Purpose of project:
"DIY mod my CD63 to the max" - by:
-building custom case for cd63
-mod electronics as per audioasylum.com
-build or source custom DAC to fit inside new casing
This is an ongoing project but lets start from the begining.
I wanted to refit the guts of a Marantz CD63KI into a new case, the following pics are of my new casing. Ive gone for an extremely rigid chasis - 20mm granite. the sides are 20mm perspex, lid is 4 mm perspex. the back plate is original copper plated Marantz back panel.
I love this Cd player but hate its cheap pasic front and excess of buttons. My new casing has buttons on the top surface - just the basic functions. I aim to run a wired remote to a Dedicated Listening seat which will have attached to it a panel with functions for my DIY setup. - long term plan.
The perspex has been painted (copper colour) on the inside surface making the whole units Paint finish very tough.
Has anyone got suggestions on DAC to build which I could mount internally?
Are the tweaks at audioasylum the right way to go?
BTW: I know Peter Daniel talks about making chassis rigid, but i dont think this is what he is talking about.......
"DIY mod my CD63 to the max" - by:
-building custom case for cd63
-mod electronics as per audioasylum.com
-build or source custom DAC to fit inside new casing
This is an ongoing project but lets start from the begining.
I wanted to refit the guts of a Marantz CD63KI into a new case, the following pics are of my new casing. Ive gone for an extremely rigid chasis - 20mm granite. the sides are 20mm perspex, lid is 4 mm perspex. the back plate is original copper plated Marantz back panel.
I love this Cd player but hate its cheap pasic front and excess of buttons. My new casing has buttons on the top surface - just the basic functions. I aim to run a wired remote to a Dedicated Listening seat which will have attached to it a panel with functions for my DIY setup. - long term plan.
The perspex has been painted (copper colour) on the inside surface making the whole units Paint finish very tough.
Has anyone got suggestions on DAC to build which I could mount internally?
Are the tweaks at audioasylum the right way to go?
BTW: I know Peter Daniel talks about making chassis rigid, but i dont think this is what he is talking about.......
Attachments
Maaate, that case is cool! I'm kinda drunk, but still, I'm quite sure that copper finish looks awesome!
Why not try some mods on the unit before making new things?
Take out the ouptut caps and muting transistors for an obvious improvement. Change the op-amps too. Change it all! It'll be cool!
Seriously though, looks nice.
-Simon
Why not try some mods on the unit before making new things?
Take out the ouptut caps and muting transistors for an obvious improvement. Change the op-amps too. Change it all! It'll be cool!
Seriously though, looks nice.
-Simon
Hmm, I've just re-read your first post. You say you love the player. Now that you have changed the aesthetics completely, why do you want to mod it more? The sonic character will change quite a bit, most likely.
Personally, I disliked my cd63 from day one (I have ruthless speakers, I guess, they bring out the harshness). After about 15 mods, I like it a lot, so from that I say do it! But the character does change, it will probably get softer/more subtle, so if you like the hard-hitting upfront nature of the 63ki, then I say be careful, as it will change, no doubt.
Actually, whatever you think about the sound, taking out the dc blocking caps will make an improvement!!! (unless too much dc gets through your amp and breaks your speakers of course, not sure how it works really, so be warned, but others will surely chip in soon with technical stuff).....
-Simon
Personally, I disliked my cd63 from day one (I have ruthless speakers, I guess, they bring out the harshness). After about 15 mods, I like it a lot, so from that I say do it! But the character does change, it will probably get softer/more subtle, so if you like the hard-hitting upfront nature of the 63ki, then I say be careful, as it will change, no doubt.
Actually, whatever you think about the sound, taking out the dc blocking caps will make an improvement!!! (unless too much dc gets through your amp and breaks your speakers of course, not sure how it works really, so be warned, but others will surely chip in soon with technical stuff).....
