Maker Info
ROLA Company
ROLA Company was founded in iin 1924 by Bernard A. Enghorn in Seattle. Enghorn was an electrical engineer and radio enthusiast who experimented with improving the quality of the available radio speakers and by simple improvements managed to create what became to be seen as the best speakers on the market. Engorn succeeded in raising capital for his company among local radio manufacturers. Production grew rapidly, initially manufacturing the then standard horn speakers. In 1925, the company moved to Oakland, where it developed a radically new product the, the "field coil" cone speaker.
In the 1930s, the company was reorganized as an Ohio corporation, and increasing shares were owned by the Mutter Company of Chicago, eventually setting factory in Cleveland. In 1945, the year of Enghorn's death, it became fully owned by Mutter. The brand continued to have a very high reputation in the following decades and supplied speakers for radio, television, and electrical musical instruments. In the early 70s, Rola was operationally merged with the speaker manufacturer Jensen (also owned by Mutter), and the products and factories were commonly known as Rola-Jensen in that period.
The brand also existed separately in the United Kingdom, where in 1930 the British Rola subsidiary was created. British Rola acquired Celestion in 1947 and was renamed Rola Celestion, producing under the brand Celestion.
