Denon SC-400 Firenze (1989)
The Denon SC-400 Firenze is a bookshelf speaker from Denon's Renaissance series. It came out in Japan in 1989 at ¥60,000 per pair. It's a 2-way, 2-speaker bass-reflex design with an anti-magnetic shield (EIAJ), so it can sit near a TV. A 16 cm cone woofer with a natural pulp cone and a neodymium magnet handles the low end. A 2.5 cm dome tweeter covers the highs, and the crossover is at 3 kHz. Frequency response is rated at 35 Hz to 45 kHz, maximum input is 150W (EIAJ), and impedance is 6Ω.
The Firenze stands out for its materials. The front baffle is natural cork, and the sound-absorbing material inside the cabinet is natural wool. Denon described the aim as "the deep taste of music with natural sound." The frame shape was designed to give clear sound localization across a wide 120° listening window, up/down and left/right. The Japanese catalog lists sensitivity at 90 dB/W/m.
Surviving documentation is thin. The archive has no owner reviews or detailed listening impressions. The market does show a following for the SC-400: replacement woofer surrounds, both urethane and rubber, are actively sold, so these speakers are still being repaired and used. A used pair was recently listed on Avito in Sochi at 36,000 ₽, and a present-condition pair appeared on Yahoo Auctions. The Japanese audio database Audio Database (accessed 2026) is the primary source for the specifications above.
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