Marantz

The story of Massimo Corporation's brief tumultuous ownership of Sound United stands as one of the most unexpected corporate chapters in modern consumer electronics.

Sound United was originally formed in 2012 as a holding division within DEI Holdings To consolidate major audio names like Polk Audio and Definitive Technology, under Chief Executive Officer Kevin Duffy, the group expanded aggressively, bringing heavyweights Denon and Marantz into the fold and later adding iconic British loudspeaker manufacturer Bowers and Wilkins.

By the early 2020s, Sound United had established itself as a formidable conglomerate controlling a vast footprint in home cinema receivers, premium hi-fi and architectural audio.

However, the enterprise took a radical turn in February 2022 when Massimo Corporation, a billion-dollar California-based medical technology giant best known for pioneering clinical pulse oximetry, announced a definitive agreement to acquire Sound United for just over US$1 billion.

By early 2024, under mounting pressure from the board and activist shareholders, Massimo formally announced plans to split off its consumer business, initiating a strategic review to evaluate options for a sale or spin-off of the Sound United assets, The corporate drama culminated in late 2024 when Quentin Coffee and Politan won keyboard seats, leading to the departure of Joe Chiani.

Resolving the consumer audio situation became the new leadership's immediate priority in May 2025.

Massimo entered into a definitive agreement to sell its entire consumer audio business, including Bowers & Wilkins, Denon, Marantz, Polk Audio, and Definitive Technology to Harman International, a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics, for $350 million.

around a third of what they had paid just three years before.

And I remember s- when we recorded, we were...

The first thing we recorded with Ryan, Ryan had like a, a four-track Marantz.

Yeah

And we hooked up all the microphones and ran it through a mixing board from the drums.

This was something that was in everyone's house growing up.

From Marantz.

You had Teak, Kenwood.

Marantz was top, top end.

and you found one

yeah you

super, super warm.

So you'll be like, you'd have like your little Marantz or Lowrance, you know, telling you the depth of the ocean floor and they would tell you the temperature of the water.

Then you'd hit this channel that, you know, depending on where you were in it, it would like take your boat if you weren't like really motoring.

The temperature of the water was about 10 degrees warmer than everything that surrounded it.

[laughs] It was the '90s.

Uh, the reason I can tell, because the, the old Marantz CD recorders operated exactly like a cassette recorder, where you hit record, and then it was recording in real time, and then you had to put the source on.

And if you forgot to hit pause or you forgot to hit it correctly, you wound up with overrun, which there was nothing you could do about.

So there's-

All right.

So Marantz, uh, has launched its new Cinema Series 2 home theater receivers.

We get a lot of questions in email and elsewhere around what should my next receiver be, what, what should I go look at.

Marantz makes great products, and they have announced the Cinema 50, 60, and 70 models built around a fresh- 32-bit eight-channel DAC with optional Dirac Live room correction now available on more units for tighter bass and wider sweet spot, plus upcoming low latency Bluetooth audio, an upgraded HEOS streaming platform, easier web-based controls, and real-time channel monitoring, all priced from 1,500, which is a great entry-level price, up to pretty, pretty steep at $3,000.

But they are available right now.

So if you're in the market now, check out the new Marantz models.

Next, sorry, Dolby Vision 2, the next generation HDR format, is now rolling out via firmware update to select 2026 Hisense TVs, including the UX, UR9, UR8, and the U7, a- and the U7 Pro models.

Starting in early August from North America, Europe, and Asia, the upgrade not only enables new features like content intelligence and better motion handling, but also makes existing Dolby Vision content look more vibrant and authentic, with support already confirmed for streamers like Peacock and IQIYI.

They only sold realistic.

Like Marantz.

It's American and Japanese.

Oh, Marantz I know.

was

a really

about.