Denon DP-S1

preliminary

Denon's runner up to Sony's CDP-R10.

More traditional than the latter but just as rare, the DP-S1 sported no less than five digial outputs (coaxial, TOS, AES/EBU, BNC and optical ST) and could even be Genlock synchronized through an ST input.

The chassis is made of a non-magnetic sand-cast alloy ; the disc stabilizer is turned from a solid slab of alloy and the four feet include copper, Teflon and... pure wool !
The "laser chamber" is air-tight and light-isolated and its lid is, naturally, fully motorized.

The CD mechanism itself is... rather oversized, with a 6mm spindle shaft resting on a ruby bearing - it was built by Victor and also shared by Yamaha's GT-CD1 and GT-CD2. The laser is secured by a triple floating suspension and is based on a linear skating system à la Sony.
A 32kB RAM chip serves as buffer to extract the PCM bits in good, even, order.

As Denon stopped producing its own devices long before the DP-S1, the optical pickup itself is a Sony KSS-151A. Rather suprisingly, it seems all spare parts are still available for maintenance but for the crucial one - the KSS.
Since the DP-S1 was produced in very limited quantities, it is however probable Denon in Japan kept a set of spare optical blocks for each sold DP-S1.

43,4 x 14,3 x 40cm ; 16,7kg ; 880,000¥.

The pre-production samples had the five top control buttons lined-up in front, all flat, rectangular and curved - very 1970s-ish.