Sad news coming out Ken Ishiwata the Brand Ambassador and designer for Marantz for over 40 years has passed away, November 25.

Bummer, RIP.

Sad news indeed R.I.P

RIP indeed. Strange that I've never hear of this guy, but did some reading and like this guy already.

https://www.whathifi.com/us/features...-marantz-sound

"Measurement or listening... which takes priority?

All measurements we do are static. Yes, they are essential to find out how amplifiers are working, but they don’t tell you about the sound quality. You have been in my listening room in Eindhoven. We’ve spent so many hours in that room listening and fine tuning all Marantz products. Sometimes that listening forces us to change our basic design, despite the fact that the measurements are okay."

Really sad news. I loved watching product videos and interviews with him, seemed like the heart and soul of Marantz. I think his DNA could be plainly seen in all of their 2-channel stuff. Would love a KI Ruby set.

RIP.

Yes, a fascinating fellow to listen to in his seminars and when being interviewed.

Like all designers who develop audio components he knew the limitations of measurements and the need for evaluations by ear. He was probably best known for his voicing of Marantz's products. Along with his engineering team, their components achieved the desired sonics, as described by Marantz, through "painstaking tuning and extensive listening sessions."

As K.I. stated in an interview earlier this year (cited above), "Unfortunately, specifications don’t tell you about sound quality. That’s not just for DACs, it’s for everything."

In a Stereophile interview (linked below) he was the only component designer, which I can recall, that explained to a publication his company's specific sonic signature:

"I fell in love with the way Marantz products communicated with music. It had such a passion, a character, a very specific soundstage; very warm mids, beautiful voices. I wanted to keep that Marantz identity. I paid a lot of attention to the details on every single product--which wasn't easy, to be honest--especially because we have different price categories. Maintaining on every class of price the same philosophy."

https://www.stereophile.com/content/...ssador-marantz


(Edit: Typo fix)

The Master has passed to the great gig in the sky. R.I.P.

I read between the lines of his Marantz departure that Sound United was pulling the Marantz strings too tight. It's too bad he couldn't remain at Marantz to the end, as he thought he would, but it's more important to stay true to self. R.I.P. Ken Ishiwata (1947 - 2019)

Related:

https://www.whathifi.com/us/news/mar...after-41-years

https://www.whathifi.com/us/news/ken...e-dies-aged-72

I had a Ki-Ruby amp in my home for about 3 weeks. While it did a lot of things *really* good, there were some that I was surprised that it did not do.

I wonder just how much he was really allowed to do toward the end. I really liked his philosophy toward sound...guys like that seem to be few and far between anymore.

Beautiful pic!