — don't hold back.

If you have your own scans of Japanese audio catalogs and would like to add them to the archive — send them in, I'll be happy to include them. Let me know whether you'd like to be credited as the source: send a message.