Denon HA-1000
Surviving information on the Denon HA-1000 is thin, but the period press gives a clear picture of what it was. It was a standalone pre-preamp, or head amp, for moving-coil cartridges. This kind of outboard box was common before phono stages routinely built in MC gain.
High Fidelity (April 1978, p.60) noted that many manufacturers were folding extra MC preamplification into their preamps. Denon instead offered the HA-1000 as a separate unit with switchable gain of 24 or 32 dB, plus a feedthrough that let moving-magnet pickups pass through untouched. The two gain settings presumably suited different cartridge outputs, though Denon's own documentation for this model hasn't surfaced in the archive.
The HA-1000 sold in the US at a period price of around $440, per an Audio classified ad (April 1979, p.99). That was a lot of money for a phono accessory at the time. It sat within Denon's broader moving-coil line. The company had been building and refining MC cartridges since 1950 and was a reference standard for Japanese broadcasters (HiFI-Stereo, September 1978, p.45).
That is nearly all the archive currently holds. No manual, no measured lab test, and no production dates have been found. If you own an HA-1000, the feedback link below is a good place to start filling in the record.
- Type: moving-coil pre-preamp (head amp)
- Gain: selectable 24 / 32 dB
- Moving-magnet feedthrough
- Period US price: ~$440 (1979)
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