-Simon
Hi Mesh,
Well, I might not remember them all at once, I'll need to find my list. But from the top of my head, I:
1 Changed feet to 3 oak cones (more musical, less upfront)
2 Added copious amounts of bitumen to chassis (better all round)
3 Added blue tac to transport and bracing bar
4 Removed output muting transistors (small improvement maybe)
5 Replaced DC blocking caps with silver jumper wire (very large improvement - so much more dynamic and even detailed from what I remember)
6 'Reclocked' with Audiocom DVC-1 add-on clock (good improvement)
7 Fed DVC-1 with offboard home made 5v PSU (same again or more)
8 Shielded and grounded all ICs (maybe some improvement)
9 Added braided CAT5 mains cable (smoother, less harsh, possibly better imaging)
10 Added 0.33uf 'x' cap to mains input (again, smoother)
11 Added chokes to live and neutral mains
12 Replaced some diodes with Schottky (did with mains cap, got much better/sweeter treble)
13 Changed op-amps to OPA2164(?) (big improvement - bass solidity+depth, detail, imaging etc.)
14 Swapped about 20 resistors around opamps for metal film 1% tol. L+R channels matched to 0.1% tol. with my multimeter (totally different sound character, and I mean it, wasn't sure I liked it at first, but certainly much smoother and probably more natural)
15 Changed some small psu line resistors for inductors + ferrite beads
16 Put dollop of blu-tac on clock crystal
17 Cleaned all connectors and internal fuses with Deoxit
18 Accidentally disabled/broke display (when changing resistors)
19 (Botch-job!) grounded chassis to stop case from slightly electricuting me (maybe minor sonic change too)
20 Changed 2 output caps to roll-off more treble
21 Re-used Elna Silmic (from output) in decoupling in output area
22 Couple of BG standard in one PSU line
23 One psu cap. (digital prolly) changed to large ultra low z type
Well, I might have missed a few, but that should give you some ideas!!
I now have a player with stunning bass, very good treble, and good midrange. The midrange may be limited by my speakers and music, I just don't know anymore. Detail retrieval is incredible compared to the original. Backgrounds are pretty black and dynamics are good. Timing is pretty good too. All my own opinion of course, and please don't read too much into it all.
-Simon
Well, I might not remember them all at once, I'll need to find my list. But from the top of my head, I:
1 Changed feet to 3 oak cones (more musical, less upfront)
2 Added copious amounts of bitumen to chassis (better all round)
3 Added blue tac to transport and bracing bar
4 Removed output muting transistors (small improvement maybe)
5 Replaced DC blocking caps with silver jumper wire (very large improvement - so much more dynamic and even detailed from what I remember)
6 'Reclocked' with Audiocom DVC-1 add-on clock (good improvement)
7 Fed DVC-1 with offboard home made 5v PSU (same again or more)
8 Shielded and grounded all ICs (maybe some improvement)
9 Added braided CAT5 mains cable (smoother, less harsh, possibly better imaging)
10 Added 0.33uf 'x' cap to mains input (again, smoother)
11 Added chokes to live and neutral mains
12 Replaced some diodes with Schottky (did with mains cap, got much better/sweeter treble)
13 Changed op-amps to OPA2164(?) (big improvement - bass solidity+depth, detail, imaging etc.)
14 Swapped about 20 resistors around opamps for metal film 1% tol. L+R channels matched to 0.1% tol. with my multimeter (totally different sound character, and I mean it, wasn't sure I liked it at first, but certainly much smoother and probably more natural)
15 Changed some small psu line resistors for inductors + ferrite beads
16 Put dollop of blu-tac on clock crystal
17 Cleaned all connectors and internal fuses with Deoxit
18 Accidentally disabled/broke display (when changing resistors)
19 (Botch-job!) grounded chassis to stop case from slightly electricuting me (maybe minor sonic change too)
20 Changed 2 output caps to roll-off more treble
21 Re-used Elna Silmic (from output) in decoupling in output area
22 Couple of BG standard in one PSU line
23 One psu cap. (digital prolly) changed to large ultra low z type
Well, I might have missed a few, but that should give you some ideas!!
I now have a player with stunning bass, very good treble, and good midrange. The midrange may be limited by my speakers and music, I just don't know anymore. Detail retrieval is incredible compared to the original. Backgrounds are pretty black and dynamics are good. Timing is pretty good too. All my own opinion of course, and please don't read too much into it all.
