Marantz CD63 Basic upgrade overview / guide

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Fidelity Audio

Fidelity Audio

Member
Joined 2005
fidelityaudio.co.uk
I have added this simple guide for upgrading the Marantz CD63. Hope it helps.

It can also be viewed HERE


Servo psu

The biggest issue with the CD63 family of cd players is the poor servo driver ic power supply. This supply sags during playback and drastically effects the performance of the player, especiallly the bass regions and timing.

Basic ugrade

  • Remove C814 on the negative rail and replace with something like the Panasonic FC 25V 4700uF.
  • Remove C813 on the positive rail and replace with something like the Fidelity Audio SI cap 25V 22000uF. Large uF is important here. Note - you can either drill the pcb and fit to the pcb or locate nearby and hardwire down to the pcb.
  • Short out the fuses as these add resistance and cause part of the volt sag problem.

Further improvements

Adding onto what has already been done it is best to add 7809 & 7909 regulators between the 'raw' voltage and the driver ics. This gives a very stable 'regulated' voltage to the ics. It is advisable to fit better capacitors after these regulators.

Doing it properly

To fully improve the servo issues you really need to rip out the std transformer and fit a 50VA 2x 12Vac type. You can then raise the driver regulators to 12V. When fitting the 50VA tx you then need to fit a 2x15V 30VA for the output section and a small 2x12V 1.6VA tx for the display voltage.

This can be viewed on this page - The worlds greatest CD63 !


Output section

Basic psu

  • Remove C803 & C804 and replace with something like the Panasonic FC 25V 4700uF
  • To further improve C803 & C804 find a way of fitting something like the Fidelity Audio SI 25V 22000uF this adds more depth, bass & smoothness.
  • Remove Q801 & Q802 and replace with low noise regulators. These offer a more analogue and detailed sound.
  • Remove C805 & C806 and replace with something like a Rubycon ZA / ZLG 16V 470uF

Doing it properly

The best way to get the most out of the output stage in the 63 you are better off building a large external psu (like Naim and Cyrus do).

This can be viewed on this page - The worlds greatest CD63 !

Output

  • Lets assume we are removing the HDAM section that ultimately holds back the performance of the cd player.
  • Remove C611, C612, C613 & C614 and replace with something like a Rubycon ZA / ZLG 16V 470uF
  • Remove Q605 & Q606 and replace with a LME49720HA or Burson dual
  • Short out R613, R614, R61 & R616
  • Remove R651, R652, R653 & R654
  • Remove the muting transistors
  • Remove R617 & R618 and wire from this point direct to the output socket
  • Change the signal capacitors around the opamp with something like a polystyrene cap

DAC

  • Fitting regs to each of the voltage feeds to the dac isolates each of the rails from each other and the rest of the noisy circuit. This allows the dac chip to perform better.
  • Remove CD15 & CD16 and replace with something like a Rubycon ZA / ZLG 16V 470uF
  • Remove CD04 & CD07 and replace with something like a Oscon SEPC 6.3V 470uF
  • Remove UD200 and replace with low noise regulator - this feeds the Dac analogue
  • Remove RD01 & RD04 and replace with low noise regulators - dac digital
  • Remove XD01 oscillator + RD02, CD02 & CD03 and replace with a quality low jitter clock 16.934Mhz. - Connect to XT1 of the dac.

Clock psu

Adding a dedicated psu for the clock helps the clock perform better + isolates the clock from the rest of the circuit lowering noise.


Decoder

  • Remove C510 & C511 and replace with something like a Oscon SEPC 6.3V 470uF
  • Remove R508 & R510 and replace with low noise regulators - Decoder digital
  • Lift C521 at the dac side and attach a 16.934Mhz clock feed from the dac clock using a buffered output - this clocks the decoder direct

There is a small alteration to the circuit that need sorting as Marantz made a mistake - This can be viewed on this page under decoder ic mod - The worlds greatest CD63 !

Servo

  • Remove C120 & C122 and replace with something like a Oscon SEPC 6.3V 470uF
  • Remove R122 & R123 and replace with low noise regulators - Servo digital
  • Remove X101 oscillator & R126 and replace with a quality low jitter clock 8.46Mhz. - Connect to XTL1 of the decoder.

