Hi Shep
Adding the external psu is no more complex than what was already inside the cd player. I wanted a beefed up psu but that would not fit inside the player. In terms of how much difference there would be over what was already there I was not sure (I knew it would not be worse). Also my player is not very complex, it's just lots of simple power supplies using as you said good parts! They as one job look massively complex I agree.
I ran it all night last night and the sound has so much more body and quite a lot more bass. Detail etc seems about the same as before. The sound is more like (dare I say it) a TDA1541 player in the way it now does the lower mids and bass.
Of course I upped the servo tx from 30VA to 60VA and this will also have had an impact on the sound.
Brent
Adding the external psu is no more complex than what was already inside the cd player. I wanted a beefed up psu but that would not fit inside the player. In terms of how much difference there would be over what was already there I was not sure (I knew it would not be worse). Also my player is not very complex, it's just lots of simple power supplies using as you said good parts! They as one job look massively complex I agree.
I ran it all night last night and the sound has so much more body and quite a lot more bass. Detail etc seems about the same as before. The sound is more like (dare I say it) a TDA1541 player in the way it now does the lower mids and bass.
Of course I upped the servo tx from 30VA to 60VA and this will also have had an impact on the sound.
Brent
Ho man, someone call SkyNews and tell them there may be some bombing or Talibans attacking in UK very soon?
To our beloved Brent, RIP =)
The psu is running in nicely now. The sound has more body to it and loads more bass, on a down side the bass can be a little ott on some cds. This is a room problem and I will be purchasing some acoustic bass traps very soon to correct / control the problem.
I know Simon uses bass traps to good effect but has anyone else used them?
Brent
I know Simon uses bass traps to good effect but has anyone else used them?
Brent
Yes they are a little bass light. Nice old school speakers though using decent drivers.http://www.canuckaudiomart.com/image.php?image=400230&is_user=0
Brent
A little update for anyone who wants to try it.
When trying to clock the decoder in a cd63 you get into all sorts of problems with the unit being either very fussy about what disc is in the unit or it just refuses to read discs. This seems to be a problem with clock phasing.
The standard configuration has the dac feeding the decoder the clock signal where the signal basically goes through a capacitor and resistor. I have spent a few hours messing with different setups and feeding the clock signal direct to the decoder. I have had much more success using the non buffered output and using a 1.5nF (1500pF) cap inline with the signal. It works everytime on 3 different cd63. Coax is a non starter with this mod as the capacitance of the cable makes life very difficult so keep the signal path as short as possible with the cap.
Sound wise it seems much cleaner and smoother. I will be testing my own player with this mod later where I will run my Micro clock taking its supply from the dac clocks psu.
Brent
When trying to clock the decoder in a cd63 you get into all sorts of problems with the unit being either very fussy about what disc is in the unit or it just refuses to read discs. This seems to be a problem with clock phasing.
The standard configuration has the dac feeding the decoder the clock signal where the signal basically goes through a capacitor and resistor. I have spent a few hours messing with different setups and feeding the clock signal direct to the decoder. I have had much more success using the non buffered output and using a 1.5nF (1500pF) cap inline with the signal. It works everytime on 3 different cd63. Coax is a non starter with this mod as the capacitance of the cable makes life very difficult so keep the signal path as short as possible with the cap.
Sound wise it seems much cleaner and smoother. I will be testing my own player with this mod later where I will run my Micro clock taking its supply from the dac clocks psu.
Brent
Hi Brent,
...this is interesting; i'm just about to mod a CD63 and the next step is to reclock dac + decoder.
I once successfully reclocked the decoder in my CD67 where it worked without problems, just fed the clock signal with another coax directly from my DEXA-Clock to CR-IN of the decoder.
I didn't know this would be a problem with the CD63...
So can you eleborate a bit more what is the problem there?
Are you using a dedicated clock for the decoder?
Regards,
Mickie
...this is interesting; i'm just about to mod a CD63 and the next step is to reclock dac + decoder.
