The inside scoop on Denon's 100th Anniversary products

 

Our old friend Jeff Talmadge, Denon’s Director of Product Development and Systems Integration, was kind enough to stop by recently and tell us all about their stunning new 100th Anniversary line.

ListenUp: Why don't we just talk in general about the overall 100th anniversary project and what you're doing and then we'll go through the specific products.

Jeff Talmadge: The project actually started last December as a global initiative. Originally it was just going to be one product — a turntable. That was the original concept from Japan. I thought

we should have something from each category, to highlight both past and present. Once we finally figured all that out then we started nailing down the specific products — we need an AVR, we need a Blu-ray player, etc. Europe and Japan sell an integrated amplifier, which we don't sell anymore in the states, but I wanted to have it. I was in a fight about that, but I knew we could sell it, especially someone like ListenUp and some of the other similar dealers. This would be good to bring back.

Choosing the products was a long process. The only product we created completely from the ground-up was the turntable. Some look at it and say, well, it kind of looks like our old DP-500. At a dealer event in San Francisco I actually found a stack of old Japanese stereo hi-fi magazines going back to 1982, and on the back cover of every one is a Denon ad. Back in '84, '85 there was a model — which I don't think was ever sold here in the United States — called the DP-59M, which looks just like the A100. So, it actually did come from further back in time. I've seen some of the Blogs and people writing about it, that it's a glorified 500, but it's a lot more than that. It's got 1 ¾" MDF, it's got a high-gloss lacquer, and the technology for the drive comes from the great DP80, which was around in '81, '82.

We did due diligence and went back and took specs and technologies that we had in turntables from long ago and put it in a new package, so it really is a high-end table. It's got all the adjustments you'd expect on it. We're setting them up at every event to make sure they'recalibrated just right. The A100 cartridge is included with it, which is a big deal because, it's like the DL103 except hopped-up and made much better.

LU: How about the other components?

JT: With all the other components we were like, Okay, what can the engineers do to make a great product better, for the anniversary? The looks and everything came later, but it was about the internals, give the engineers some leeway to create something really cool. When we looked at technologies, particularly with the AVR and the Blu-ray, you know Denon link is every important to us, it's something we pioneered years ago and that's why we picked that particular Blu-ray. People look at me and go, Is it fast? Not really, but then again, the best things in life aren't always the fastest.

LU: We sold a DVD-A1 to a great client of ours who owns a CD store. It was a little slow, but he's willing to trade that for the performance.

JT: Yeah, it's a valid statement, I'm gonna be honest. But our new players are coming finally, and they're speed demons! That's just evolution for us because we have our own Blu-ray department, unlike buying from somewhere else and doing things like that. We originally thought about a newer player because of streaming, but it went back to, well, the AVR's gonna have Denon link, we're gonna hop it up with better power supplies, better power condenser circuits, we have 100-year anniversary capacitors that are all hand-picked, gold-plated inputs and outputs, better speaker terminals, triple-layer-clad metal on the bottom, iron footing on all the electronics for stabilization, and the gorgeous front panel which I think has taken most people's breath away when they see it.

LU: It looks pretty amazing… and performs that way, too, from what we've seen and heard so far.

JT: The stuff sounds phenomenal, it looks killer, and really has a lot of value-added, especially with the five-year warranty on every piece. I mean, a five-year cartridge warranty? That's unheard of.

LU: You're doing five years on the Blu-ray too?

JT: Everything. Everything has a five-year warranty. We've always had one year on anything with moving parts, two years on the receivers and our track record with our warranty is, most people never have to use them anyway, but to give them five years is really extraordinary.

LU: Tell us a little about the headphones.

JT: The headphones are obviously a focus point for us, and these headphones are probably some of the most comfortable I've ever had on my head. Light and comfortable, sound great, people will hear right away on the warmth that these cans have. If you can't afford our $1,000 headphones which ListenUp does well with, these ones come in and just knock your socks off.

LU: What about the AVR-A100 receiver? It's based on the AVR-4311CI; what makes it worth $500 more?

JT: For the $500, what we're giving in this anniversary edition, I think is a no-brainer, whether it's the warranty, or whatever…

LU: Well, let's go through that. You've got the five year warranty; you've got the nicer face-plate in the gloss black…

JT: … And better construction, better parts, better special tuning that's signed-off by the engineers. Obviously we have anniversary books in the package, the packaging is different, it's all color, something we don't usually do. Add up all those things and I think the $500 premium for a special edition is, like I said, it's a no-brainer. And I think people are realizing that. I was sort of shocked it was only $500…

LU: And obviously all the other products also have value-added attributes that make them worth the price.

JT: Yes, the key points to remember on all the electronics are the construction build quality and the improved the power supply section. The power supply, the power condenser circuits, they're all hand-picked and tested to go into the particular device. The iron-clad footing and the special connectors on the backside are definite upgrades. And the CD-SACD player actually uses the same D/A section as the DVD-A1, with AL32, 32-bit, and it even has a digital iPhone/ iPod port on the front of it, which means we take the signal, bump it up to 32-bit and then decode it. We also have digital inputs on the back so someone can use it for a DAC. And I know you have a lot of little DAC products that you sell, so all of a sudden this piece becomes more relevant.

The integrated amp does have a remote control, although there is no tuner or anything like that. But the sound quality at 80 watts by 2 — I will challenge anyone to find me a product at that price point that can do what it does with the quality of speakers that it can be connected to. I mean, when I look at a two-channel stack for $7,500 with that turntable, that cartridge, that integrated amp and that CD player, I'm sorry — there really isn't a whole lot of competition. There are a lot of great brands, you and and I know that, but this thing sounds unbelievable. When I did it for the press, they didn't want to hear the SACD player after I did played the turntable first — I totally ruined them. Then I played a great SACD and we used B&W speakers because that's what we use in Japan for testing all of the electronics. We did a 180-gram LP Donald Fagan demo, and it was the first time I had demoed a turntable in 25 years! And it blew people away, blew me away. And I can't wait to get one, hopefully I get one, I don't know, but hopefully I get one, to replace the 25-year-old turntable that I have.

LU: Well, with any luck…

JT: Yeah, I'm hoping… And the rest of the components, like I said, the headphones, they are based on the new HD-1100, although we took the technology from the 5000 and 7000 series models with mahogany gloss finish and the hand tuning. The drivers are all specific, they used 50mm drivers, but again, they're all tested specifically for these models versus the others, so there's a lot more care involved in the specifications and the through-put on all these products. The extra care involved in all the testing and spec-ing so they're premium, most of them generally, the headphones are a couple hundred dollars above premium, the cartridge a couple hundred dollars above premium, the electronics, mostly about $500 above premium, easily well worth it, easily well worth it for the performance.