Thanks Ian, found the trimmer and torx adjusters. Couldn't make them out properly without an eye glass. Will have a play and report back. Cheers SteveSteve, They definately shouldn't need setting up but in my experience they often do!!! It does seem hit and miss with them. You could return the unit and try another. I had a really bad one once that I swapped just the laser head into the old mech. That worked pretty well.
As for the adjustment, there is a small trimmer on the flexi pcb on the underside of the laser. If there is also 2 hex screws that physically move the laser mech in relation to the disc. A tweak on one of those hex screws may be better of the motors been squashed?????
My overall advise would be have a play. You could always return it after if you make a right mess of it!Ian
Oh My! Even I, a complete novice, find that amusingI forgot to mention this the other day when I saw it.
|Ebay modded cd63
Intersting mods here. I wonder if fitting the bracing bar the wrong way round helps with the sound at all??? Also, i never considered fitting a 67 mainboard to a 63 as an upgrade before!!!!!
It did make me chuckle tho'!!!
Also, I would like to thank folks for snippets of advice.
I have successfully repaired and modded a 67, following Ray's upgrade info.
Sounds superb. ( Even the wife noticed)
Hello folks,
On a LM317 reg, I have tried to change the R to ground for 2 green Leds, it's lovely but shows 5.45V instead of 5.0 with the 365R. Is it normal and subject to lower when loaded or I've missed something?
I also wonder if I can power some IC (DAC) pins like analog ones with that 5.45V led-reg and digital with resistor one at 5.05V.
In worst case I'll keep it for an IC with only one PS pin.
Thanks,
Matthieu
On a LM317 reg, I have tried to change the R to ground for 2 green Leds, it's lovely but shows 5.45V instead of 5.0 with the 365R. Is it normal and subject to lower when loaded or I've missed something?
I also wonder if I can power some IC (DAC) pins like analog ones with that 5.45V led-reg and digital with resistor one at 5.05V.
In worst case I'll keep it for an IC with only one PS pin.
Thanks,
Matthieu
The forward voltage of green LEDs is often as high as 2.1V. So two of them plus the 1.2 - 1.25V of the LM317....
The best way is to buy a bag of LEDs and measure them, then pair them up.
The last bag of LEDs I bought for this purpose I ended up with pairs of red and green. You need a total of 3.75 - 3.8V for the pair.
If you change one of the green for a red you'll probably be fine.
Last edited:
I'm modding a CD63 at the moment. I've done loads of cap upgrades, psu resistor shorting and the cap bypass on output. The op-amps are currently stock, as is the clocking. So far all I'd done to really improve matters was to install 6 extra regulators in some of the usual spots - 2 x DAC, 2 x decoder, 1 x servo, 1 x HF amp. The sound was quite good, if a bit shrill on female vocals... until tonight.
I just regulated voltages to two the three servo amplifiers using 7808 / 7908. The results are amazing! The detail, openness, space, smoothness and bass control have really improved a lot! The player sounds very funky.
It should be great when fully re-clocked.
Will post some pics at some point to show where I did this, although I know others have posted about this before. I recall Glenn, Lee and Brent all enjoying this mod. You guys were sure right.
Simon
I just regulated voltages to two the three servo amplifiers using 7808 / 7908. The results are amazing! The detail, openness, space, smoothness and bass control have really improved a lot! The player sounds very funky.
It should be great when fully re-clocked.
Will post some pics at some point to show where I did this, although I know others have posted about this before. I recall Glenn, Lee and Brent all enjoying this mod. You guys were sure right.
Simon
Simon - it's one of the absolute stand-out mods for me. Probably the best of all.
The bass is where the biggest gains were for me, it became deep and solid, and the mid-bass bloat disappeared. The bass is just wrong without this mod in my opinion. But yes your words convey it accurately as the improvements are great across the board.
It was probably the only mod I did where I thought "holy sh!t" and proceeded to spend a whole evening digging through my CDs to see what they all sounded like on my 'new' player.
And remember Martin Clark's clock mod. With a well-filtered 5V, the ground-bounce fixed, and the cap across the clock pins you are (IMHO of course) 90% of the way there regarding the clock. That was the other huge improvement I remember. Going from stock clock to that was huge, and then going from that to Tent X02 + XO supply was noticeable but not massive.
If I had to do only two mods it'd be regulate the servo amps and Martin's clock hack.
It wouldn't be changing the op-amps, for example. Do that last for flavouring.
Glenn
The bass is where the biggest gains were for me, it became deep and solid, and the mid-bass bloat disappeared. The bass is just wrong without this mod in my opinion. But yes your words convey it accurately as the improvements are great across the board.
It was probably the only mod I did where I thought "holy sh!t" and proceeded to spend a whole evening digging through my CDs to see what they all sounded like on my 'new' player.
And remember Martin Clark's clock mod. With a well-filtered 5V, the ground-bounce fixed, and the cap across the clock pins you are (IMHO of course) 90% of the way there regarding the clock. That was the other huge improvement I remember. Going from stock clock to that was huge, and then going from that to Tent X02 + XO supply was noticeable but not massive.
If I had to do only two mods it'd be regulate the servo amps and Martin's clock hack.
It wouldn't be changing the op-amps, for example. Do that last for flavouring.
Glenn
Interesting comments Glenn. I feel it's worth pointing out that when compared with like-for-like mods many people prefer the CD67. The CD67 has a regulated 5V for the servo amps / driver op-amps. I'd still recommend people buy a CD63 though, just so they have the option to really make the player sing (ie. with the servo amp regs and servo chip re-clock)
The bass dynamics on this player are sensational now. It's not a patch on my Philips CD650 for smoothness, timbre or treble but it sounds really good for cheap mods (but quite a few hours with the soldering iron!)
