I am keeping my eye on Ebay to find a good CD player for cheap, and I have seen that some brands (Philips , Sony, Technics) are not so considered, so it's quite easy to buy some of their top-line products (a few years old) for little money...
I currently own a Arcam Alpha One CD that I like, but next year I'm getting married and I'll have to get something else.
I am still going to build a non-OS dac, so all I need is a player with a good transport and a digital output or a "tweakable" one.
I was scared by negative comments I found here about crazy groundings on the Philips CD931, which has a CDM9 transport, (very good from what I can see), so now I am doubtful on what to do.
Can it still be a good deal or are there better players to look for (not too old nor too expensive)?
Should instead I go with a cheap (but new) player like the CD723 or the alike and tweak it or use it as a transport?
Any reply appreciated..
Cheers
Andrea
I currently own a Arcam Alpha One CD that I like, but next year I'm getting married and I'll have to get something else.
I am still going to build a non-OS dac, so all I need is a player with a good transport and a digital output or a "tweakable" one.
I was scared by negative comments I found here about crazy groundings on the Philips CD931, which has a CDM9 transport, (very good from what I can see), so now I am doubtful on what to do.
Can it still be a good deal or are there better players to look for (not too old nor too expensive)?
Should instead I go with a cheap (but new) player like the CD723 or the alike and tweak it or use it as a transport?
Any reply appreciated..
Cheers
Andrea
I own one, also bought it on ebay.
I wanted it for the same reasons as you, good mechanism, not too old (must be one of the last players that used the CDM-9 mechanism), good looking, and plenty of space inside the players (good for mods
)
But I prefer my Marantz CD62, sounds a little better.
-The philips looks nicer on pictures that in real life, the marantz has a better looking chassis.
-you need a torx screwdriver to open it, and has many screws (a dozen)
-it's such a pain to dismount the transport! You have to unscrew near everything before (even the front pannel and the big pcb) being able to put the transport out
And mine has a little problem, the transport makes noise (this is a problem specific to mine)
I don't know if you're looking on ebay.it or ebay.de, but on the second one, there are 2 good deals, one for a marantz CD62 (the same as mine), and one for a marantz CD50 (looks like a CD62 with a TDA1541A DAC, better deal it it's in a good state)
Both are very cheap
I wanted it for the same reasons as you, good mechanism, not too old (must be one of the last players that used the CDM-9 mechanism), good looking, and plenty of space inside the players (good for mods
)But I prefer my Marantz CD62, sounds a little better.
-The philips looks nicer on pictures that in real life, the marantz has a better looking chassis.
-you need a torx screwdriver to open it, and has many screws (a dozen)
-it's such a pain to dismount the transport! You have to unscrew near everything before (even the front pannel and the big pcb) being able to put the transport out
And mine has a little problem, the transport makes noise (this is a problem specific to mine)
I don't know if you're looking on ebay.it or ebay.de, but on the second one, there are 2 good deals, one for a marantz CD62 (the same as mine), and one for a marantz CD50 (looks like a CD62 with a TDA1541A DAC, better deal it it's in a good state)
Both are very cheap
Andypairo said:
You can go to www.marantz.com, you'll have to click on some links before getting on the audio products page
then, on the left menu, look for "old products archive" or something like this, then, select compact disc players, and select nothing for the year
you'll have the complate list of the old cd players; with the year it beginned to be selled (and only this)
Philips CD930
Hi Andypairo,
First congratulations with your engagement to be married!.
I own a Philips CD931 that is very similar to the CD930.
I find the sound better then the Philips CD650.(same clock). And muchos better than a Sony CDPX33ES. (And also much better than the Philips CD380. Do you read this Rudolf?)
For topnotch performance take out the three I2S signals and feed them directly to the TDA1543. Stunning performance,. I never heard the sweet shimmering overtones of a clavicord better!
The digital output is bulls***. Distorted waveform and cinch (not 75 Ohm).
Bricolo, you can take out the main PCB TOGETHER with the transport!. Just remove all screws holding the the main PCB and to screws behind the tray at the front, holding the stationary tray to the frontpanel. The front of the tray can be easily removed by lifting. Also remove the screw at the center of the transport at the rear. For this one you need a long torxbit.
A groundloop seems to be built in as the main PCB is connected at two or more places to the chassis. Jean-Paul seems to know all about this issue.
Hi Andypairo,
First congratulations with your engagement to be married!.
I own a Philips CD931 that is very similar to the CD930.
I find the sound better then the Philips CD650.(same clock). And muchos better than a Sony CDPX33ES. (And also much better than the Philips CD380. Do you read this Rudolf?)
For topnotch performance take out the three I2S signals and feed them directly to the TDA1543. Stunning performance,. I never heard the sweet shimmering overtones of a clavicord better!
The digital output is bulls***. Distorted waveform and cinch (not 75 Ohm).
