At the end of November, I spent a couple days in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, getting a first look at Marantz's New Reference series audio components. During my brief visit to D+M's European HQ, I was fortunate enough to spend 40 minutes of one-on-one chat time with Ken Ishiwata, Marantz's famed...
The PM5004 was my first quality amp and since then been a big fan of the brand. Am sure KI sound signature would have trickled down to the even their most basic amps. He would have been a blessed soul to have worked where his passion was.
Hope the hifi world finds more such talented guys to work their magic and make hifi more accessible to all.