How Marantz became the gold standard of luxury audio

When it comes to curating the perfect audio system, it’s not just the sound that needs designing. It’s easy to look at rows of tech specs and forget to check whether it actually looks and feels the part – but from timeless colours and construcion to the way a button feels or the weight behind a volume knob, home systems have come a long way since we settled for a box in the corner of the room.

Any serious approach to making the right statement means striking the balance between style and substance. For luxury audio company Marantz, this means focusing on what matters most: creating sophisticated, beautiful tech products that get the listener as close to their music as possible.

Marantz

A proud heritage

Launched in 1953 by electrical engineer Saul Marantz in his New York apartment, what started out as a passion project to create what he called a “realistic reproduction of sound” has developed into a legendary global brand. Saul couldn’t find a home music system to meet his standards. So, like any proud pioneer, he decided to make it himself, creating the building blocks for hi-fi amplification in the process.

His quest for quality led to the development of his first product in 1952: the Audio Consolette, a hi-fi pre-amplifier designed specifically for the home. A year later, Saul had made 100 of them at his kitchen table and Marantz was born.

The brand’s heritage of sound and design innovation has taken the brand across the globe, from New York to Japan. But one of its biggest achievements was literally out of this world when the company’s reputation attracted the attention of NASA. The Marantz Model 9 power amp was so famous for its consistency, control and power that the space agency chose it for the Apollo Space Program, providing a stable current for NASA’s most remote tracking stations. One giant leap for Marantz…

Marantz

Style with substance

At the heart of the brand’s innovation are its resident ‘Sound Masters’, artisanal creators who balance art and science to get the listeners as close to the music as possible. From Saul himself to audio stalwart Ken Ishiwata and current supremo Yoshinori Ogata, each Sound Master has dedicated their life’s expertise to designing the best soundscapes for Marantz and its devotees. Home-theatre systems, turntables, class-leading amps and the products that help the everyday audiophile take the next step are crafted at Marantz’s state-of-the-art studios in Japan’s Shirakawa Audio Works.

Today, the brand is a byword for elegant, state-of-the-art tech beauty, combining pristine design and one hell of a sound. The precision and accuracy of the performance is reflected in the reassuringly stylish industrial design of its products, while the warm colour schemes mirror Marantz’s signature enveloping sound, allowing each system to elevate any space.

For those ready to invest in their own slice of audio history, here’s our edit of its most desirable pieces.