Denon PMA-900v Integrated Amp questions

[djv8ga]

I have not seen another PMA-900V for sale/auction since I bought my US version several months ago. I'm curious why. Did they not sell well? Were they overrated and too expensive? I was thinking they might not have sold well because they didn't have all the flash (lights, etc.) of the others during the 80's. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[VinylHanger]

Got a pic. I love the Denon stuff, precisely because they are a bit understated in looks and way under rated in performance.

 

[djv8ga]

Pics

I hope these pictures work. I'm new to this.

 

[VinylHanger]

Well it's nice, but just not enough flash.

How does it sound. I have a PMA-920 that is my favorite unit by far. Just oodles of power and drives any speaker and multiples easily. I have it hooked to my Mission 770 Freedoms and it is incredible.

 

[djv8ga]

Runs great. It flat out smokes a kenwood (same era) I had that was rated the same as far as watts. I'm not experienced enough to rate all the sound aspects though. I wish I could get a good picture of the face. The black is tough.

 

[scootchu]

I've got a PMA-520 that was given to me and I am listening to it right now. I just put it in as part of the bedroom stereo, my wife is out right now, and hooked it up to a set of KLH 20 Plus speakers. I have to say it is plain simple and sounds great. I would gladly accept any of it's big brothers knowing that they could only be better.

I like the simple clean look.

 

[gearhound]

I went to buy a Yamaha receiver in November of 1981.
I ended up buying the $100 more Denon DRA-600 receiver (60wpc) instead.
The Denon was much warmer sounding (and less sterile) than the Yamaha IMO.
My 17 year-old daughter is still using it.....driving a pair of Mission 761i speakers.

Steve

 

[Nat]

I believe I had one -- fished it out of the dump on the way up to the NE AK fest two years ago. Blew the fuses when one of the brethren tried to check the offset but had the VOM on amps (all of us were pretty well refreshed at the time). After I got home, replaced the fuses, and it sounded great -- powerful and tactile. But then tried to hook up an iffy velodyne subwoofer, and haven't been able to get a sound out of it since. Sigh...

 

[braxus]

http://www.canuckaudiomart.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6321

If you read the post on Canuck Audio Mart from 2004, the owner Paul got some info from Denon Canada saying the unit was very popular and sold quite a bit in North America. Because there are not many for sale may be a testemant to people wanting to keep these units rather then sell them. I was lucky to come across the one I'm getting as quickly as I did.

If you guys are curious on the history of this series, they came out in 1986 and ended 1988. It was the last design from the old Denon team before the new team and new management took over. Those new people created the 920 and 1520 series.

I rather like the clean look of the 900V. Less gimmicky looking then the later units.

http://audiokarma.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=75223&d=1200689259

 

[dgwojo]

I have a 730 that was given to me, just needed a function lamp and a good cleaning, I love this little unit even if it's really made by Panasonic!!

 

[braxus]

I finally got my 900V here and out of the box. Wow what a solid piece of equipment! They don't make them like this anymore! The knobs have a good stiffness to them and click into place. Even the volume knob turns with some resistance, so the parts are not cheap. Some amps you can spin the volume knob as if it is a toy. Not this amp! Very refined engineering. Its a shame this amp was the last released from the good original design team before the new guys took over. I can't say the later models were as good. It seems a lot of 900Vs I see for sale are missing the side panels. Is it possible to get replacements these days?

http://audiokarma.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=77839&d=1202282358

http://audiokarma.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=77840&d=1202282492

http://audiokarma.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=77841&d=1202282582

 

[Nat]

The side panels were very attractive, but they were a very attractive vinyl, not real wood, and the vinyl peels prettey easily. Then its a lot less attractive. Probably easy enough to make replacements, though.

 

[Fred Sanford]

I have a PMA-920 that is my favorite unit by far. Just oodles of power and drives any speaker and multiples easily. I have it hooked to my Mission 770 Freedoms and it is incredible.

Here are some "cover girls" for ya- the installation I got most of my Denons out of- two 520s, two 720s, and a 920 plus CD players/tuners/cassette decks/receivers/Canton speakers/Mits TVs/etc. All good stuff, just used & abused for 10 years 'til I adopted them.

je

 

[djv8ga]

I finally got my 900V here and out of the box. Wow what a solid piece of equipment! They don't make them like this anymore! The knobs have a good stiffness to them and click into place. Even the volume knob turns with some resistance, so the parts are not cheap. Some amps you can spin the volume knob as if it is a toy. Not this amp! Very refined engineering. Its a shame this amp was the last released from the good original design team before the new guys took over. I can't say the later models were as good. It seems a lot of 900Vs I see for sale are missing the side panels. Is it possible to get replacements these days?

Cool, I'm glad to hear you got it. I just had my amateur radio guru fix my volume control. He said it looked as if nobody had ever been in there. The volume control stiffness is pretty cool. It surprised me the first time I turned it. I just bought a cabinet from Decible Designs (5 ft/6 shelves/glass doors etc.). I can't wait for it to get here on Tuesday so I can finally get all this Denon gear organized and also chill out the wife.
I hope you like that Hot Rod as much as I like mine.