Finally, an affordable CD Transport: the Shigaclone story

[Puffin]

Peter. Got my bag of components today. Quick delivery, thanks. I might have a few questions for you over the weekend.

[iihay]

Me too, thanks Peter very fast I'm supposed to be putting up wallpaper but hopefully I'll get some some time to press on as well.

Cheers

Iain

[Peter Daniel]

As I mentioned before, if you decide not to use some of those parts, I can take them back (and issue a refund), providing the jackets are perfect condition and leads at least 5mm long.

[DaveM]

Hey luvdunhill,

Any news on whether those are the real deal? I am about to order one and have it shipped to a friend in Canada. I was just waiting till you confirmed that it was the right model.

Thanks

[johnm]

Just wanted to let anyone suffering from 'Black Gate Burn In Woes' know that this evening my Shigaclone SUDDENLY came on song whilst listening to Frank Zappa! Now I don't know if was a weeks burn-in time, or good old Frank from beyond the grave, but it's sounding wonderful now. The piano on 'Evelyn, a Modified Dog' sounds amazingly rich and 'sparkly'... full bodied. The mouth organ also sounds very realistic indeed - good stuff! I now have the kind of rich, detailed sound I am after.

I really was ready to order a new mechanism and start from scratch with a RC-EZ51H but it's all sounding fantastic now.

Of course now I have to decide after a few more days of listening, whether to try the new crystal again and the 0.1uF cap, now I know the Black Gates are starting to hit their stride....

Have to say I'm not hearing any of the grain Kevin mentioned with the stock crystal - curious. Kevin is the crystal in the 32 board also a ZTT?

Cheers,

- John

[Peter Daniel]

As to the crystal, your unit may have a different one. Also, in case you install Citizen, try it now without hot glue, maybe that did something

[johnm]

Maybe damped it too much you mean? Always possible I guess. It may also be that I need those two 8pF caps when using that crystal, at least in my board. The ZTT crystal has them built-in.

[kevinkr]

Originally posted by johnm
Just wanted to let anyone suffering from 'Black Gate Burn In Woes' know that this evening my Shigaclone SUDDENLY came on song whilst listening to Frank Zappa! Now I don't know if was a weeks burn-in time, or good old Frank from beyond the grave, but it's sounding wonderful now. The piano on 'Evelyn, a Modified Dog' sounds amazingly rich and 'sparkly'... full bodied. The mouth organ also sounds very realistic indeed - good stuff! I now have the kind of rich, detailed sound I am after.

I really was ready to order a new mechanism and start from scratch with a RC-EZ51H but it's all sounding fantastic now.

Of course now I have to decide after a few more days of listening, whether to try the new crystal again and the 0.1uF cap, now I know the Black Gates are starting to hit their stride....

Have to say I'm not hearing any of the grain Kevin mentioned with the stock crystal - curious. Kevin is the crystal in the 32 board also a ZTT?

Cheers,

- John

Hi John,
I have not looked closely at the resonator/crystal lately, but I vaguely recall it as being the same ZTT type you mentioned. The Citizen crystal is floating off of the board just on its leads - no damping material applied. IMO I might need to damp the housing like Peter did.

I have noticed some of the same effects you mentioned in terms of break in of the BG caps.. Some of the other changes I made also contributed to the recent improvements.

This thing sounds extremely detailed, and the overall sound quality is very good. It sounds a little forward compared to the Sony and it sounds just a little too "bloomy" at times. It is still evolving and I am not done modding it either, so I expect more changes to occur.

When I actually package it I may try to fit the larger transformer I have sitting around, in theory it should better voltage regulation than the "teeny weeny little thing" it came with, and that might improve performance in ways I have not yet been able to quantify.

[johnm]

As far as the crystal goes I think I'll 'quit whilst I'm ahead' as the saying goes (even though Sanyo themselves recommend the Citizen crystal, albiet with the two 8pF caps).

I may try experimenting with that C906 capacitor though at a later date. The JVC uses 0.1uF, and yet the datasheet for the Sanyo LA9242 chip recommends to use a 0.068uF cap instead... might order a film cap in that value and see what happens. I have a 0.047uF cap already so might try that...

I have to say I didn't notice a HUGE improvement with the new 100VA PSU transformer - certainly not as huge as I was expecting at any rate. still all improvements add to the greater whole

[Dennis Hui]

Originally posted by DaveM
Hey luvdunhill,

Any news on whether those are the real deal? I am about to order one and have it shipped to a friend in Canada. I was just waiting till you confirmed that it was the right model.

Thanks

Dave,

I ordered one from visions.ca and it is the correct model
(RC-EZ31B).

Hope this helps.

Dennis