RF
  • Remove C504 and replace with something like a Oscon SEPC 6.3V 470uF
  • Remove R505 and replace with low noise regulators

HF
  • Remove R107 and replace with low noise regulators
  • Fit a capacitor like a Oscon SEPC 6.3V 470uF on the output of the regulator

Note

There are many more upgrades to do to these great players but these upgrades lift the player hugely.

Of course you can see whats achievable here -The worlds greatest CD63 !


Brent
 
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alicenir

Member
Joined 2010
Upgrade Question

Hi,

my setup is:
amp - Camebridge Audio 650A
Speakers: Mordaunt Short Mezzo6
VDH cables & Foruteck & XLO power cables and power distributer.

My Question, i have been told that according to my setup(which is probably not stated Hi-End) i will not see any big diffrence if i will modd my CD63 mk2 KI cd player - is this true?
i love the sound of my setup, this is why i choose it from the beginning....

Best regards

Nir
 
Thomo

Thomo

Member
Joined 2006
Good idea for a thread this as the monster cd63 mods list one has lots of info in there, but you can never find it.

Those mods listed in the first post will make a huge improvement and bring a much more balanced and rounded sound to the cd63 and improve detail at the same time.

Lee.
 
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alicenir

Member
Joined 2010
Just for my understanding, all the guys here that did the Moding for the CD63/se/KI etc.... do they know electronics, because i know many things but electronics is not one of them :) , should i start now my experiance with electronics, is the modding considered basic stuff or for the well experienced elect. guy?
Should i let technician do it for me...

Best
Nir
 
Fidelity Audio

Fidelity Audio

Member
Joined 2005
fidelityaudio.co.uk
The analogue psu and output stage can yes. The servo and decoder + driver ics are different in the 67.

Having said that you can do the same things to the decoder/servo chip in the 67 by removing the resistors and adding low noise regs + adding a sepc cap. The same principle applies to all cd players.

The RF/HF side of things can be done by supplying the small pcb under the mech with an isolated 5v there too.

Brent
 
S

Stabby

Member
Joined 2010
This is great but unfortunately I don't know how to do half of these. Most importantly, how do you add regulators? Most of the time you have to replace a resistor with a regulator, but the regulator has three pins. What happens to the third pin?

There are also three jitter clocks to be placed. Where can you get kits for building a jitter clock (without any SMD parts)?

I'm hoping someone will help me out because I'd love to do these mods.
 
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rss388

Member
Joined 2007
@Fidelity Audio:

Thanks for consolidating such a concise list. I have a CD63MkII that is getting cosmetically challenged and I decided to see if I could upgrade the sound. Basically I did the following:

1. Disabled the HDAM;
2. Upgraded all the power supply caps to low ESR, 105C types, bypassing each one with 0.1 or 0.01 ceramic HF SMD caps directly at the pads;
3. Changed low pass filter caps to 150p polystyrene and the associated filter resistors from 10k to 8.06k 0.01% (happen to have them on hand) and the 27k resistors to 19.6k 0.01% (again, happen to have them on hand);
4. Changed out op amps for sockets and ordered up a bunch of op amps to test.

I have not got to the point of splicing in regulators nor re-clock yet. The sound has already improved tremendously, neutral with tons more details, more bass weight and more coherent sound, to the point of better than my Rega Apollo. My favorite op-amp in this configuration? LM49720.

Thanks to everyone who had over the years experimented and compiled all these results for folks at large like me. Now back to that old CD that I re-discovered...
 
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rss388

Member
Joined 2007
Fidelity Audio said:
I assume you like LME49720'NA'. If so try the LME49720'HA'. Even though they share the same spec sheet the HA sounds a little more dynamic and controls bass and treble better.

Brent
Click to expand...

I did like the 49720. I did not buy the HA version but I did acquired an assortment of OPA627AU on adapters, OPA627BP on adapters, OPA627BM on adapters, AD797 on adapters, OPA2134 and OPA600 for testing. I ended up choosing between the OPA627AU and OPA627BP. I think the 627 family has overall more neutral sound (with the filter values I have) than the 49720NA. Between the 627 variants I think the advantages of the BP and BM all got masked by the adapters with the longer connection lengths. The AU was cheapest to boot.
 
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