"Erik Squires" said:

When I was very young, I really admired the sound of and look of Tandberg
equipment, but shortly after they released their monoblocks, they went poof
in the US audio market.

Can anyone explan this phenomenon?

As far as I could tell they had everything going for them.

Well, for one thing, they're a Norwegian company.
Tandberg has a long history of making tapedecks, electronics came
later in the '70s.
Many of their tapedecks were exported to the US, when there apparently
wasn't much competition for them.
All of this changed later, and I think they simply couldn't compete
with the many US brands that are available.

Too bad indeed, they made some cool gear.

--
Sander deWaal
Vacuum Audio Consultancy