Malefoda said:I've found back the bill of the Arcam, not that cheap
It's not a cheap brand, but once you open it up....
Sony stuff all over the place, and a cheap KSS-240A unit. I hate these things. This player, it simply sounds horrible. I thought it might be a nice upgrade project, with a BB DAC on board. The sound is bright and harsh and painful to my ears. It became even worse when I put in some different opamps, then even more of this was revealed. I think i'll permanently enable the muting transistors in this one
.Ray
6h5c said:
It's not a cheap brand, but once you open it up....
Sony stuff all over the place, and a cheap KSS-240A unit. I hate these things. This player, it simply sounds horrible. I thought it might be a nice upgrade project, with a BB DAC on board. The sound is bright and harsh and painful to my ears. It became even worse when I put in some different opamps, then even more of this was revealed. I think i'll permanently enable the muting transistors in this one
Ray
Ray
Anyone might think you don't like sony stuff (or BB dac's)?
what standard dac did it use?
hows the cd65 modded sound?
avr300
"Only lagging the vol up-down, guess the 1541 don't know this."
the TDA1451 is current out, no volume adjust in dac.
allan
ImSparticus said:
Nice one mate.... Cheers.
Ive got nothing in my inbox, but i do have 700 unread messages loitering around around which i can't be bothered to delete. You could try my uni email instead so we could chat away and not polute the thread
: emyxaf@nottingham.ac.uk :Ive used some standard 2.5% antex silver solder for installing all the parts in my new player, but even with the HDAM gone and new sockets i can't hear a difference. I havn't been listening that carefully though but im sure it will take off when i sort everything else out
Cheers ray for the link and andy for the explanation. I could have sworn that the back plate was held on with rivets. But hey..... less effort and soldering needed now !!!!
awpagan said:
Nah, it's just the combination of plastic and Sony in this particular player I guess. I've repaired too many cheap ones (with KSS210 and KSS240) in the past to be positive about these transports. Cheap stuff. A flimsy metal plate with some plastic cogs and guides, and a discmotor. But hey, it works and it's cheap. Just not my kind of thing. Unfortunately you see some highly regarded brands that use this **** inside their machines. My SA8400 is full of Sony stuff, the decoding chips as well as the transport, but it's a whole different ballgame. It runs smooth and is built very nicely.
I think the DAC in the Arcam is a PCM1716 if I remember correctly. But i'm not going to check it, because I have to totally dismantle the player to get to the underside of the PCB. The front PCB is attached to the main PCB with double row connectors, and you have to remove the plastic front cover and that PCB first. A real pain.
BB made some pretty good DAC's, but I don't like the latest models very much. But that goes for other manufacturers too, like Crystal. Most of them have some form of integrated analog output **** on the chip now.
Well, that's a big relief, and gets rid of most of my frustrations for now
.I already sold the CD65II. The TDA1541A is a nice DAC, but the player couldn't convince me after modding it. It has a natural kind of peace in the sound, but it lacked some detail and some dynamics that my CD67 does much better. I think the old layout is also guilty of that. Of course it didn't sound bad, i'm just spoiled
. I have a second CD65, maybe i'm going to use the DAC chip some day. If I had to choose between the Arcam Alpha One and the CD65, i could very well live with the 65.Regards,
Ray
Ray,
Is there any chance you could post or email an editable )excel or word) copy of your parts PDF for the CD67SE?
I need to make up a list for my wife to order the parts, and I'd like to make it a bit simpler for her so she doesn't have to spend too much time on it, e.g. for multiple copies of parts like the Schottky Diodes I can just write
"Schottky Diodes" IR 110DQ10 8#
btw, I am chuffed to bits right now, just got a new VAM1201 and installed it and it fixed my "disc" error straight off, so now I'm good to go on the mods. Like a little kid at a Birthday party...
Ta!
k.
Is there any chance you could post or email an editable )excel or word) copy of your parts PDF for the CD67SE?
I need to make up a list for my wife to order the parts, and I'd like to make it a bit simpler for her so she doesn't have to spend too much time on it, e.g. for multiple copies of parts like the Schottky Diodes I can just write
"Schottky Diodes" IR 110DQ10 8#
btw, I am chuffed to bits right now, just got a new VAM1201 and installed it and it fixed my "disc" error straight off, so now I'm good to go on the mods. Like a little kid at a Birthday party...
Ta!
k.
Re: My CD63 Transformation
Hi and welcome
I noticed in your pics you removed the transistor Q853 and this is needed for the display
Also a clock improves detail and timing
Brent
The only downside is that I got a little agressive and removed too many components and now my display is inop. I need to look at the schematics again and see which part I removed that I should not have!
[/B]
Hi and welcome
I noticed in your pics you removed the transistor Q853 and this is needed for the display
Also a clock improves detail and timing
Brent
I need help with a convince-the-Wife-question
... I know much of what is reviewed is very subjective etc. etc. but if I go for Ray's FULL list of parts for a C67SE, how much approx. will that be compared to purchasing a CD-player of an equivalent class that it will "become" after the mods?
Ta
k.
... I know much of what is reviewed is very subjective etc. etc. but if I go for Ray's FULL list of parts for a C67SE, how much approx. will that be compared to purchasing a CD-player of an equivalent class that it will "become" after the mods?
Ta
k.
jksmurf said:
Hi
Cost is all down to quality of parts used (special regs, clock etc).
But what ever you spend modding it the audio benefits will out weigh what you would have got for your money purchasing a new player.
I have modded cd63 and 67 for people using the very basic mods listed here (caps , bypass , hdam removal , op amps etc , seperate regs) and these people prefer the sound of their modded player to there 4 year old £1000 sony or 8 year old £1000 Naim. Now they want me to mod their other stuff LOL
Brent
adfinni said:and mine isn't worth much more than a pack of fags
I think you might need to look at the other links in your chain mate. You ought to be able to hear the not-so-subtle hdam removal. Remind me, what does the total system comprise of? Little point modding if all is lost in the amp, speakers and room.
Simon