Denon Pra-6000 preamp

V

Volger

New Member
I have been searching the net for info and reviews of this preamp, have anyone here listened to one and can leave an opinion on how it performs.

Or mayby someone is better at searching the net, i have not found one note about how people describe the sound/performance :(

i expect one to arrive at my place in some weeks and im very curious :)

//Volger
 
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The PRA-6000 is a very rare and very expensive unit from the early 80s. I've never heard one, but you should be in for a real treat.
 
I have been using Kenwood L07cII for most of the time, i have owned 6 or 7 of those and i can say that how they perform varies alot.

As far as i understand there is differences in performance depending on in what part of the world the unit was sold, the one i kept was sold in scandinavia, the others where European models and noone of them had the last touch in sound.

the list of what i have tried is long and most brands made some series of very good models in the end of the -70's and in the beginning of -80's.

i have lusted for a Denon Pra-6000 for many years and thought of it as a dream.

Now im waiting for one to arrive in the next weeks to come and i really hope it will deliver :)

//Volger

ps, it will be hard to beat the Kenwood but i hope it does :)
 
Denon made some nice preamps, the PRA-6000 being perhaps the second best after the PRA-S1. it's also one of the sweetest looking vintage preamps i can think of. not having heard any Kenwood preamps to date, my gut says the PRA-6000 wins in a landslide,
 
it wins with a landslide if its about the looks, i really like the looks of the Pra-6000, hopefully its as good as it looks.
 
Poa-8000

Some info about Denons Poa-8000 amps would be nice to since they where a part of the set, has anyone listened to the combo?
 
i have read about it on the vintage knob, but i dont find any comments on how either the preamp or the mono amps sound or perform. :(
 
Volger said:
Some info about Denons Poa-8000 amps would be nice to since they where a part of the set, has anyone listened to the combo?
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There is a set on eBay right now. Why not pick them up and report back? I for one would love to read your report :thmbsp:

Make sure you are seated when you see the price on the POA-8000 though :D
 
hi there
first message here.

i am using a denon pra6000 for one year and a half. this is a beautiful preamp indeed. the side are not as golden as it appears on the promotional picture or in TVK. it is more champagne than really golden. beautiful anyway.
my unit is 100V and works fine with a japanese step up

about the sound. this is a class A preamp and it runs hot. thus the sound is changing when cold and when warmed up. i can't say that the sound is hot but it has typical sound characteristics of classA. in fact this preamp is quite neutral, slightly going on the warm side after 2 hours of use. very low distorsion, lots of details but it softens the edges a bit. very liquid and good imaging. bass is a bit round but deep and amazingly light (in a sense that it makes the bass involving not repetitive)
highs are very clean, it is striking when coming from another preamplifier, macro and microdynamics are very good but benefits a lot from changing the big power caps (on my unit i used some BHC SLIT FOIL caps and this is huge change over the previous old caps especially in dynamics and bass)
this is a very sweet sounding preamp in the sense that there is no harshness at all and very very low distorsion.

for the cons: it has a sound of itself while neutral in the overall tonal balance it is very depending of the associated equipement also. it has this constantly liquid, sweet, never hard sound of classA and while very ear friendly does not have the sense of service and transparency that has my modified kenwood 700C.
the denon is more subtle , more detailed may be but i am using more the kenwood for everyday listening.

about the phono section: it is very good and quiet and has a lot of gain. can't really says more about it because no other preamp to compare it with. same sound signature but very nice with old vinyls. i use it with sony MC 44XL and a denon DL 110.

on the technical side: the boards are very crowdy and the caps run hot inside, i had to changed some.
the signal phase is the opposite of the phase on the kenwood.(wich one is inverting wich one is non inverting??) this is obvious and it affects a lot the sound. so when inserting the denon pra 6000 in your system be sure to check the signal absolute phase on your speakers cables.
 
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it will surely be fun to see how it performs, ill test it with my Sansui Au-X1 first i think, should be a good match since the Sansui is very fast and plays tight.

