Denon PMA-1500RII (2000)

Name: Denon PMA-1500RII
Brand: Denon

The PMA-1500RII is an integrated stereo amplifier Denon released in 2000 at ¥68,000. It follows the PMA-1500R. The "RII" revision was Denon's answer to improving the earlier design for next-generation digital sources. The company reworked the power amplifier circuit to push the upper limit of the frequency response in actual use to 100 kHz, and swapped in a low-impedance volume control to cut noise and sharpen resolution.

The power amp is a UHC-MOS high-current design in a single push-pull configuration. It is rated at 70W + 70W into 8 ohms (20 Hz - 20 kHz, 0.07% THD) and 140W + 140W into 4 ohms at 1 kHz. Denon borrowed the Schottky barrier diode rectifier from the PMA-2000 III. It also adopted a twin-transformer parallel connection with a leakage-canceling mounting method to reduce magnetic flux noise. The power amplifier block is isolated from the rest of the circuitry, and a radiator and stabilizer were added to the main heatsink to fight vibration. The chassis is a layered steel and resin sandwich designed to minimize resonance.

The phono stage is a discrete low-noise FET design, switchable between MM and MC (2.5mV/47kΩ and 0.2mV/100Ω respectively). RIAA deviation for MM is ±0.5 dB across the audible range. Line inputs are rated at 150mV/47kΩ. The speaker terminals are gold-plated brass with a 6mm clamp hole for large cable, and the two pairs of outputs can be bi-wired. There's also a pre-out terminal, a detachable power cord, and a system remote that also controls Denon CD players, MD decks, cassette decks, and tuners. Power consumption is 250W, or about 2W in standby. Denon fitted a dedicated transformer for the microcomputer circuit and included a microcomputer stop mode that halts all control operations during listening.

The record on this model is thin. A Russian-language article on hifi-audio.ru titled "An amplifier that sings" covers the PMA-1500AE primarily but mentions the RII, and a YouTube video pairs the two for impressions. One Russian seller's listing calls the PMA-1500R series "perhaps the best amplifier in the mid-price category" among Sony, Technics, Yamaha, and others. That's a seller's opinion, not a verified review. The service manual exists, and an 82-page user manual is also floating around. No detailed measurements or long-term reliability data have surfaced in the sources we have.

Known specs, in brief:

- **Rated output:** 70W + 70W (8Ω, 20 Hz - 20 kHz, 0.07% THD); 140W + 140W (4Ω, 1 kHz, 0.7% THD)

- **THD:** 0.01% (rated output −3dB, 1 kHz, 8Ω)

- **Frequency response:** 5 Hz - 100 kHz (+0/−3 dB)

- **S/N ratio:** 110 dB (line), 91 dB (MM), 76 dB (MC)

- **Speaker loads:** 4-16Ω (A or B); 8-16Ω (A+B); bi-wire 4-16Ω

- **Dimensions:** 434 × 134 × 407 mm (W×H×D)

- **Weight:** 14.6 kg