Denon was founded by Frederick Whitney Horne in 1910 as a part of Nippon Chikuonki Shokai (Japan Recorders Corporation). At the very beginning of its journey the brand was into producing of single-sided disc records and gramophones. The origin of the idea for the company's name came from Japan Denki Onkyo branch which was later shortened to Denon. From 1939 to 1951 the company worked on improving audio equipment, professional phonographs and recorders were their first devices. A little bit later the company began to expand creating cassettes and pickups. The famous brand did not confine itself to small products – in 1971-2000 Denon was producing Hi-Fi acoustics including tuners, amplifiers, CD players, speakers and turntables. Denon has specialized in high-end home theaters and audio equipment, including A / V receivers, tuners, headphones, etc. In 1977 Billboard magazine awarded the company for outstanding contribution to the music industry, and in 1990 it deservedly received 3 awards at the Hi-Fi show in Paris; and in 1994 it won the "European Audio Innovation of the Year" title.
The variety of devices they offer is really amazing but there was also Denon DJ branch established which worked on creating tools for DJing: CD / MP3 players, controllers, turntables, mixers, headphones, media players. The first CD players by the brand: DN-1000F, DN-1800 (F, FB, FW) - they had a basic set of functions: scroll, pitch, and 2 decks. The inventors were pretty inspired by the creation of CD devices so they decided to keep it going and released DN-2000 series (F, FLTD, FMK2). Little by little Denon DJ improved its devices by adding various functions (filter, loop, synchronization) and effects (delay, flanger, reverse). Today Denon DJ is recognized mostly because it produces DJ controllers - they have earned reputation for the brand among DJ equipment makers.
As digital DJing prospered Denon always managed to surprise the market and in 2011 the company released one of its best controllers called Denon DN-MC6000. It is a 4-channel digital DJ mixer with MIDI implementation and an internal sound card. It sports 2 backlit decks, control knobs for a 3-band equalizer (for both microphone outputs), and even a built-in delay. The main feature is that it is rack mounted, ensures a sturdy construction, intuitive control, the ability to change the pitch, channel faders, and a crossfader. It comes together with Native Instruments Traktor.
Denon MC-2000 is a digital 2-channel equipment that can interact with Traktor or Virtual DJ. Both sides have a pitch, transverse / linear faders, as well as a loop button with FX knobs. Under the upper FX controllers, the connectors and filters are hidden. You’ll find an unbalanced RCA input, a microphone input, and a linear RCA on the rear panel, and a 1/4 (6.3 mm) headphone jack – on the front one.
The peak of Denon controllers popularity hit this year straight away after the brand released DJ controller Denon MCX8000. It differs from the rest not only in looks which is dazzling but also in impressive possibilities range. First of all it comprises a fully metal case with 2 LCD displays, which is convenient because you don’t have to connect to the computer - it includes a standalone mode allowing you to play tracks from USB. For each section of the 4-channel mixer there are knobs with hardware / digital filters, as well as controls for low, medium, high frequencies. On both sides there are 8 touch-sensitive pads with performance modes, and Needle Drop touch strips.
Denon has existed for more than a century. The company earned reputation as a manufacturer giant which continues to support its high status on the music market. The manufacturer has gone a long way from ancient phonographs and cassettes to professional home theater / DJ controllers, which is why their instruments deserve special attention.