I once successfully reclocked the decoder in my CD67 where it worked without problems, just fed the clock signal with another coax directly from my DEXA-Clock to CR-IN of the decoder.
I didn't know this would be a problem with the CD63...
So can you eleborate a bit more what is the problem there?
Are you using a dedicated clock for the decoder?
Regards,
Mickie
Hi Mickie
The cd63 uses a seperate servo and decoder chip where in the cd67 it is one chip. You should clock the servo 8.46Mhz and the dac 16.9Mhz first as these are very good mods. Once you are happy with that then look at doing the decoder, if you do them all at once and it does not work properly you may not know what area is causing issues.
I have tried running the decoder from dedicated clock and from an existing clock. The problem seems to lie with the phasing of the clock signal and when this is out the servo & decoder don't like it causing the unit not to read the TOC.
Brent
The cd63 uses a seperate servo and decoder chip where in the cd67 it is one chip. You should clock the servo 8.46Mhz and the dac 16.9Mhz first as these are very good mods. Once you are happy with that then look at doing the decoder, if you do them all at once and it does not work properly you may not know what area is causing issues.
I have tried running the decoder from dedicated clock and from an existing clock. The problem seems to lie with the phasing of the clock signal and when this is out the servo & decoder don't like it causing the unit not to read the TOC.
Brent
Although the Marantz cd63 is very jittery, I have found sonically the only clock mod worth considering is just to replace the 16.9 crystal with a cheapo chinese clock running on the digital 5v line. I no longer fit a dedicated supply. Obviously a audiocom or other named manufactured clock should be better, but not to my ears. I now advertise this mod on my website at Reference Point - Home for those who do not feel confident to complete the mod themselves. Of all the other mods, (and there are a lot), the only one I have found that makes a big difference is to disable the hdam circuits and upgrade the op-amps. I have tried various mods including upgrading the power supply diodes and caps and fitting super regs, but to my ears these mods make little or no difference to the quality of sound. I would like to hear other opinions on this. After spending a fortune it is easy to imagine you have a much better sounding machine. I beleive that if a lot of upgrading is done all the little bits may add up to increased performance, but for an old machine I wonder how far is too far!
No amount is too far. You may not like hearing this but the rest of your system is probably bottle-necking if you can't hear those types of mods working. The same goes for software, if you're not listening using well-known (to yourself) Linn, Naim, Stockfish labels or belters like Clapton Unplugged, Jazz at the Pawn shop or any Diana Krall discs then it can be much harder to appreciate the subtler changes.
Even nice albums from people like Dire Straits or Norah Jones can move backwards when you increase system resolution, due to revealing clipping, compression or just lack of finesse in the recording, mixing and mastering. That said, it's clearly an improvement if your system reveals new distortions.
Servo mods are the biggest improvement you can give a cd63 that is one area where is is really lacking. They also have very noisy power rails and when listened to on expensive equipment the 63 is just left wanting.
With regards my own player I take it along to Audio shows such as Heathrow and Whittlebury and it outperforms £12K players and a few forum members have actually heard my player running so i'm sure they can vouch for it. Yes you can argue these £10-12K players are over priced as I obviously would.
And no offence but you like the OPA2604!
Brent
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Hi Simon, I'm certainly not bottlenecked regarding my system. I am currently using a Naim Nait 3R with Audionote E speakers and good interconnects. Old but good. My own cd player is now a highly modded cd17. I test all my modded Marantzes with this system using my naim reference Gwyneth Herbert cd and an old quality Shostakovitch cd. I think you are maybe missing my point about cost of upgrades verses dynamic difference. I agree that several mods are worthwhile, if I didn't I would not be selling my upgrades and I do a lot of them. But I cannot say to a customer let me take your money and upgrade the diodes for instance if they are not going to hear any benefit. You and I may hear a subtle difference but if your going to spend hundreds then surely it would be wiser, if not so much fun, to buy a better player!