Integrated Amplifiers

After 40 years with Marantz, Ken Ishiwata's impressive track record – going right back to the company's original Special Edition models – was most recently celebrated with the KI Ruby SACD player and amplifier [HFN Jan '19]. In addition, in a role formalised in his latter years with the company as Brand Ambassador, Ishiwata played a major part in opening up then-emerging hi-fi markets – at one point he was surprised to find himself starring in a two-hour interview special on Chinese national TV! So how did he end up working on what would eventually become these Tribute products for rival brand Rotel?

As Rotel's CTO Darren Orth explained, 'I was in the same audiophile circles with Ken over the years, as was the Tachikawa family in Japan – founders and owners of Rotel. There was mutual respect of the talent and market position and a long desire to work together but the opportunity never arose. [It] did finally arrive in the late summer of last year when our initial discussions began, with the project becoming a reality in September 2019. All of the Rotel engineering team were delighted at finally having the chance to work with Ken'.