The house that Saul Marantz built turned 70 this week and the little company that started in Queens, New York, has reason to celebrate. Very few companies survive and prosper that long and certainly don’t attain the name brand recognition that Marantz has earned.
Everyone knows Marantz.
My late-Bubie who barely spoke English knew Marantz in the 1970s when my father surprised them with their first real stereo system that included a Marantz receiver and pair of Celestion loudspeakers. Watching her try to connect the 8-track player and turntable filled me with pride.
The “Marantz” name evoked quality and whilst things were not always smooth sailing for the brand, there was certainly pride in ownership.
The company has been sold a few times over the past 70 years and more than a few products almost brought the company to its knees financially.
There is an inside joke within Marantz that a particular product from the 1970s was so expensive to manufacture and create that every unit shipped with a $100 bill inside the box.
Saul Marantz retired in 1968 and more than a few vaunted designers such as the late-Ken Ishiwata, Sid Smith, and Richard Sequerra played a huge role in the success of the company.
The D&M partnership was confusing to some; Denon and Marantz were part of the same company for many years before they both became part of Sound United.
Confusing from the perspective that a large percentage of the products covered the same categories and one brand clearly offered a step-up in performance and build quality.
It’s probably a sign of the times that “vintage Marantz” is one of the most searched topics on this website and on a lot of Hi-Fi Forums. Vintage Marantz equipment has definitely become more expensive over the years; perhaps not as expensive as vintage McIntosh but there are a lot of audiophiles willing to spend money on some of the classic pieces from the 1960s and 1970s.
Marantz is definitely a company in transition; something that I discovered at a private listening event in New York City’s Hudson Yards — high above the city in a penthouse overlooking the Hudson River and Weehawken.
The $2,499 Marantz Model 40n Integrated Amplifier which was released in 2022 is not your father’s Model 2270 and for a new generation of listeners focused on wireless streaming, home theater, and vinyl playback, it represents a rebirth of the brand that Saul Marantz launched in 1953 in New York.
The Marantz CD60 CD Player that I reviewed offered a superior level of performance for under-$1,000 and was ultimately purchased because of how good it was overall. It continues to make my CD collection sound great.
The new Marantz CINEMA Series of home theater components including the Cinema 40, Cinema 50, AV 10 and AMP 10 have completely reset the company’s approach to the category.
Masimo and Sound United
Before we can look forward into the future and predict where Marantz is headed, we need to take a step back to 2022 for some background.
The ink on our Marantz Model 40n story was barely dry when we heard rumors about something big regarding Sound United. Consolidation in the consumer A/V industry is not anything new but this story had huge implications because so many premium high-end brands were involved. Sound United was acquired by Masimo Corporation, a leading global medical technology company.
The consumer electronics division of Sennheiser was also acquired recently by Sonova; another medical technology company involved in the hearing aid space.
Masimo is a global medical technology company that develops and manufactures innovative noninvasive patient monitoring technologies, medical devices, and a wide array of sensors.
The Irvine-based company acquired Sound United for $1.03 billion and the long-term plan is to leverage Sound United’s expertise in consumer electronics and global distribution to expand its own consumer products business.
Sound United operated consumer brands Bowers & Wilkins, Denon, Polk Audio, Marantz, Definitive Technology, Classé, and Boston Acoustics before the acquisition.
An examination of Masimo’s stock performance over the past 14 months has raised a few eyebrows and one would hope that it does not negatively impact the long-term viability of Marantz or the other brands.
Birthday Bash and Max Richter
The House of Marantz took place earlier this week with a focus on 70 years of design innovation and the brand’s rather intense focus on music and working with artists.
Marantz put on a first-rate event (other brands take note) in a venue that inspired conversations, physical interaction with some iconic designs, listening sessions, and a live podcast featuring Max Richter.
One of our favorite Instagram accounts, @MarantzHistory, is a noted historian of the brand with a collection that would make any audiophile drool. Marantz flew him into NYC to be our official tour guide through 70 years of components and his passion for the brand is really quite palpable and inspiring.
Jeremy Sikora, Mitch Anderson, and @MarantzHistory will be recording a podcast this summer to discuss Marantz and the growth of vintage audio in North America and Europe.
Max Richter spent almost a full hour with the media discussing his approach to composing both classical music and movie scores and was generally very positive about the growth of streaming.
Richter remains committed to the “album” concept and whilst he believes that releasing single tracks on Spotify or TIDAL works for a lot of younger artists looking to build awareness of their music, he doesn’t see himself pursuing that approach with his style of music.
He was also very emphatic about his support for high-end audio playback and we were given the opportunity to enjoy some of his music during the podcast through a pair of the Bowers & Wilkins 800 Series Diamond Loudspeakers. Marantz amplification and streaming sources were used in the rather cavernous listening space but there’s no question that the brand plans on leveraging its relationship with award-winning artists to spread the word.
One odd aspect of the celebration was the absence of any new Marantz products to celebrate the milestone. Could there be something coming? We find it almost hard to believe that Marantz will not take advantage of the consumer interest in vintage right now; Naim has commitments for almost all of the 1,973 NAIT 50 integrated amplifiers in less than 2 moths at over $3,000 per unit and it would be a lost opportunity if nothing comes out.
Marantz has a very aggressive and great team of people at the helm right now and we look forward to many more years of audio engineering excellence from them.
For more information: marantz.com
Related: View all of our recent Marantz news and reviews.
ORT
July 14, 2023 at 3:21 pm
Marantz and Denon are without hesitation my two favorite marques for home audio and video. They are made for the every man and (you know who you are out there!) every WOMAN (!) that wants the finest they can afford.
And now I need to buy a Marantz CD60 because if it is good enough for Ian it is more than good enough for me. Mine will be in Silver/Gold. No more purchases for family and friends until I have what is to me, the best looking and performing CD Player on the Planet. Hopefully by the end of this Summer of ’23 I will have saved up the gelt.
This is gonna be difficult to do. 😉
ORT