Marantz RV-55
Surviving documentation on the Marantz RV-55 is thin. What can be established: it was a digital sound-field controller introduced by Marantz around the mid-1980s. At that point the company was branching out from conventional amplifiers and receivers into the new home theater and signal-processing category.
HiFI-Stereo (January 1986, p.71) listed the RV-55 among the year's more interesting processor introductions. It noted that the four listening modes were defined by different sampling rates and bandwidth limits. Mode I ran at 48 kHz and allowed full 20 Hz - 20 kHz response. Modes II through IV ran at 32 kHz with a reduced 2 - 15 kHz ceiling. The same review pointed out a practical consequence of those sampling choices. The Compact Disc system samples at 44.1 kHz, so direct digital-to-digital recording from CDs into the RV-55 would not be possible. Copies would have to pass through analog conversion along the way.
Beyond that period press mention, little else is documented. No service manual, original pricing, or detailed specification sheet has surfaced in the Archive's holdings. If you own an RV-55 or have seen one in the wild, the record would benefit from your firsthand account.
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