Marantz has long been one of audiophiles’ preferred brands, and now it’s getting into the speaker game.
On Tuesday, the brand debuted its first speakers, the wireless Horizon and Grand Horizon. Designed around Marantz’s iconic porthole motif, with the porthole being the core element of the circular speakers, the new release expands on more than 70 years of high-end audio products.
Image courtesy of Marantz
Visually, the Horizon speakers are a sleek addition to your home audio setup. Both versions are wrapped in Marantz’s Radiance 360-Degree Seamless Ecofibre, a sustainable fabric made from recycled ocean plastics. Available in three different colourways (Midnight Sky, Moon Ray, and Champagne), each speaker has a colour-matched natural marble base and embedded gold lurex elements. You can opt to wall-mount the speakers or place them on a surface, including Marantz’s own American walnut tripod floor stand.
As for the audio specs, the Horizon speakers feature all of the top elements you’d expect from a company like Marantz. The smaller Horizon comes with a 6.5-inch subwoofer, two one-inch silk-dome tweeters, and three two-inch full range drive units. The Grand Horizon, meanwhile, expands that to an eight-inch subwoofer, three tweeters, and four three-inch midrange drive units. The Horizon has 310 watts of output, and the Grand Horizon has 370 watts.
Image courtesy of Marantz
Via the HEOS app, you can customise your listening experience, changing the clarity, spaciousness, and warmth of what you’re hearing. You can even dip into Sound Master mode, which lets you hear things exactly as Marantz’s sound master, Yoshinori Ogata, wants them to be heard. HEOS also allows you to stream music seamlessly from platforms like Spotify or Tidal and gives the Horizon speakers the ability to connect with other HEOS products for expanded music listening.
An intuitive user experience is just the cherry on top: Proximity sensors built into the speakers mean that they come to life as you approach them. And the AuraControl function uses 100 LEDs to bring ambient light to your listening sessions. Plus, it lets you control the volume by simply touching the illuminated ring around the central subwoofer.
Starting at US$3,500 (HK$27,195) for the Horizon and US$5,500 (HK$42,735) for the Grand Horizon, the speaker duo will go on sale 14 January. That gives audiophiles something to look forward to in the new year.
