Marantz Readies Horizon and Grand Horizon High-End Wireless Speakers

Marantz has introduced two all-new, high-end wireless streaming speakers, the Horizon ($3,500 each) and Grand Horizon ($5,500 each). These products continue the company’s legacy of combining “innovative technology and effortless musicality with beautiful, luxurious, and intuitive design,” according to Marantz. Both the Marantz Horizon and Grand Horizon are “radically advanced” in their technical design, while their aesthetic design is “the embodiment of modern luxury statement audio,” according to the company. The high prices and impressive bill of materials certainly land these new speakers in the luxury audio category, where they will compete against other high-tech, high-style wireless speakers such as the Devialet Phantom, Cabasse’s The Pearl, and the Bang & Olufsen Beosound 2. But Marantz claims that the Horizon and Grand Horizon are not all style and no substance. Under their rather lovely hoods, these speakers reportedly offer some serious engineering.

Marantz Horizon and Grand Horizon: Industrial Design

Despite the obviously contemporary nature of their design, Marantz says that both the Horizon and Grand Horizon offer “timeless elegance” via the integration of several elements of Marantz’s design ethos into their design DNA. For example, the company’s instantly recognizable circular porthole motif is reimagined as “the core element of each speaker’s unique circular form,” and Marantz’s characteristic architectural symmetry is on full display as well. Other design flourishes include carefully-arranged lighting, elevated trim designs, and thoughtfully-conceived materials throughout. The cloth wrap around both speakers is made from a custom, sustainable fabric called Marantz Radiance 360 Seamless Ecofiber, which is made from recycled ocean plastics. 

Marantz says that these three-color fabrics “have a glowing, luxurious feel thanks to embedded gold lurex elements, further enhancing the unique warmth of Marantz’s design and sound.” The available finishes include the “classically dark” Midnight Sky, the “subtly bright” Moon Ray, and the “iconically warm” Marantz Champagne, which would be my choice. Each finish is complemented by a matching base made of natural marble. Marantz also offers an American walnut tripod floor stand as an optional accessory for Horizon. Both models can be mounted to your wall via optional wall brackets.

Marantz Horizon and Grand Horizon: The Audio Goods

Like the aforementioned competitors (and others from brands like Naim and Meridian), the Horizon and Grand Horizon are single-speaker, all-in-one wireless solutions designed to fill even larger rooms with sound. That said, listeners can choose to use a pair of Horizons or Grand Horizons to create “the ultimate music-listening experience in very large spaces,” according to Marantz. Either way, the speakers are part of the HEOS ecosystem, so both the Horizon and Grand Horizon can join other HEOS-enabled products to create an extensive whole-home multi-room music system. Each model is designed around a single central subwoofer, with a unique configuration of high-frequency and midrange drive units radiating outward from that central bass driver. Marantz says that this design ensures a spacious listening experience. The speakers use what the company is calling “Marantz Rise amplification,” a proprietary solution built with highly-responsive and thermally-efficient GaN FET technology. The Horizon has a total of 310 watts of built-in amplification, while the larger Grand Horizon has 370 watts. The amps power an array of bespoke “Marantz Gravity” drivers, which employ neodymium magnets for “the ultimate combination of accuracy, responsiveness, and low distortion,” according to the company.

The Horizon features a 6.5-inch subwoofer, complemented by three 2-inch full-range drivers and two 1-inch silk tweeters. The larger Grand Horizon speaker uses an 8-inch subwoofer, four 3-inch midrange drivers, and three 1-inch tweeters. Both speakers can be optimized using a powerful on-board “Marantz Mirage” DSP, accessible via the HEOS app. Marantz says that the Mirage DSP can “tailor the clarity, spaciousness, and warmth of the sound” to suit your tastes, your music, and your listening space. The selectable Sound Master mode reportedly allows listeners to experience the sound of Horizon or Grand Horizon exactly as Marantz Sound Master Yoshinori Ogata intended.

For products like the Horizon and Grand Horizon, the user experience is just as important as good looks and good sound. Marantz says that these speakers have both been “designed to reward the senses” with a “magical and intuitive” user experience. This starts as soon as you approach either product; on-board proximity sensors bring the speakers to life before you lift a finger. The speakers also feature something called “Marantz AuraControl,” which combines 100 hidden LEDs with proximity and ambient light sensors to “create a seamless symphony of light and sound.” For example, you can control the speaker’s volume by touching the illuminated ring around the central subwoofer. AuraControl adjusts the volume to the point you have chosen, as indicated by markings that reference the classic Marantz Star logo.

As part of the HEOS ecosystem, the Horizon and Grand Horizon can access music content from a wide range of supported streaming providers, including Spotify, TIDAL, Amazon music, and more. Apple AirPlay2 and Bluetooth are also included for added convenience. The Horizon and Grand Horizon also have physical connections, including an analog aux input, an optical TOSLINK digital input, and an HDMI eARC port, which offers onboard Dolby decoding up to Dolby Atmos. A USB-C input allows the speakers to play music files from attached storage drives.

Marantz Horizon and Grand Horizon: What We Think

The Marantz Horizon and Marantz Grand Horizon will be available beginning on January 14th, 2025, from select retailers and from the Marantz website. We’ve only just learned about these new speakers. We haven’t seen or heard them in person, and we don’t even have detailed specs about frequency response, max SPLs, and other performance-relevant measurements. That said, it’s likely that buying a pair of Grand Horizons for $11K will not yield the highest bang for your buck if raw performance is your only goal. Serious audio companies often avoid the term “lifestyle product” like the plague, but I never understood why that’s the case. Being an audiophile is a lifestyle, and it makes sense that companies would want to design products that cater to the parts of our lives when we aren’t seated, eyes-closed, in some dimly-lit dedicated listening room, waiting with bated breath for the next song to begin.

We all have spaces like bedrooms, living rooms, and kitchens, where lifestyle products might make more sense than old-school audiophile gear. Not every audio product needs to be the technological equivalent of a Formula 1 car. An attractive and luxurious sports car can definitely get you where you want to go, even if it’s a bit slower around the Nürburgring. Sure, a Maserati may not be quite as fast as a race car, but it’s more beautiful, more comfortable, and more practical. You don’t spend your whole life on the race track, do you? If you aren’t following my mixed metaphors, I’m just saying that there’s no shame in including aesthetics and convenience among your audio priorities. While I’d love to have a state-of-the-art system comprising enormous tower speakers and stacks of heavy electronics, I can also appreciate what Marantz has created in the Horizon and Marantz Grand Horizon wireless speakers. The marble bases are unique, and look like pure class to me. I’m unsure about the overall look — I wonder if the speakers might be confused for a Dyson air purifier from across the room — but I expect they look better in person than in the press photos we were sent. Without knowing how they sound, it’s impossible to make comments about their performance and value. But I do think that these products will appeal to a wide variety of customers — both seasoned audiophiles and those simply interested in “luxury” products for the home. Devialet has had great success selling its Phantom speakers to wealthy customers who may never have owned a traditional HiFi system. Time will tell if Marantz can have similar success stories with their new Horizon and Grand Horizon wireless speakers.

Unless otherwise indicated, this is a preview article for the featured product. A formal review may or may not follow in the future.