Marantz began in 1953 in Kew Gardens, Queens, New York, when Saul Marantz — a self-taught electronics tinkerer, amateur classical guitarist, and close friend of guitar legend Andrés Segovia — built a hi-fi preamplifier in his home simply because he couldn't find one on the market that met his own exacting standards. That "Audio Consolette" evolved into the Marantz Model 1, the first preamplifier to offer the now-standard RIAA phono equalisation curve, and Marantz's reputation as a serious high-fidelity name was born almost overnight.

From there, Marantz built a genuine legacy of landmark products, expanding manufacturing to Japan from the mid-1960s and developing amplifiers, receivers, and CD players renowned for the distinctive "Marantz sound" — a warmth and musicality that's remained the brand's signature ever since. That reliability even reached beyond hi-fi: NASA chose the Marantz Model 9 power amplifier for the Apollo Space Program, trusting its stability for use in the journey to the moon.