30 years in the making and worth every second

It’s not often a truly spine-chilling new SACD player and integrated amplifier comes along, but that’s exactly what Marantz is offering with their new KI Pearls - specially made to celebrate Ken Ishiwata’s 30^th year anniversary with the company. The new KI Pearls are ultra-exclusive, since (amazingly) only the first 500 music lovers worldwide will be given the privilege of owning one. That’s right; Marantz is really turning up the heat on pride-of-ownership by limiting sales to just 500 units.

So what’s so special about these KI Pearls? Well, the first thing you notice are their unique ‘silk black’ finishing. The first of its kind for Marantz. But it’s the magic that Ken Ishiwata has created inside the box that really gets the pulse racing. He’s built-in and fine-tuned everything possible to reproduce music exactly as the original artist and recording engineers intended. Underneath the Pearl SACD player’s 5mm aluminium cover is a Xyron Disc Tray with Precision Super Audio CD Drive, the latest toroidal transformer, and the Marantz-exclusive HDAM SA2 circuitry. Together they work sublimely with all the other carefully selected components to deliver precision high-speed signal handling over the widest possible frequency range.

And the Pearl integrated amplifier is just as stunning – its 90 watts per channel into 8 ohm or 140 watt into 4 ohm means it can boss even the most demanding of loudspeakers. While its two-stage circuit construction guarantees a breath-taking signal to noise ratio.

Where to see?

Marantz will unveil its new "Wunderkind" at Munich’s High End show in May, where it will be performing with an originally recorded KI reference SACD. Ken has been deeply involved in the recording and mixing of the music together with exceptional artists at a special location. If you cannot get to Munich to see the Pearls and hear the music, you will soon be able to find out more on www.marantz.com/kipearl where you can also buy the KI reference SACD, but you’d better hurry because (yes you’ve guessed it) it’s also a limited edition.