Marantz

USA1953–9 archived pages

Saul Marantz built his first preamplifier, the Audio Consolette, at home in Kew Gardens, New York, and sold it in 1952; the company itself was founded in Queens in 1953 with one product, the Model One. Sidney Smith, who answered an advertisement for that preamp, joined him and worked on Marantz circuits for years.

The tube models that followed are among the most collected American hi-fi ever made. The Model 7 preamplifier of 1958 arrived the same year as stereo records and sold more than 130,000 units over a run of more than twelve years, according to Sound & Vision. The Model 8 stereo amplifier followed in 1959, the mono Model 9 in 1960, and the 8B, with four EL34s in an ultra-linear circuit at 35 watts per channel, in 1961 or 1962.

Superscope bought Marantz in 1964, and from 1966 production moved increasingly to Japan. In 1996 the 8B returned in the Marantz Classic Series, built to the original specification by Valve Amplification Company of Sarasota, Florida; the archive also holds reissues of the 7 and the 9.

From the original manufacturer page

The first Marantz audio product was designed and built by Saul B. Marantz in his home in Kew Gardens, New York. The company had a major influence in the development of high fidelity audio systems, and reached the high point of their success in the mid to late 1970s. During the 1980s, while owned by Philips, a pioneer in compact disc technology, Marantz built some very well received CD players, but other products in the line were not as successful as in the past.

Marantz

Marantz in the archive