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Ken Ishiwata at the Ivy telling of his audio career, May 6, 2009
Headhunted by the Marantz Europe division he characteristically set out his own onerous terms
and conditions. They could not agree. But not long after Marantz HQ in Japan agreed to take responsibility, on his terms, and called him back to base for retraining. As was the Japanese custom, this now contaminated outsider from Pioneer, who worse still had been years away in Europe, was treated with suspicion and hostility. But Ken kept his head down and set about learning the new set of complex US originated and more advanced Marantz audio technologies. After some months he was ready to return to Marantz Europe, based in Belgium, near the French border. Together with extensive warehousing there was also a sizeable Marantz speaker production line delivering upwards of 200,000 pieces a year to the market. His first task was to find out why the QA team in Belgium were rejecting so many Japan made products, to the consternation of the Marantz Japan HQ. He QAd the QA inspectors methods and found them at fault, and in fact nearly all products were actually meeting factory spec. Marantz gained confidence in Kens abilities and he gradually achieved more control over the conception and performance of product. The lead-into-gold story for the early 14 bit player was just the beginning, and with Marantz now operating as a division of
Philips he was ideally placed to connect with the advanced CD research at Philips labs and help create numerous exceptional CD players, and mostly at moderate retail cost. He has worked in all product areas, monitoring and refining sound quality, but has been most influential in the stereo arena with CD, pre and power amps, both valve and transistor designs, some carrying major input from their conception, others identified by Ken as susceptible to his KI touch, gaining refinement as a result of painstaking balancing of the optimum sound through careful control of the mix of electronic components. Regarding this 30th year celebratory event he stated firmly that this was not a retirement party but an expression of confidence in his past work and a foundation for the future projects he aims to undertake. For Marantz it was an opportunity to thank him for his enduring commitment and also to launch two special Ken Ishiwata originated audio components, a universal SACD player and powerful integrated amplifier. Ken explained that they express some of the beautiful sound qualities he first recognised as a teenager when hearing that Marantz 7C preamp in the early 1960s.
Ken Ishiwatas KI Pearl 30th Anniversary Audio Components in a limited edition of 500 units each.