The Hacker brothers acquired a factory in Cox Green, Maidenhead, and started producing a range of transistor portable radios, beginning with the RP10 Herald.
But financial difficulties experienced in the 1970s caused the company significant problems, and despite cost-cutting measures, the firm's bankers called in the receivers in May 1977.
This, plus the relatively short period of operation (only two decades) results in a lower brand awareness today compared to other household names such as Roberts Radio.
Hacker sets are known to be in the possession of enthusiasts in the United States, Canada, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Korea, China, Russia, and throughout the European Union.
It is worth noting that the RP75 Super Sovereign - with short wave reception - was ideal for receiving the BBC World Service in various Commonwealth countries.
[citation needed] The stated Hacker philosophy was to focus on technical performance rather than cost, and words to this effect are frequently found in printed material from the time.
Many examples of their products survive today, and it is widely accepted among vintage radio enthusiasts that the build quality is higher than most similar sets from the same era.
In common with many of their 1960s designs, this was built into a wooden case covered in leathercloth, with foam padding under the front and rear panels and a turntable to enable the set to be rotated for best reception (the internal ferrite rod aerial being highly directional).
Later, another version offering Marine Band (70 to 200 metres) in addition to MW and LW was released (the RP32), but this sold in relatively small numbers, and few exist today.
They were available in the same colour choices as the RP35 AM Herald, and there was a variant with a revised scale in royal blue that incorporated the Open University logo in place of the local stations.
Mirroring the changes in the RP25A Sovereign described below, the later RP37A VHF Herald had a revised FM tuner; recognisable because it has a clear plastic cover rather than an aluminium enclosure.
The FM front end was bought in from German company Görler, and the rest of the tuner sections used Mullard AF11x-series transistors.
The RP25A had a redesigned FM front end; the new tuner is distinguishable by the clear plastic cover rather than the earlier aluminium case.
At a similar time, the grey-painted Goodmans loudspeaker is replaced by a model made by Celestion - the later is recognisable because it has a painted silver frame and magnet.
At some point towards the end of the RP25A production run, an 18 volt DC input socket is added to the left hand side panel.
Separate AM and FM tuners are retained, while the audio stages gain a new pre-amplifier that incorporates passive Baxendall tone controls.
The case was somewhat larger because it was originally designed to accommodate a cassette mechanism; the RP77MB Sovereign IV was a radio-only version of the RPC1 radio-cassette recorder.
As with the Sovereign III, operation is from eight D-cells or the mains supply, and MW, LW and FM (to 104 MHz) bands are covered.
At some point afterwards, the handle is changed to a three-part unit that matches the rest of the Hacker range, and then towards the end of the run, the silver tone control knobs are replaced with black plastic versions.
The Hunter remains a popular set, despite its original "budget" status, and frequently achieves high sale prices on auction.
The audio sections were based around a pair of ECL86 triode/pentode valves that operated in push-pull, delivering around 7 watts in ultra-linear mode to a large (10 by 7 inch) loudspeaker.
Hacker made many mono record players, most of which could be converted to stereo with the purchase of a matching amplified loudspeaker; the GP15 Cavalier, GP42 Gondolier and GP45 Grenadier being commonly encountered examples.
They also made a number of radiograms, and later music centres with matching loudspeakers and badge-engineered cassette decks from Japanese manufacturers including Sanyo and Nakamichi.