cscottrun4it
Active Member
Since there seems to be a couple new Denon threads here on the SS thread, I thought I'd touted my find from a couple of weeks ago: the Denon PMA-2000r.
At a garage sale, which I stopped at to look at some flower pots the sellers had on easy view to those driving by, I found this dusty old thing near the back of the garage itself. Amongst the junk, the Denon was a misfit toy sitting next to a late 80s black, plastic Panasonic receiver weighing in at ~15 pounds and a Sony TT from the same vintage, the pair of which the seller hoped to get $50. (He said to me, TTs are all the rage now. Awe shucks, I thought.) The Denon had a sticker asking for $40. Frankly, I would have walked right by it if the piece were not slightly asquew on the table, exposing it's gold connects.
Like any other raven, shiny things grab my attention. I lifted the Denon to turn it around so I could really ogle it's rear face and thought, Damn, this thing's heavy. I guessed 35 pounds heavy. (It turns out to be about 45 pounds.) All I needed to see on that rear panel was the toggle selecting compatibility for a MM or MC cartridge on the phono stage. My $40 was had without a haggle.
I came home and cleaned the old girl up and then, silly and rick-taking me, plugged my new toy right into my main stack. Fortunately, nothing blew up when I turned it on, of coarse, with the volume turned all the way down. (Like that'd make a difference if things really went to hell.) I was astonished! This 40-pound Denon sounded great, minus the remaining scratchiness on the volume piezometer. (I've since cleaned that up.)
I hit the bipass button, skipping the tone and balance controls. My B&W 220s sang like never before! My TT with its Pinkerton IV-15 625 MM cart sounded more detailed than ever, and my cassette and R-to-R sounded great, as well.
I was incredulous. Forty dollars?! I think I robbed a bank!
After the last 15 days of listening, I have nothing but good things to say about this integrated unit. The Denon 2000r has two power supplies, one for each channel, capable of a reported 80 watts per channel. (Personally, i have not measured its output yet.) Its electronics are still a bit of a mystery to me - what doeS Ultra High MOS even mean? (Would someone save me the brain power associated with researching this dark, secret technology?) According to hifiengine, "The chassis is divided to enable efficient placement of circuits so that left and right signal paths do not interfere with each other and negatively affect sound quality between the two channels." That's a good thing, I assume.
I've done a little poking around about sales of the PMA 2000r. Ebay lists one for $575, and one sold in May 2016 for $227.50. (The auction started at $200.) Since HifiShark has models SE, RE, and R for sale, I'm guessing the 2000r is the bottom of the line. That said, it looks like the original asking price for the 2000r was ~$1,000 back in the late 1990s/early 2000s.
Can anyone offer more about the Denon PMA 2000r?
At a garage sale, which I stopped at to look at some flower pots the sellers had on easy view to those driving by, I found this dusty old thing near the back of the garage itself. Amongst the junk, the Denon was a misfit toy sitting next to a late 80s black, plastic Panasonic receiver weighing in at ~15 pounds and a Sony TT from the same vintage, the pair of which the seller hoped to get $50. (He said to me, TTs are all the rage now. Awe shucks, I thought.) The Denon had a sticker asking for $40. Frankly, I would have walked right by it if the piece were not slightly asquew on the table, exposing it's gold connects.
Like any other raven, shiny things grab my attention. I lifted the Denon to turn it around so I could really ogle it's rear face and thought, Damn, this thing's heavy. I guessed 35 pounds heavy. (It turns out to be about 45 pounds.) All I needed to see on that rear panel was the toggle selecting compatibility for a MM or MC cartridge on the phono stage. My $40 was had without a haggle.
I came home and cleaned the old girl up and then, silly and rick-taking me, plugged my new toy right into my main stack. Fortunately, nothing blew up when I turned it on, of coarse, with the volume turned all the way down. (Like that'd make a difference if things really went to hell.) I was astonished! This 40-pound Denon sounded great, minus the remaining scratchiness on the volume piezometer. (I've since cleaned that up.)
I hit the bipass button, skipping the tone and balance controls. My B&W 220s sang like never before! My TT with its Pinkerton IV-15 625 MM cart sounded more detailed than ever, and my cassette and R-to-R sounded great, as well.
I was incredulous. Forty dollars?! I think I robbed a bank!
After the last 15 days of listening, I have nothing but good things to say about this integrated unit. The Denon 2000r has two power supplies, one for each channel, capable of a reported 80 watts per channel. (Personally, i have not measured its output yet.) Its electronics are still a bit of a mystery to me - what doeS Ultra High MOS even mean? (Would someone save me the brain power associated with researching this dark, secret technology?) According to hifiengine, "The chassis is divided to enable efficient placement of circuits so that left and right signal paths do not interfere with each other and negatively affect sound quality between the two channels." That's a good thing, I assume.
I've done a little poking around about sales of the PMA 2000r. Ebay lists one for $575, and one sold in May 2016 for $227.50. (The auction started at $200.) Since HifiShark has models SE, RE, and R for sale, I'm guessing the 2000r is the bottom of the line. That said, it looks like the original asking price for the 2000r was ~$1,000 back in the late 1990s/early 2000s.
Can anyone offer more about the Denon PMA 2000r?
Last edited:
