DAC Offset Voltage... Oh, and SMPS mods too!
On an entirely different subject, anyone measured the amount of offset from that AK4309AVM? Mynext stage has an input cap, but my ladder attenuator is between the two... if it's a few MA, I would try it without a cap on the output of the PS-1... but if more, I'll just have to fit one in.
All the likely suspects I have sitting around here are WAY too big to fit where Mick's put his. I'd have to fit them outside the case.
I'm also looking at doing some minor mods to the SMPS... just to hear what it'll do. Basic stuff... BG all the electrolytics, replace the AC input filter cap (the X2 one) with a Dynamicap or an Auricap, and replace the diode bridge with soft-recovery ones or the new Cree Schottky diodes (got some here, but they are only 1a versions... would not work, I bet).
Thoughts on that too?
Greg in Minneapolis
On an entirely different subject, anyone measured the amount of offset from that AK4309AVM? Mynext stage has an input cap, but my ladder attenuator is between the two... if it's a few MA, I would try it without a cap on the output of the PS-1... but if more, I'll just have to fit one in.
All the likely suspects I have sitting around here are WAY too big to fit where Mick's put his. I'd have to fit them outside the case.
I'm also looking at doing some minor mods to the SMPS... just to hear what it'll do. Basic stuff... BG all the electrolytics, replace the AC input filter cap (the X2 one) with a Dynamicap or an Auricap, and replace the diode bridge with soft-recovery ones or the new Cree Schottky diodes (got some here, but they are only 1a versions... would not work, I bet).
Thoughts on that too?
Greg in Minneapolis
Sonic diffs between different runs of 1001's
I was able to pick up two more 1001's today... both earlier ones. I haven't looked at the mainboards in detail yet, but was able to confirm they both have the SR670 SMPS boards... nice because both contain a number of Rubycon electrolytics.
But comparing one of them to my somewhat later model, I prefer the later one. This one's PS is labeled EAMX5 (on the board towards the front... it has several longer numbers elsewhere on the board, but this is good enough for identifying it for now).
The later one sounds a bit more balanced in frequency than the earlier one (in my system) and details are better deliniated. Of course, the later one has maybe 20-30 hours of run time since I got it last weekend and the other only an hour or so... I'll burn the earlier one in more and compare again tomorrow.
The other thing I noticed is that I strongly prefer them with some vibration control... first, I have the case tops off... I have a small vibration absorber from a Herbie's Lab tube damper pressed into the door-open switch hole and a 5 lb lead diving weight holding it down so the units run. Then I place them 3 Navcom pucks on the maple wood stand where I normally have my phono preamp sitting. Nothing fancy yet... lots more vibration control stuffs to do... but clearly more detailed/less muddy this way than when the top was still on and they sat on my turntable's plastic dustcover.
I next need to trade SMPS units, laser units, and mainboards back and forth and see what affect they have on the sound.
BTW, my unit's serial numbers are:
U7058439 - older one I've just played this evening
U7354023 - older one still a virgin
U8449907 - newer one I've played about a week
One nice thing is they all have the metal-guide laser unit... I saw two other 1001's tonight with the plastic-guide laser and decided not to buy them. Good idea?
Finally, I picked up a PS-One last week before I was clear on what models were good (1001... 101... sounded like the same unit!). It looks to have the metal-laser too... should I keep it for parts or take it back?
Great thread and great idea, everyone. Thanks!
Greg in Minneapolis
I was able to pick up two more 1001's today... both earlier ones. I haven't looked at the mainboards in detail yet, but was able to confirm they both have the SR670 SMPS boards... nice because both contain a number of Rubycon electrolytics.
But comparing one of them to my somewhat later model, I prefer the later one. This one's PS is labeled EAMX5 (on the board towards the front... it has several longer numbers elsewhere on the board, but this is good enough for identifying it for now).
The later one sounds a bit more balanced in frequency than the earlier one (in my system) and details are better deliniated. Of course, the later one has maybe 20-30 hours of run time since I got it last weekend and the other only an hour or so... I'll burn the earlier one in more and compare again tomorrow.
The other thing I noticed is that I strongly prefer them with some vibration control... first, I have the case tops off... I have a small vibration absorber from a Herbie's Lab tube damper pressed into the door-open switch hole and a 5 lb lead diving weight holding it down so the units run. Then I place them 3 Navcom pucks on the maple wood stand where I normally have my phono preamp sitting. Nothing fancy yet... lots more vibration control stuffs to do... but clearly more detailed/less muddy this way than when the top was still on and they sat on my turntable's plastic dustcover.
I next need to trade SMPS units, laser units, and mainboards back and forth and see what affect they have on the sound.
BTW, my unit's serial numbers are:
U7058439 - older one I've just played this evening
U7354023 - older one still a virgin
U8449907 - newer one I've played about a week
One nice thing is they all have the metal-guide laser unit... I saw two other 1001's tonight with the plastic-guide laser and decided not to buy them. Good idea?
Finally, I picked up a PS-One last week before I was clear on what models were good (1001... 101... sounded like the same unit!). It looks to have the metal-laser too... should I keep it for parts or take it back?
Great thread and great idea, everyone. Thanks!
Greg in Minneapolis
Why do they sound so good?
I've been thinking about why these things sound so good... and here's what I think:
1. One site mentioned the computing power onboard in the unit and that it's just coasting playing a CD. This makes sense to me.
2. Mechanically, it's very simple. No drawer, not a lot of buttons, not much case (and what's there is less resonant than the metalwork of many standard-cased CDPs and DVDPs). This is given more weight in my mind by how much better it sounds with the case top off. It also reminds me of the improvements I got in my old rebuilt Maggie CDB-650 when I pulled out the drawer mechanism and just used the CD drive... well worth it!
3. Electrically, it's simpler than many CDP's and DVDP's. No display, limited controls. I'd be very interesting in what sections of the existing mainboard we could remove and still have it work.. I bet there's improvements to be had there,
Other ideas?
Greg in Minneapolis
I've been thinking about why these things sound so good... and here's what I think:
1. One site mentioned the computing power onboard in the unit and that it's just coasting playing a CD. This makes sense to me.
2. Mechanically, it's very simple. No drawer, not a lot of buttons, not much case (and what's there is less resonant than the metalwork of many standard-cased CDPs and DVDPs). This is given more weight in my mind by how much better it sounds with the case top off. It also reminds me of the improvements I got in my old rebuilt Maggie CDB-650 when I pulled out the drawer mechanism and just used the CD drive... well worth it!
3. Electrically, it's simpler than many CDP's and DVDP's. No display, limited controls. I'd be very interesting in what sections of the existing mainboard we could remove and still have it work.. I bet there's improvements to be had there,
Other ideas?
Greg in Minneapolis
Re: Why do they sound so good?
It's quite easy to remove the remaining 'ringing' of the metalwork wih some damping panels. Make sure you don't block any cooling holes
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?postid=800267#post800267
When you remove this and tap it with a screw driver it has a definite ring to it, but even just one small car damping patch applied under where the transport sits reduced this to a 'donk' sound (Hope thats not a rude word in any language
)
I also got some sorbothane feet from ebay so the whole thing 'bounces'. If you read Mick_F's postings he sits his on a massive block of wood floating on a partially inflated small tyre inner tube.
I think your assertions are probably right, though perhaps the transport is more robust too. It has to cope with the requirements of male teenage gamers. Also I think the PSone was sonys first games console and perhaps , like CD players, is overengineered compared to later models ? It's certainly well made and was probably sold at a loss, consoles are I believe .
Greg Stewart said:
It's quite easy to remove the remaining 'ringing' of the metalwork wih some damping panels. Make sure you don't block any cooling holes
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?postid=800267#post800267
When you remove this and tap it with a screw driver it has a definite ring to it, but even just one small car damping patch applied under where the transport sits reduced this to a 'donk' sound (Hope thats not a rude word in any language
)I also got some sorbothane feet from ebay so the whole thing 'bounces'. If you read Mick_F's postings he sits his on a massive block of wood floating on a partially inflated small tyre inner tube.
I think your assertions are probably right, though perhaps the transport is more robust too. It has to cope with the requirements of male teenage gamers. Also I think the PSone was sonys first games console and perhaps , like CD players, is overengineered compared to later models ? It's certainly well made and was probably sold at a loss, consoles are I believe .
Re: Sonic diffs between different runs of 1001's
Sorry, I can´t confirm your serial numbers. You have to look for the part numbers, which are like
1-658-467-11 PU-8
1-658-467-21 PU-8
1-658-467-22 PU-8
1-658-467-23 PU-8
for the SCPH-1001/1002. Compare to Frank Stoelben´s website:
http://www.playfidelity.com/
Avoid plastic-guided lasers. OTOH the replacement of the laser-unit would be quite easy.
Give it a try - the well-known dynastation 1 and 2 is equipped w/ the SCPH-102 for example.
Best,
Thomas
Greg Stewart said:
Sorry, I can´t confirm your serial numbers. You have to look for the part numbers, which are like
1-658-467-11 PU-8
1-658-467-21 PU-8
1-658-467-22 PU-8
1-658-467-23 PU-8
for the SCPH-1001/1002. Compare to Frank Stoelben´s website:
http://www.playfidelity.com/
Avoid plastic-guided lasers. OTOH the replacement of the laser-unit would be quite easy.
Greg Stewart said:
Give it a try - the well-known dynastation 1 and 2 is equipped w/ the SCPH-102 for example.
Best,
Thomas
poynton said:
Hi Andy,
Glad to see you amongst the ranks of the greystations. How far does it get. While I don't use it now, it was useful when testing my unit to plug it into the TV to check I was navigating to the right button on the screen. I'm guessing your pretty sure it does not want to play a CD, but navigating the controls 'blind' is a bit tricky, I ended up getting a £5.00 remote off ebay.
Sony PS1 schematics needed
Moin,
has anybody some schematics from the Sony PS1, Model 1002/1001 or 5502/5501?
Tried them as a player, but couldn´t find the hype.
I want to use them as a transport, without spdif ... so where the hell does the receiver pins went to the seriell or parallel port, and is this signal oversampled or not?
The DAC-datasheet is nice, but I´m a little bit lazzy following those small traces on the Sony-PCB...a complete schematic is much nicer to work with, you know?
Thanks,
Carsten
Moin,
has anybody some schematics from the Sony PS1, Model 1002/1001 or 5502/5501?
Tried them as a player, but couldn´t find the hype.
I want to use them as a transport, without spdif ... so where the hell does the receiver pins went to the seriell or parallel port, and is this signal oversampled or not?
The DAC-datasheet is nice, but I´m a little bit lazzy following those small traces on the Sony-PCB...a complete schematic is much nicer to work with, you know?
Thanks,
Carsten
Research Paid Off
Hi all,
New to posting here, but i have been reading this post avidly for the last few weeks.
After some lengthy research across the internet world i finally decided to commence my own construction.
I folllowed the instructions from:
which are very good.
I used a SCPH-100*. fitted the extra circuitry featured on the site and used new gold phonos from maplins.
I replaced the original laser with one from a PSone and adjusted to avoid skipping. though not to the values on the site.! The power supply is from a SCPH-550*. Though to fit this i had to 'bodge' the 7 pin cable into a 5 pin cable. Seems fine, just conencted the ground to another and didnt connect the reset (as the button is unused).
Then decided to fit the whole thing into an MDF box, using the original lid mechanism. Cut some air holes for the power supply and sprayed the lid black with car bumper paint. Fixed some cherry wood to the sides to match my speakers (MS 902's decleration) and varnished it.
I also have incorperated the PS2 remote which works fine. Hopefully going to invest in an SONY RM-AX4000 touch screen remote, which should replace this (if it works).
I used half squash balls for the four feet which have been superglued on.
Only part unfinished to date are the buttons, i am looking for some 40mm black rubber grommets to cover the buttons below in the rough cut aluminium polished sheet.
The quality of the player is very good and is a lot lot lot better than my cheapo dvd player. I can hear a difference but think it is on par with my friends £500 marantz universal player. I am extremely pleased with it and in total probably cost me the best part of fifty quid. (i did have to buy 5 psx's, components, soldering tips and timber though!!).
Basic pictures below, more can be posted on request and extra details if anyone is interested as this is just a brief overview!!.
Thanks for listening, i highly recommend this as a cheap fun conversion with exciting rewards.
Tim.
Hi all,
New to posting here, but i have been reading this post avidly for the last few weeks.
After some lengthy research across the internet world i finally decided to commence my own construction.
I folllowed the instructions from:
which are very good.
I used a SCPH-100*. fitted the extra circuitry featured on the site and used new gold phonos from maplins.
I replaced the original laser with one from a PSone and adjusted to avoid skipping. though not to the values on the site.! The power supply is from a SCPH-550*. Though to fit this i had to 'bodge' the 7 pin cable into a 5 pin cable. Seems fine, just conencted the ground to another and didnt connect the reset (as the button is unused).
Then decided to fit the whole thing into an MDF box, using the original lid mechanism. Cut some air holes for the power supply and sprayed the lid black with car bumper paint. Fixed some cherry wood to the sides to match my speakers (MS 902's decleration) and varnished it.
I also have incorperated the PS2 remote which works fine. Hopefully going to invest in an SONY RM-AX4000 touch screen remote, which should replace this (if it works).
I used half squash balls for the four feet which have been superglued on.
Only part unfinished to date are the buttons, i am looking for some 40mm black rubber grommets to cover the buttons below in the rough cut aluminium polished sheet.
The quality of the player is very good and is a lot lot lot better than my cheapo dvd player. I can hear a difference but think it is on par with my friends £500 marantz universal player. I am extremely pleased with it and in total probably cost me the best part of fifty quid. (i did have to buy 5 psx's, components, soldering tips and timber though!!).
Basic pictures below, more can be posted on request and extra details if anyone is interested as this is just a brief overview!!.
Thanks for listening, i highly recommend this as a cheap fun conversion with exciting rewards.
Tim.