Bricolo, you can take out the main PCB TOGETHER with the transport!. Just remove all screws holding the the main PCB and to screws behind the tray at the front, holding the stationary tray to the frontpanel. The front of the tray can be easily removed by lifting. Also remove the screw at the center of the transport at the rear. For this one you need a long torxbit.
A groundloop seems to be built in as the main PCB is connected at two or more places to the chassis. Jean-Paul seems to know all about this issue.
Phillips CD
Elso and others!
I'm reading current and finding past threads about old Marantz and Phillips players.The thing is I want to modify one of them.And I would like to get extremely good performance out of it (a lot of modifications).But I have a problem:Which of them to look for.I happen to be on local flea market every week and there are a lot old players there quite cheap (they are brought from germany,people throw them out).I already know that TDA 1541A (or S1) and SAA7220 are the chips to look inside.I already know that Phillips LHH-1000 is great,also 950 DAC (haven't seen them yet).Know about Marantz CD72MK2 and CD 80 (I must have seen them 'couse I know that look but they are quite seldom).But I see Phillips 930/931 and 950/951 almost every week.Is is any good for mods (I mean really ,extremely good).
Maybe some others:Revox B226 , Bang & Olufsen?
Please tell me what to look for? Which of older players after some modification can offer extreme performance?
The thing is I don't want to modify CD I happen to have,but I want to modify old CD which offers top performance.
I would be greatful for some hints.Which models are top of the line?
Bartek
Elso and others!
I'm reading current and finding past threads about old Marantz and Phillips players.The thing is I want to modify one of them.And I would like to get extremely good performance out of it (a lot of modifications).But I have a problem:Which of them to look for.I happen to be on local flea market every week and there are a lot old players there quite cheap (they are brought from germany,people throw them out).I already know that TDA 1541A (or S1) and SAA7220 are the chips to look inside.I already know that Phillips LHH-1000 is great,also 950 DAC (haven't seen them yet).Know about Marantz CD72MK2 and CD 80 (I must have seen them 'couse I know that look but they are quite seldom).But I see Phillips 930/931 and 950/951 almost every week.Is is any good for mods (I mean really ,extremely good).
Maybe some others:Revox B226 , Bang & Olufsen?
Please tell me what to look for? Which of older players after some modification can offer extreme performance?
The thing is I don't want to modify CD I happen to have,but I want to modify old CD which offers top performance.
I would be greatful for some hints.Which models are top of the line?
Bartek
Re: Phillips CD
Hi Bartek,
Forget about the CD80, CD960, CD380, CD650! Too old and you can't get a new laser.
Philips CD930/931/940 are almost identical, except programming.
I don't know exactly what makes them good. If my CD650 had not failed I would never have tried a CD931! And if my Sony CDPX33ES had not failed I never did try a CD650.
Please note I use the player only as a transport or source of I2S signals.
zygibajt said:
Hi Bartek,
Forget about the CD80, CD960, CD380, CD650! Too old and you can't get a new laser.
Philips CD930/931/940 are almost identical, except programming.
I don't know exactly what makes them good. If my CD650 had not failed I would never have tried a CD931! And if my Sony CDPX33ES had not failed I never did try a CD650.
Please note I use the player only as a transport or source of I2S signals.
Thank you for your congratulations, I hope that the WAF won't affect this hobby that much
(to be true I'm already making up her mind about our future set-up: big speakers, big amplifiers...
)So, if in good condition and a little "tweaked" this player can be a good choice (particularly if it is obtained cheaply..), isn't it?
Cheers
Andrea
PS Hey guys, fairplay on Ebay auctions!
Just received my CDM4/19 from Till ! You're right about the CDM1 ( as used in CD80/960 ), it is obsolete for quite some time now. But...there are CD80's out there with good lasers.
CD931 has a fine CDM 9 mechanics but the mainboard is really badly designed. Please have a look at the TDA8808/8809. One of of them isn't decoupled at all while it has very long tracks. One of them shares ground with the servo amp. One of the opamps isn't decoupled as well. The SPDIF transformer doesn't deserve the name like 99 % of Philips cdplayers ( if they have one that is ).
All this made me decide to sell it.
This machine needs time and a steady hand. The PCB material is not too good either so one has to be careful while modding and too much tweaking might be the end of CD931. And worse of all, it is 1 bit
.Congratulations on that but why on earth would you buy a crappy CD931 when you have a very tweakable Arcam Alpha One ( which has CDM 9 too IIRC just as my Alpha 5 ) ?
Why buy something less good than you have ????? When you sell the Arcam it will be around 100 Euro worth. Less than you'll spend on the "new" cdplayer that's worse than the old....
Andypairo said:To be true I'm not willing to sell the Arcam at all but I can't take it to my new home - my brothers wouldn't appreciate
I just wanted to know if I could obtain good results for cheap.. It is going to be a sort of experiment.
Cheers
Andrea
Ah, now it makes sense to me. You can obtain very good results with the older Philips/Marantz cdplayers. First buy a spare CDM4/19 from Till then ( if he still has any )
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