Marantz Shirakawa Audio Works is the factory where every high-end Marantz component has been built since 2002, and the Japanese brand has published a rare, detailed look inside the facility that sits roughly 185 kilometres northeast of Tokyo, in the foothills of the Nasu Mountains.
A Team of 200 in the Foothills of the Nasu Mountains
Marantz Shirakawa Audio Works is based in the historic city of Shirakawa, better known locally for Japan’s oldest public park and more than 100 ramen shops than for hi-fi manufacturing. Inside the facility, a team of around 200 people – ranging from local artisans to lifelong audiophiles – work toward a single shared goal: building the most musical sound possible. Marantz describes the culture there as a blend of tradition and technology, where one engineer might be refining a next-generation amplifier circuit while another hand-anodises the signature champagne faceplate that has defined Marantz AVRs for decades. Apprentices reportedly train for years under master engineers before they are trusted to carry the work forward themselves.
Obsessed With Perfection
Every Marantz product built at Shirakawa goes through what the brand calls painstaking craftsmanship paired with rigorous testing. Quality control there reportedly borders on obsession, covering extreme temperature testing, vibration resistance and even drop-tested packaging, all aimed at making sure high-end components are engineered not just for performance but to endure years of real-world use.
Rebuilt After the 2011 Earthquake
That resilience was tested directly in 2011, when the Tohoku earthquake – the most powerful in Japan’s recorded history – left the Shirakawa facility damaged. According to Marantz, the team returned to work just four months later, wearing hard hats and resuming production while repairs continued around them. Cracks from that event reportedly still run through parts of the building today, left as a physical reminder of the determination that kept production going.
A Living Archive of Nearly Every Marantz Product Ever Made
Marantz Shirakawa Audio Works also houses a carefully preserved Marantz collection, featuring one or more units of nearly every product the brand has ever released. Sunlight filters through the building’s open architecture onto rows of vintage receivers, amplifiers and turntables, offering a rare timeline of six decades of Marantz design in one room.
What Gets Built at Shirakawa
The current Marantz range built at Shirakawa spans reference and premium electronics, including the AMP 10 and AV 10 processors, the CINEMA 30 and CINEMA 40 AV amplifiers, the MODEL 10, MODEL 30, MODEL 40n, MODEL M1 and MODEL M4 amplifiers, the PM-10 integrated amplifier, the SA-10 SACD/CD player with DAC, the SACD 10 and SACD 30n disc players, and the LINK 10n streaming preamplifier. Several of these, including the EISA award-winning Marantz Model 10, have gone on to pick up major industry awards, a track record Marantz directly credits to Shirakawa Audio Works and the people who work there.
Products built at Shirakawa Audio Works
- AMP 10 – reference 16-channel amplifier with Dolby Atmos, 200W
- AV 10 – reference 15.4-channel home theater pre-amplifier/processor
- AV8805A – premium 13.2-channel pre-amplifier/processor
- CINEMA 30 / CINEMA 40 – reference AV amplifiers with Dolby Atmos, 8K
- LINK 10n – reference streaming preamplifier
- MODEL 10 – reference integrated amplifier, 250W
- MODEL 30 – premium integrated stereo amplifier, 100W
- MODEL 40n – premium integrated stereo amplifier with HDMI ARC and HEOS
- MODEL M1 / MODEL M4 – wireless streaming and distribution amplifiers
- PM-10 – reference integrated stereo amplifier, 200W
- SA-10 / SACD 10 / SACD 30n – reference and premium SACD/CD players
Why Shirakawa Matters to Marantz
For a brand built almost entirely around the idea of musicality over spec-sheet bragging rights, having a single, identifiable home for manufacturing matters. Marantz Shirakawa Audio Works gives the brand a direct, traceable line between the engineers who design a circuit and the hands that assemble and test the finished product, rather than outsourcing that link to a rotating cast of contract manufacturers. It is also, increasingly, part of how Marantz tells its own story to enthusiasts: not just what a product measures, but where and by whom it was actually built.
Full details on Marantz Shirakawa Audio Works are available on Marantz’s own World of Marantz pages.
