Marantz company Mission Statement:
"To market as a leading premium brand innovative home entertainment products, appealing to consumer needs and lifestyles, through qualified distribution channels."
Hi-fi company founded in 1953 by Saul Bernard Marantz, a graphic artist and musician from New York.
Saul, being an amateur musician, was unsatisfied by the inconsistent LP recordings of the 50s and so set about constructing in his basement what he termed his "Audio Consolette" - essentially a preamplifier tailored to the quirks of LPs of the time. Following the success amongst his friends of his amateur efforts, he officially founded the Marantz company. His first product was the Model 1 Mono Preamplifier, which was based upon his groundbreaking Consolette.
Throughout the 50s the company continued to produce high quality amplifiers with many features that were ahead of their time.
Following a period of ownership by Philips during the 1980s, the brand Marantz was acquired in 2001 by Marantz Japan Inc. and most of the company's consumer audio components are now manufactured in Japan. The Philips connection continues however, with some of the brand's products being very similar to those of Philips, except with a more audiophile appearance. One such example is the Marantz CD4000 and Philips CD753, the former having a higher class appearance and uprated power capacitors.
While probably best known for their amplifiers, Marantz also make very slick touchscreen universal remote controls, for proper hi-fi bling.
Marantz also have in their employment renowned marketeer and audio engineer Ken Ishiwata who is responsible for tweaking their standard products to bring them up to an even higher, no-compromise standard of high fidelity, resulting in the KI signature range.