Ken Ishiwata has passed away.

The man was not just a celebrity and a legend as I discovered in 2018 when I went to a demo and talk by him. He was a friendly guy who was very articulate and fun communicator. He explained succinctly explained how we never get imaging and stereo with headphones due to the speed at which the two speaker channels reach our ears in a way that made a lightbulb flash over my head. He told us all a short history of CD as well. RIP Ken was a pleasure and a privilege to have met you.

Along with Harvey ’Gizmo’ Rosenberg Ken Ishiwata was my favourite audio guru. I’m not sure if either have any modern day counterparts.

There’s a great tribute from David Price, who knew him well, posted here on stereonet.

https://www.stereonet.co.uk/features/inside-track-in-memoriam-ken-ishiwata

I will give some CDs a spin in the KI-Pearl tonight in his honor.

This is sad news, indeed. I still have two products of his making, a Marantz PM15-S2b integrated and matching SA15-S2b SACD player that I'm in no hurry to sell, even though I don't currently use the integrated. 

Ken took what he learned from his Pearl series and added some of his magic to these two products (hence the "b" designation). 

I think he will be sorely missed by Marantz as well as audiophiles.

All the best,
Nonoise 

That is sad news indeed. Condolences to all his loved ones.

I still vividly remember seeing him at a show a few years ago. He wore a fantastic tunic top and looked more like an exotic magician than an audio salesman. His low voiced enthusiasm was infectious. Even if I couldn’t always agree with everything he said I still found his views compelling. He just made you want to agree with him.

I’m still intrigued by an article he wrote where he mentioned that oil was the best way of doping loudspeaker cones, but not practical. I guess I’ll never know the specifics now.

Some of the KI products were said to major in the reproduction of timbre, and that’s the reason I still use the CD6000KI to this day.

A great Audiophile and designer. R.I.P.

Thanks for the tribute.