Finally, an affordable CD Transport: the Shigaclone story

[okapi]

- If you are having problems removing the mechanism from the chassis you have missed a screw or two. with all the screws removed it will come apart easily.

- You need the CD clamp attached to the underside of the door. searching through your garbage to get this back can be unpleasant.

- Removing surface mount components is best done with 2 soldering irons

- I used copper braid to wick up solder for other non surface mount components

- Heat can quickily move up PC board traces. I burnt the markings off a transistor doing this. It did not turn out to be a problem but i may have just been lucky.

- The ribbon cables have reinforced ends and can be removed from their sockets without damaging the ribbon. It takes what felt like a dangerous amount of force.

[kevinkr]

Looks like the last unit(s?) have sold out at savinglots.com. So far as I can tell I did get one, I have not received email or any other indication otherwise.

I ordered parts from Digikey so hopefully I was not too optimistic..

[kepa1]

Hi, Is there a way to get the mechanism on its own + the laser unit and assemble them? I am quite reluctant to buy a JVC thingie and throw almost all of it in the garbage bin

[kevinkr]

I read that the board is actually discontinued. Not sure about the status of the mechanism, but the best way to get one of these is to buy the recommended boombox if you can find one or identify another that has a mechanism and board that will work.

My understanding is that the JVC UX-5000 ministereo (EU) or JVC FS-5000 (NA) also use the same chipset and mechanism, but you should confirm this before buying one.

It is not too easy to find. I bought one of the last available boomboxes from savinglots.com and it took me quite a while to find it. The order is pending which means I probably will know for sure today that this is not a red herring. The site now indicates that the RCEZ31 is discontinued and no longer available for order.

In any case if you are able to find a mechanism sans board and display it will probably end up costing you more than just scrapping a boombox for the parts. Try looking around for a used one at flea markets and on line. I'm sure they will continue to show up sporadically.

[Peter Daniel]

You can get SFP101 mechanism with a laser for approx $30: http://www.videohead.com.pl/?kat=2

However, you will still need control and display boards and those come only with a boombox and are certainly worth $30.

Even if you remove the CD parts, you can still use the boombox with a radio and tape.

This JVC thingie, when properly implemented, will be as good or better than CD-Pro 2 that will cost you $500 or so.

As a matter of fact, I prefer that thingie to any of the 5 transports you see in this picture:

[OneyedK]

Great topic, found a JVC in the Netherlands...

Still a few questions:

What is the reason to remove those 5 components?
What was their original function?
Would an output transformer, ratio 4:1 or 5:1 (as can be found in most Denon Cd players), be better than the resistor network you are using?

[Peter Daniel]

Originally posted by OneyedK
What is the reason to remove those 5 components?
What was their original function?
Would an output transformer, ratio 4:1 or 5:1 (as can be found in most Denon Cd players), be better than the resistor network you are using?

R4 is a choke that probably isolated the rest of the boombox circuitry from digital section, it is not needed now and actually found to degrade the sound.
R5 is a main filter cap (470uF): you don't need it if using large cap after LM7808 regulator (and if parallel with a new cap it will degrade the sound)
R1 and R2 are analog output coupling caps. You may leave them, but I needed that space to simplify wiring.
R3 is DAC bypass caps, I don't use internal DAC so I removed it; again that cap in parallel with other caps may degrade the sound.

You may try the output transformer, but I never liked them as they mess up the sound. IMO proper resistors are way better.

If the DAC is connected directly to transport's output, you may bypass the output resistors completely,. Some people reported certain gains. I use 6ft digital interconnect and it works better with resistors in place.

[OneyedK]

Thanks! When the boombox arrives, I might have more question, I'll continue to follow this topic.

[kevinkr]

Peter,
My access to machine shop is relatively limited, what I am thinking of doing is getting a heavy slab of aluminum plate from online metals, mounting the mechanism using two stand-offs similar to what you did and mounting the top plate using taller standoffs at the corners and perhaps a few strategically placed elsewhere. I was thinking of using dense red oak sideboards, front and rear would be metal. I have brass foil I can use for electrostatic shielding on the sides if necessary.

Frontpanelexpress.com will make the top plate with cut out and locations for control buttons, and a front plate with cut out for the LCD.

I am thinking of using a small toroid or EI transformer to power it, and I would mount it well away from anything else.

How much mass should I be shooting for? (about 5kg? Add bar stock to get additional mass?) Any recommendations as to where to get springs and what should their modulus be to set the LF resonance of the mass + springs.

Thanks, Kevin

[Peter Daniel]

My heavy frame came out quite accidentaly, but I'm not sure that going to such extremes is neccessary, although I was quite biased by the way Madrigal did it in ML31.5 (the lead frame is also about 5kg): http://www.marklevinson.com/image_library/31_5OH_lo.jpg

The springs I'm using are approx 2" long and 1" dia, pretty stiff, under load they compress by apprx 0.1" and resonance frequency is approx. 10Hz. Adding some dumping material inside (but not too much) seems to be beneficial and helps reduce the ringing. I bought last 4 pcs localy, but I'm pretty sure similar type can be found at McMastercarr




The Flatfish weighs approx 2.2kg and the aluminum platform is 6.7 x 9.6 x 0.6" Looking at the pics one may not figure out what those weired spiked legs are for, but they actually act as horizontal spring like suspention with resonant freq of 3-4Hz.