Ken Ishiwata leaves Marantz

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by DrZhivago, May 16, 2019.

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  1. DrZhivago

    DrZhivago Hedonist Thread Starter

    Location:
    Brisbane Australia
  2. BIGGER Dave

    BIGGER Dave Forum Resident

    In a message to What Hi-Fi?, Ishiwata noted: "It must be [a] big surprise that I’m not part of Marantz organization... I thought I’d be forever a part of Marantz. Unfortunately that’s not the case."

    Sounds like it wasn’t his decision.
     
    LeeS likes this.
  3. spacecoyote

    spacecoyote Astral Resident

    Maybe he’s going to start his own company and make a new line of universal disc players...
     
    Carlox, Sneaky Pete and tomd like this.
  4. Curiosity

    Curiosity Just A Boy

    Location:
    United Kingdom
    It would strike me as most unprofessional to of handled this situation, however it arose, in such a way it would lead a key part of the organization to that conclusion.
     
    F1nut and macster like this.
  5. jusbe

    jusbe Modern Melomaniac

    Location:
    Auckland, NZ.
    Likely not unrelated to the recent acquisition of Marantz by that emerging audio behemoth, Sound United.
     
  6. I guess we can kiss any future Reference Line product goodbye. Get 'em while you still can.
     
    Bingo Bongo, HiFi Guy and Ivand like this.
  7. tumbleweed

    tumbleweed Innocent Bystander

    Um... The guy's 72, IIRC. Probably glad to be shut of all of it. Don't cry for him, Argentina.;)
     
    Bingo Bongo and Standingstones like this.
  8. Rolltide

    Rolltide Forum Resident

    Location:
    Vallejo, CA
    Yeah - I don't think Ken was showing up for work at 7am every morning for a long day of amp designing. As a general rule, when your job title contains the word "ambassador" and you don't work for the State Department it means you don't do anything.
     
    Budley, crooner, moops and 4 others like this.
  9. F1nut

    F1nut Forum Resident

    Location:
    The Mars Hotel
    Very bad news, but not surprising since Sound United is pulling the strings now. They certainly have a way of making bad decisions.
     
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  10. With it being a mutual decision one has to wonder who initiated that the departure. Was it Marantz that wanted him out and likely gave him a nice settlement or was it Ken who decided the time was just right.
     
  11. Johnny Action

    Johnny Action Forum President

    Location:
    Kailua, Hawai’i
    Good riddance! He drove that company into the ground. Time for new blood. Progress trumps paternity.
     
  12. And how did he do that?
     
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  13. jusbe

    jusbe Modern Melomaniac

    Location:
    Auckland, NZ.
    From the link:

    Ishiwata noted: "It must be [a] big surprise that I’m not part of Marantz organization... I thought I’d be forever a part of Marantz. Unfortunately that’s not the case."
     
    Johnny Vinyl likes this.
  14. Erik Tracy

    Erik Tracy Meet me at the Green Dragon for an ale

    Location:
    San Diego, CA, USA
    That was in the 2nd post.
     
  15. tumbleweed

    tumbleweed Innocent Bystander

    I think the answer is that Marantz left Ken, not the other way around. The company that started out as Standard Radio in the early '50s has now disappeared, essentially, along with Saul Marantz and Joe Tushinsky. I must admit I'm flabbergasted at the "good riddance" comment; totally unwarranted and ignorant of the man's contributions.

    Ishiwata-San's expertise lay in taking an existing straightforward commercial product and knowing just what to change to make it "Special". A better cap, a redesigned power supply, perhaps some strategically applied damping - all in furtherance of taking a design from "good enough" to "Aha!"

    As always, just my opinion, YMMV. But there ain't gonna be any "new blood", I betcha.
     
  16. Benzion

    Benzion "Cogito, ergo sum" Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brooklyn, NY
    Perhaps he just understands the direction Marantz is going, and doesn't want to be on board when that happens. Sound United already owns Denon and Onkyo, and, as of late - Pioneer. All of them are glorious brands of yesteryear, nowadays reduced to nothing but old names slapped on top of mediocre Chinese consumer grade products, with emphasis on AVR, nowhere near the level of gear they produced in the distant past, let alone hi-end.

    Marantz was the last Japanese holdout of what could be termed "near-hi-end". Now, it's probably going to join the same stable of "names", and the products will come from the same places these new "denons" and "onkyos" come from. So, my take on things is Mr. Ishiwata just knows this and decided not to be associated with that kind of future for a brand at which he spent a lifetime of dedication.
     
    Sneaky Pete, DrZhivago, gd0 and 4 others like this.
  17. Dan C

    Dan C Forum Fotographer

    Location:
    The West
    Normally I try not to get overly wrapped up in changes like this, it's a very different world we're entering and old guard HiFi is going to become even more of a niche than ever before. Still though, if it's true that Marantz is headed to the dustbin then I'm going to allow myself to be sad about this for a while.

    dan c
     
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  18. TarnishedEars

    TarnishedEars Forum Resident

    Location:
    The Seattle area
    Are you kidding? He has seemed to me to be more like the driving-force who drove the revival of Marantz as a high-end manufacturer once they finally escaped the clutches of their SuperScope-imposed mediocrity.
     
    Snargfarg, Bill Mac, MGW and 8 others like this.
  19. soundboy

    soundboy Senior Member

    Basically, no KI signature model of upcoming Marantz wifi lifestyle speaker.
     
  20. ishmael

    ishmael Forum Resident

  21. gd0

    gd0 Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies

    Location:
    Golden Gate
    Being able to afford HiFi is going to become even more of a niche than ever before.
     
    joannenugent, jusbe and Sneaky Pete like this.
  22. Helom

    Helom Forum member

    Location:
    U.S.
  23. ishmael

    ishmael Forum Resident

    You sir, are CLUELESS.:yikes:
     
  24. There may well be "new blood" but I wonder at what cost?
    While mathematical and technical science can prove how a system should work, sometimes the designer just has a feeling about what will work together despite what the computer models states.
    This is where the new blood may lack prowess. They will have the proper credentials for sure, but will they have the magic?
     
    F1nut and HiFi Guy like this.
  25. gryphongryph

    gryphongryph Forum Resident

    Location:
    Faroe Islands
    Denon is quite big in Japan, have many top of the line amps that we don’t see outside aside.
     
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