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I bought a '91-93 Denon DRA635r FM/AM stereo receiver from a resale shop yesterday. I've had 3 other newer Denon receivers '04,'06, '10 in the past and this is best sounding one of them all.
It has the attributes that I read Denon is all about. The sound is warm and pleasant yet there is a nice amount of detail and clarity. Though it is warm sounding the bass has good detail and its easy the follow the rhythm. What is particularly nice is there is a good swing to the music that is captivating. From memory it has a bit of the nice sonic signature of a mid '90s Pass Labs Aleph 30 Class-A amplifier I had at one time.
Peering down through the cover vents there is a round shielded transformer cover, either concealing a potted transformer or toroidal transformer. There are also 4 power supply caps vs. 2 in the other 3 Denon receivers I owned, with separate machined aluminum heat sinks for left and right channel. The fm/am tuner is an actual separate discrete circuit board vs. the little plug-in tuner packs of the newer receivers. This is important to me as I listen to a fair amount of FM, and the sound is very rewarding to my ears. Denon seems to have lost its way with their newer receivers and the sound seems to have gotten thin sounding. I'm quite impressed with this semi-vintage (early 90's) stereo receiver.
With all my praises, I'm not saying this is a state-of-art audiophile product, but it better than any '70's vintage or modern stereo 2 channel receiver I've owned.
Follow Ups:
I opened it to clean out the dust and snapped a few photos of the unit to show what I think is good build and design. I like the nice tuner board, separate preamp & amp board, separate channel heatsinks, shielded transformer, 4 filter caps, heavier guage sheetmetal w/ rubber dampening than modern gear.
Nice looking interior and layout. You noted the amp board but while there is a preamp output, there is no amp input. Rather unusual.
Don Brian Levy, J.D.
Toronto ON Canada
I like the fact that it only has preamp out instead of in/out jumpers, so I can try vertical biamping. That would be way cool.
Denon made/makes good stuff. I think they were always a little bit more 'high end' than the vast majority of mass market audio equipment. They were a bit more expensive too. I think most of the mass market manufacturers 'lost their way' in the transition from discrete components to large scale integrated circuits and digital everything. But you can still find some good units in the late 80's 90's and early 2000's among the Japanese brands. Of course there are some not so good models as well. I have found that along with some Denon models, you can find some Onkyo, Luxman, and Yamaha models from that era that have been good. One of the surprises I have found is that some of the Sony ES receivers I have come across sound much better than I expected. Much better build quality than the ordinary Sony models as well...--Matt
"When you think everything is someone else's fault, you will suffer a lot."
--Dalai Lama
Edits: 03/15/15
Denon maintained high quality through the 80's and early 90's. When I was selling Yamaha and Denon through the 80's, the quality on the lower priced Yamaha's seemed to decline every year, but the more expensive stuff stayed good. Luxman also took a dive in quality for a while, but bounced back to the point where they now are a strictly boutique item. After the early 90's, everything went home theater, and I lost interest. I have seen some later Denon home theater receivers that have maintained the quality.
Dave
I agree with your assessment of Denon. I thought the units 'New Optical Class-A' slogan was all marketing. My research indicates it is a sliding bias as volume changes to keep the amp in class A at lower watts (I'm no engineer so my explanation is a bit crude), which is a Nelson Pass patent that was implemented by Denon.
I own an Threshold CAS-1, which is a sliding bias cascade Class A amp. It sounds great and runs cool, but I don't think Nelson Pass was the fist to come up with it. The Brooks Amplifier (vacuum tube) was sliding bias amp that I am aware of, so it was not a new concept when he Nelson Pass invented it.
Dave
I have a late 80's Denon PMA520 integrated amp with the optical class A. It has a very clear, open, detailed sound sound. I also have an early 90's Sony ES receiver with a Legato optical class A, which also sounds very good. It is even more detailed than the Denon but slightly too bright and hard.
We carried Denon and Sony ES when I sold audio equipment. I liked them both. Both companies made very good receivers and separates. They also had some of the best CD players in their price ranges. It was very reliable stuff to. I have a couple 90's Sony ES CD players that work fine and still sound good to me.
Dave
Mjcmt, here are your DRA-635R's specs, per Institute of High Fidelity, according to Audio magazine's October 1991 34th Annual Equipment Directory: 80 Watts Per Channel Average Amplifier Output into both 4 and 8 ohm loads; 0.05 % Total Harmonic Distortion; 20 Hz to 20 Khz Rated Full Power Bandwidth; Moving Magnet Phono Input has 86 db Signal To Noise Ratio A Weighted into 5 mV; Moving Magnet Phono Input Overload is 120 mV. Dynamic Headroom specs were not listed for any Denon receiver. ... Digital F.M. tuner: 10.3 dbf Sensitivity in Mono Reception Mode; 15.3 dbf Signal Strength is required for 50 db Quieting in Mono Mode, 38.5 db in Stereo Mode; 1.3 db Capture Ratio; 0.08 % Total Harmonic Distortion @ 1 Khz with 100 % Modulation in Mono Mode, 0.15 % THD in Stereo Mode; 55 db Alternate Channel Selectivity; 82 db Maximum Signal To Noise Ratio in Mono Mode, 78 db in Stereo Mode; 40 db Channel Separation @ 1 Khz; 40 Total Digital Tuner Pre-sets. ... $500 retail, although a 6th Avenue Electronics City ad listed it for $376. ... 73s para Sactown
Thanks. The Denon specs the THD at an amazingly low .009%
When I sold Denon, the receivers always had great phono sections with MC inputs. The DRA-635R came out after I got out of the business. Did it have a MC input?
Dave
No, this receiver only has MM input. The more powerful ones did have the MC preamp.
Very interesting.
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