:)
 
Volger said:
Now i accidently bought an Sony Ta-e86b preamp, since i have noone of them at home yet what do you fokes think, what preamp will sound better ?

the Denon Pra-6000 or the Sony Ta-e86b ?

http://www.thevintageknob.org/denon-PRA-6000.html

http://www.thevintageknob.org/SONY/sonyesprit/TAE86/TAE86.html
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I have a TA-e86b and don't find it's sound to be up to the level of the matching Class-A amplifier, the TA-n86b. Don't get me wrong, it is a very good preamp but the amp is something else entirely if you have somewhat efficient speakers. The TA-e86b can get a bit bright and 2 dimensional sounding depending on the amp you're using. The phono preamp and onboard head-amp are excellent, though, so if you run vinyl that should be worth it right there. It could also be a case of condition...while mine was checked out by a tech, it hasn't been completely recapped and a recapped unit might not exhibit the traits I'm speaking of. Again..it's very good, but not truly excellent.
 
i will compare them both to my Kenwood L07CII, its one of the best preamps i have heard, but its very hard to find one that is ok.

i have owned 6 of them and only two was really ok soundwise, they seem to differ alot.

i have read wonderful things about Sony Ta-e86b on the net, the Pra-6000 i have not read much about except whats posted in this thread :)

so it will be exciting to see how they perform, i think they all will perform good but im after excelent :)

for me my integrated Sansui Au-X1 is really excellent, so this buying preamps is more of a hobby an interest, the search for the holy grail
 
Volger said:
i will compare them both to my Kenwood L07CII, its one of the best preamps i have heard, but its very hard to find one that is ok.

i have owned 6 of them and only two was really ok soundwise, they seem to differ alot.

i have read wonderful things about Sony Ta-e86b on the net, the Pra-6000 i have not read much about except whats posted in this thread :)

so it will be exciting to see how they perform, i think they all will perform good but im after excelent :)

for me my integrated Sansui Au-X1 is really excellent, so this buying preamps is more of a hobby an interest, the search for the holy grail
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If the AU-x1 sounds anything like the Au-x901 (of which I have some familiarity), I would say that the modern Marantz Reference preamps, like the SC-11s1 that I am using, very much fall into that same sonic camp. Extremely detailed yet really smooth. Just a thought in case you eve want to jump from vintage. I much prefer my Marantz to the Sony TA-e86b, but if you find the TA-n86 matching amp, it truly is outstanding while running in Class-A. When I auditioned mine if fairly easily dressed down a McCormack DNA-0.5 that I was comparing it to. And I liked the McCormack quite a bit.
 
did you get your pra6000 yet?

one thing that i forgot to say is that the denon pra6000 is very senstive to the main electrical phase. on one side you get a clear sound and loss in bass and dynamics on he other side you get a denser sound with proper weight in the bass and very nice dynamics.

about comparing the denon to the sony ta-e86 i believe that they don't fight in the same category.
 
PRA-6000 is rare as a hen teeth. It's very hard to find but if you have one and it's broken, it's even harder to fix. Denon techs from authorized repair center know jack about them to be honest.

So, please be careful with your PRA-6000 and may it live long.
 
Villajmarc :

i have not got my pra-6000 yet, its still in germany.

I had it sent to Audioscope to get it serviced, i rather have someone who know what they are doing take a look at it, hopefully i will get a well working preamp that will work happily for years to come.

about the electrical phase most units change alot depending on the phase, i have been thinking about buiyng a phase tester so i can mark my cables so i know what phase is right. :)

im pretty excited to try the preamp, and now i found an amp to try it with, an Sansui Ba-F1 :)'

//Volger
 
I have had my Sony Ta-e86b for a week now and have been listening to it quite alot. it plays very tight and dynamic, i must say its better than i thought it would be.

Today the Denon Pra-6000 arrived and im letting it get warm right now as i write, its very exciting to see how the sound will change and how it will compare with my other preamps, its absolutely stunning and very well built.

ill cross my fingers hoping it will deliver,


:)
 
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