Denon HA 1000

[Ali Tait]

As I'm currently using an HA 500 and liking how it sounds, when I saw a 1000 for sale on Ebay at a good price I though I'd have a punt, hoping for more of a good thing. Once it arrived, I decided to give it a good going over before use. Good job I did, as I discovered that several of the electrolytic caps inside had been leaking.

I considered returning it, but as it was in good cosmetic condition and seemed to be in nice shape otherwise, I decided to replace all the 'lytics and hope for the best. I didn't dare try it first as it may have self destructed - the seller had told me it had been stored away for a number of years.

This is a well built bit of kit, and has shielding internally to keep interference to a minimum. It was an expensive unit when new--





Caps duly arrived, so work was commenced-



Leakage can be seen here-



And here a bit more clearly-



All the 'lytics now replaced-



So how does it sound?

Promising on a quick listen, I'll get more of a chance at the weekend, and the caps will need to settle in too.

[walpurgis]

Looks good.

[Ali Tait]

Cheers Geoff, I'm hoping it turns out to be a worthwhile exercise.

[kcc123]

Congratulations for your new toy! What caps are you using?

[Ali Tait]

I used Elna Silmics for the majority, as Hi Fi Collective had all the correct values, and they are good caps at non foo prices. Also Nichicon Fine Gold, as the Silimcs were too large in that value.

[kcc123]

Elna Silmic caps, no doubt, are a good choice and I used them very often in the past. I slightly prefer Blackgate bi-polar caps, however, they are not available any more; fortunately, I still have quite a few of them in stock.

[Ali Tait]

I seem to remember reading production was going to start again a while back, not sure if anything came of it.

[Barry]

Does it have an external power supply? What are the square cans near the rear of the unit?

Certainly looks well made and is in excellent cosmetic condition. Well done.

[Firebottle]

Good find Ali, seems to be a lot of components inside for 'just' a head amp.

[Barry]

Good find Ali, seems to be a lot of components inside for 'just' a head amp.

Agree - especially the two relays (muting of switch-on 'thumps'?) If there is an off-board power supply, maybe it supplies a low voltage AC to the unit which has a sophisticated and beefy power circuitry.

Perhaps it is a phono stage with RIAA equalisation, but then again, the MM/MC switch could just be to simply bypass the amp.