Toronto Audiofest 2024

All prices US$ The Marantz product that was under press embargo? A speaker! Actually, two speakers: the Marantz Horizon ($3500) and its larger sibling, Marantz Grand Horizon ($5500). The speakers are intended for single-speaker wireless playback.

From an audiophile perspective, the speakers’ design leans in a lifestyle direction, but I’ve seen and heard them, and they look and sound very good. They’re also flexible placement-wise. They include DSP technology and these being designed for wide-dispersion, the sweet spot isn’t some little nook in the center of your sofa; walk around the room and you might be, as I was, surprised by how the soundstage “follows” you and stays intact. You can even tailor the clarity, spaciousness, and warmth of the sound to the room or personal taste.

The Horizons are powered by Marantz’s proprietary Rise amplification, based around GaN FET class-D technology that produces 310W of output in the Horizon and 370W in the Grand Horizon. As for the drivers, the circle in the center of each Horizon is a subwoofer, surrounded by multiple drivers located across the speaker’s periphery. The Grand Horizon, as the larger speaker in the lineup, has more and larger drivers than the Horizon.

I was surprised by how much sound both Horizons project, especially the Grand Horizon. Raise the volume a bit, and the sound unfolds and opens way up, reaching out to the ceiling and walls. It easily filled the standard-sized hotel room where the speakers were demoed. They didn’t quite produce the stereo effect of a two-speaker system—instruments tended to be more centralized—but they sounded clean and imaged well. Vocals had good presence and were well-defined; instruments were focused and had physicality. Bass was also quite good, providing a solid foundation to the music. There was real hi-fi substance here.

And while the Horizons, as one-speaker sound systems, aren’t likely to be part of an audiophile’s main system, they offer a snazzy-looking, active, wireless, streaming solution you can put anywhere that’ll look and sound great. All in all, I was impressed.

The Marantz Horizon and Marantz Grand Horizon will be available starting January 14, 2025. For more information about them, click here.