Seventy years ago, a man in Queens, New York, decided that mainstream consumer audio gear just wasn’t good enough. His solution? Build his own. Thus was born the Audio Consolette—crafted on Saul Marantz’s kitchen table and destined to kickstart a legacy that would one day include moon missions, Champagne-colored faceplates, and the kind of cult devotion usually reserved for vintage sports cars or rare jazz LPs. Welcome to the world of Marantz, where “musicality” isn’t a buzzword, but a guiding principle that has kept the brand at the forefront of the audio industry.

Which brings us to now—and to the company’s new AV 20: a 13.4-channel AV processor that blends space-age tech with Saul’s original, analogue-rooted idealism. But before we get into the product itself, here is some backstory to help explain what makes the AV 20 so special.

Back to the Source: Where the Sound Began

To truly appreciate what the AV 20 represents, you have to rewind—not to the last product launch, but to the very beginning. Long before immersive formats and HDMI ports, before gold-plated faceplates and DAC chips, there was just a man, a soldering iron, and a deep dissatisfaction with mediocrity.

In 1953, Saul Marantz was fiddling with knobs before it was cool. Unsatisfied with the sound of postwar hi-fi gear, he built a preamp with equalization curves designed to tame the sonic vagaries of early LP pressings. By 1954, he’d launched the Model 1. Soon came the Model 7 and the Model 9, all preamps, the latter so stable and powerful that NASA asked to borrow one for space travel.

Saul’s ethos was simple: build components that disappear and let the music do the talking. It earned him the distinction of becoming the first Marantz designer to earn the title of Sound Master.

The Japanese Renaissance

By the 1960s, Saul was out, and Superscope was in. The brand shifted west, then east—partnering with Japan’s Standard Radio Corp (soon to become Marantz Japan), which introduced the kind of obsessive engineering discipline that turns electronics into heirlooms. This East-West fusion reached its apex in the 1970s with the iconic 22XX series receivers. Blue backlights. Brushed aluminum. Tuning dials that felt like surgical instruments. These weren’t just receivers; they were status symbols for people who thought music should be worshipped, not just heard.

Fast forward to the 1980s: Philips scoops up Marantz and helps birth the CD-63—one of the first CD players that made digital sound musical. But it was in the 1990s when the brand truly got its groove back with the arrival of Ken Ishiwata, Marantz’s new Sound Master. His “KI Signature” editions of the CD-63 were less about specs and more about soul. He didn’t just tune equipment—he coaxed emotion from silicon and circuits. And Marantz, under his golden ears, rediscovered its voice.

By the early 2000s, Marantz came up with the Reference Series, a callback to Saul’s original Model 7 and 9, only now with porthole displays and more sophisticated internals. The message was clear: heritage mattered, but so did HDMI.

Then came 2020, when Marantz redesigned everything, bringing modern shapes, retro flavors, and the kind of tactility that makes you want to touch the volume knob just for fun. Products like the Model 30 and SACD 30n walked the line between nostalgia and now, offering streaming capabilities while embracing design elements that echoed Marantz’s storied heritage.

The AV 20: Marantz’s Masterstroke in Home Theater Musicality

If the story of Marantz is a seven-decade opera—equal parts innovation, obsession, and superlative performance—the AV 20, the smaller, more streamlined sibling of the company’s flagship AV 10, is the culmination of everything Marantz did prior. This is not just another AV processor. It’s a declaration that home theater doesn’t have to be a compromise.

Let’s start with the essentials. The AV 20 is a 13.4-channel preamplifier and processor, the newest model in Marantz’s home theater lineup. It’s designed to pair with Marantz’s 12-channel AMP 20, which delivers 200 watts per channel—or 400 watts when bridged. Together, they form a setup that’s less “man cave” and more “acoustic cathedral.” But where many high-end processors are designed like Swiss army knives—over-featured, over-complicated, and emotionally sterile—the AV 20 is built with intention. Every component, every feature, is in service of sound that moves you.

Aesthetically, it’s unmistakably Marantz, with its softly glowing circular porthole display at the center of the faceplate—a nod to the iconic Model 10B tuner. The chassis is symmetrical, elegant, and minimalist, with subtle curves and copper accents that connote “luxury” over “AV nerd.” Even the remote is a thought-out thing of beauty: aluminum, backlit, and tactile in a way that reminds you this isn’t disposable tech. It’s gear you live with.

The AV 20 is impressively versatile, supporting all the major formats—Dolby Atmos, DTS:X Pro, Auro-3D, and IMAX Enhanced—and offering seven HDMI 8K inputs, Dirac Live room correction with optional Active Room Treatment, and Audyssey MultEQ XT32 for plug-and-play optimization. But what makes the AV 20 extraordinary is what it does with all this tech: it makes it feel—and sound—organic.

That’s because Marantz still believes in tuning by ear. Every AV 20 unit is fine-tuned by the Marantz Sound Master—a title that sounds ceremonial because it is. This isn’t someone in a lab coat running frequency sweeps. This is someone with a lifetime of listening, making microscopic adjustments until movie soundtracks bloom and concert recordings feel like front row seats. The Sound Master doesn’t optimize for measurements, but for goosebumps.

This commitment to emotional fidelity means that the AV 20 doesn’t just reproduce sound—it interprets it. Dialogue has body. Reverb tails shimmer naturally. Explosions hit hard but decay with grace. And perhaps most critically, musical content—often an afterthought in the AV world—sounds seamless and alive. Marantz achieves this with its proprietary HDAM-SA3 circuitry in the analogue audio stage, ensuring even the rearmost surround channel has the warmth and clarity of a dedicated two-channel amp.

In fact, it’s this devotion to “musical sound” that sets the AV 20 apart. Most AV processors are engineered for impact. The AV 20 was engineered for immersion, with the understanding that the best audio doesn’t just excite—it envelops. It doesn’t just want to hit you in the chest; it wants to touch your soul. The AV 20 was designed so you don’t need to choose between home cinema and musical truth—you can have both.

At around $6,000, the AV 20 is an investment not just in gear, but in a world of experiences.

Which, of course, is exactly the point. The AV 20 isn’t just a high-end component—it’s a reflection of everything Marantz has been building toward for decades. That’s why, to truly grasp what the AV 20 is about, it’s important to rewind to Saul’s kitchen, to the golden-age receivers, to the Sound Masters who tuned by feel, not formula. And from there, trace how this once-modest hi-fi upstart became one of the most revered names in audio.

Legacy, Loud and Clear

Seventy years on, Marantz continues to earn the respect of audiophiles, the reverence of vintage gear enthusiasts, and the interest of newcomers. Whether it’s a vintage 2270 receiver found at a garage sale or the bleeding-edge AV 20, the common thread is clear: a commitment to sound that moves and engages.

In the end, Saul Marantz didn’t set out to sell boxes—he set out to create equipment that sounded exceptional. With the AV 20, Marantz carries forward the legacy of its original Sound Master.