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Marantz, a very old name in the audiophile business, is partnering with me to show you the Grand Horizon, their first premium compact speaker.

In fact it’s more than just a speaker, it’s a statement piece. The first thing that draws your attention is this light accent, surrounded by what Marantz calls AuraControl, a touch sensitive rim used to control volume and playback. There’s a proximity sensor inside so when someone approaches it, it lights up, as if inviting that person to interact with it.

And when you take a step back, you’ll notice the build quality is several notches above.

For examples, it’s the first time I’ve seen a speaker come with a solid marble base. This is genuine marble, it’s very solid so it’s a great dampener, and it also ensures that no two pieces are exactly alike.

Inside you’ve got eight drivers. 7 of those are either silk-dome tweeters or midrange drivers, and a high excursion low frequency driver called the Marantz Gravity driver.

Sound Quality

If you’re wondering about the sound quality, it’s tight. It has very good transient response. What I mean is it handles the sudden peaks and crescendos of orchestral music effortlessly, there’s no sluggishness, it’s super snappy, and there’s no audible distortion. It’s also very detailed, playing music that I’m super familiar with I can definitely hear all the tracks clearly.

Also, this speaker sounds a lot bigger than it looks. Playing “Money” by Pink Floyd, it phases objects about a foot left, right, and above it. Even the way it projects sound across the room at moderately low volume, you can still feel the music sitting about 12 feet away. It can definitely fill much larger spaces, but for that, I’ll need a bigger house, which I can’t afford at this moment.

👉 Have a listen to the sound quality samples

Connectivity

Of course, with a speaker of this caliber, it needs to have a wide range of connectivity options, both wired and wireless.

You can do Bluetooth, AirPlay 2, so you can group it with other AirPlay speakers, DLNA, and for wired connections it has HDMI eARC, so you can use it as a TV speaker, as well as RCA line in; and USB-C, so if you have a hard drive stuffed with music, plug it into the USB and you can use the HEOS app to play music from there.

The HEOS app also lets you access its settings and gives you a quick overview of the input sources, as well as letting you set the tuning that’s most appropriate to the speaker’s location in your room, your balcony, or even the patio. What's more, you can also customize its sound with the app's ‘MyMirage’ feature. Make it sound more clear? More warm or spacious? It's entirely up to you.

Marantz Horizon

So what we saw was the Grand Horizon. There’s also a smaller option called the Horizon. Same design, same specs, except that it’s got 6 drivers instead of 8, and a smaller Marantz Gravity driver.

Obviously the Horizon is more appropriate for smaller spaces, but it echoes the Grand Horizon in pretty much every way. This one’s in a different finish called Midnight Sky, which comes with a beautiful black marble base. Another interesting difference is, you now have the option of fitting it with a tripod stand. So this piece can be placed in more locations where you wouldn’t necessarily have a raised surface to put it on. Otherwise, Horizon has the same solid marble base as its bigger, Grander sibling. So that was the Marantz Grand Horizon and Horizon speakers, hope you enjoyed this showcase of something unique and special. Ciao.

Check latest price:

Marantz Grand Horizon - https://www.marantz.com/en/product/wireless-speakers/marantz-grand-horizon/GRANDHORIZON.html

Marantz Horizon -https://www.marantz.com/en/product/wireless-speakers/marantz-horizon/HORIZON.html