Simon
The bass dynamics on this player are sensational now. It's not a patch on my Philips CD650 for smoothness, timbre or treble but it sounds really good for cheap mods (but quite a few hours with the soldering iron!)
Simon
I've done my first CD-53 like Ray's list, with LM4562 and a Sercal Reg at the DAC. When I did that the bass went in a first step lower in that boomy area, better but overall far away. Then clock and caps and at the end it was good everywhere, but only when all done.
Then my soon to be fried second CD-53, done clocks and DOS, bass went on the scene when reclocked the Servo.
Now my CD-43, with its even worst output stage. It's 317/337 regulated at drivers, Dac & Servo clocks, few caps and that's it. I am listening at it now, well even if tonal balance and flavor is not that nice it plays the bass with energy as never, it's "just" lacking the music to feel real, the mids are all but good.
All that to say I totally agree with Simon & Glenn, 7808/7908 are really one of the best mods. Simon, wich caps do you use to smooth these +/-8V?
And as I enjoy the CD-43 op amps and their less than tiny caps I agree with Glenn that opamps can be the final touch to make it sounds the way you like.
Matthieu
Then my soon to be fried second CD-53, done clocks and DOS, bass went on the scene when reclocked the Servo.
Now my CD-43, with its even worst output stage. It's 317/337 regulated at drivers, Dac & Servo clocks, few caps and that's it. I am listening at it now, well even if tonal balance and flavor is not that nice it plays the bass with energy as never, it's "just" lacking the music to feel real, the mids are all but good.
All that to say I totally agree with Simon & Glenn, 7808/7908 are really one of the best mods. Simon, wich caps do you use to smooth these +/-8V?
And as I enjoy the CD-43 op amps and their less than tiny caps I agree with Glenn that opamps can be the final touch to make it sounds the way you like.
Matthieu
Last edited:
Hi guys,
I used a snap-in 22,000uF / 16V cap in parallel with 1,000uF / 35V nearby on the +10V rail, and a 3,300uF / 16V Panasonic Fc on the -10V rail. I had to re-drill at least 3 holes or move the hole to to a new location. I also had to re-jig the main 7805 heatsink (I had to cut the legs off and rotate it 180 degrees). It was quite a severe job but the results make it totally worthwhile. The bass dynamics are shocking!! That said, the bass could be richer and deeper, but it is very dynamic and detailed in the lower registers
Pics later!
Simon
I used a snap-in 22,000uF / 16V cap in parallel with 1,000uF / 35V nearby on the +10V rail, and a 3,300uF / 16V Panasonic Fc on the -10V rail. I had to re-drill at least 3 holes or move the hole to to a new location. I also had to re-jig the main 7805 heatsink (I had to cut the legs off and rotate it 180 degrees). It was quite a severe job but the results make it totally worthwhile. The bass dynamics are shocking!! That said, the bass could be richer and deeper, but it is very dynamic and detailed in the lower registers
Pics later!
Simon
Fitment is actually quite easy - 22000uF Mundorf
Drill the +ve hole 1.2mm plop in the cap and rotate so the -ve leg scribes a curve. This curve should then line up with a gnd track under the pcb, drill another 1.2mm hole, clean tracks underneath and solder. The two transistors may need bending flat.
Brent
Drill the +ve hole 1.2mm plop in the cap and rotate so the -ve leg scribes a curve. This curve should then line up with a gnd track under the pcb, drill another 1.2mm hole, clean tracks underneath and solder. The two transistors may need bending flat.
Brent
Just an update on the CD63 servo regs.
I did the same mod on Steve's CD63 but it didn't like it. It would only read some discs, some of the time. It gave an error 10 - radial error.
I talked to Brent about this and he informed me that his CD63 only worked with the servo amps on +-12V. I removed the 7908 from the radial/focus amp (Q106) and restored the standard -11V. It now reads everything perfectly, and although that chip is now on +8 -11 it seems happy and the player sounds fantastic.
To be honest my other CD63 with +-8V on that chip occasionally skips, I think this may be why. I'd say further investigation is needed here.
Simon
I did the same mod on Steve's CD63 but it didn't like it. It would only read some discs, some of the time. It gave an error 10 - radial error.
I talked to Brent about this and he informed me that his CD63 only worked with the servo amps on +-12V. I removed the 7908 from the radial/focus amp (Q106) and restored the standard -11V. It now reads everything perfectly, and although that chip is now on +8 -11 it seems happy and the player sounds fantastic.
To be honest my other CD63 with +-8V on that chip occasionally skips, I think this may be why. I'd say further investigation is needed here.
Simon
Hi Simon,
Mine works withtout problems at +/-7.6V. It's LM317/337 based with 220/25V ZLs.
Maybe it's in my head but I also have the feeling that maybe it is possible that it happens tha it can be true that it's probalby the case... that it reads discs faster!
I'm not too much aware of engineering but maybe very big caps sucking/slowing juice? Sorry if that sounds stupid
Regards, Matthieu
Mine works withtout problems at +/-7.6V. It's LM317/337 based with 220/25V ZLs.
Maybe it's in my head but I also have the feeling that maybe it is possible that it happens tha it can be true that it's probalby the case... that it reads discs faster!
I'm not too much aware of engineering but maybe very big caps sucking/slowing juice? Sorry if that sounds stupid
Regards, Matthieu