-Simon
Ooh, forgot a couple of things:
I added bypass caps to the Elnas that feed the HDAM buffer - 220nf and 22nf - I had a nightmarish time soldering three together!! The Black Gate's were also bypassed, and there is a BG on the input from my 5v psu, where it enters the player (1,000uf, 25v). The opamps were also given extra 220nf film caps, at their + and - v pins to ground. This may have been part of the large improvement here.
I should at this point state that most of these mods are not my ideas, but have come from the excellent tnt-audio pages. Thanks to those guys!
Anyone any ideas on removing the last hint of digital 'bite'?
I intend to somehow try the (conterversial) LED light bathing mod, but I don't know how to fit it all in with this transport
-Simon
I added bypass caps to the Elnas that feed the HDAM buffer - 220nf and 22nf - I had a nightmarish time soldering three together!! The Black Gate's were also bypassed, and there is a BG on the input from my 5v psu, where it enters the player (1,000uf, 25v). The opamps were also given extra 220nf film caps, at their + and - v pins to ground. This may have been part of the large improvement here.
I should at this point state that most of these mods are not my ideas, but have come from the excellent tnt-audio pages. Thanks to those guys!
Anyone any ideas on removing the last hint of digital 'bite'?
I intend to somehow try the (conterversial) LED light bathing mod, but I don't know how to fit it all in with this transport
-Simon
Hi mesh,
I surprised myself at how many things I've done when I put them all down in one list!! I did the mods over months, one or two at a time, the total number of hours is huge, but I enjoyed [almost] every minute Actually I am still going with them, though I've decided I'm nearly there with the player now
It may help to list the most significant (subjectively of course!) mods for you:
- removal of output caps/dc blocking
- change of opamps to good ones, and decoupled with film caps
- reclocking, and use of a good psu for new clock
- damping of chassis and use of 'coupling' type feet, rather than soft feet
- changing diodes to Schottky types
You may aswell beef up some of the psu caps with decent quality ones too, this seems to help in several areas, sounding more 'correct', dare I say it!
I wouldn't worry about what analog_sa thinks about granite. As you have all that weight at the bottom of the chassis and feet to tightly couple to your rack you should have a sensible system for 'draining away' stored vibrational energy. I think this makes more sense than 'decoupling' with rubber or whatever some people use. And it all looks cool
-Simon
I surprised myself at how many things I've done when I put them all down in one list!! I did the mods over months, one or two at a time, the total number of hours is huge, but I enjoyed [almost] every minute
Actually I am still going with them, though I've decided I'm nearly there with the player now It may help to list the most significant (subjectively of course!) mods for you:
- removal of output caps/dc blocking
- change of opamps to good ones, and decoupled with film caps
- reclocking, and use of a good psu for new clock
- damping of chassis and use of 'coupling' type feet, rather than soft feet
- changing diodes to Schottky types
You may aswell beef up some of the psu caps with decent quality ones too, this seems to help in several areas, sounding more 'correct', dare I say it!
I wouldn't worry about what analog_sa thinks about granite. As you have all that weight at the bottom of the chassis and feet to tightly couple to your rack you should have a sensible system for 'draining away' stored vibrational energy. I think this makes more sense than 'decoupling' with rubber or whatever some people use. And it all looks cool
-Simon
Nonsense. Heavy mass acts like a mechanical equivalent of a large capacitor and actually stores vibrational energy very effectively. Eventually some of this energy gets back to whatever sits on top of it, delayed and with a different spectrum to create some very unpleasant colourations (or pleasant, if you've developed a taste for the 'loudness switch' type of sound granite imposes)
Mesh,
It's a pleasure to help
You must be careful when you remove those DC blocking capacitors though. I don't know if you understand what their function is, though I guess it's self-explanatory! They stop any rogue DC from reaching your amp, and ultimaltely speakers, which apparently, don't care to receive DC.
I don't personally have a problem, and you may not. Apparently by closely matching some resistors further up in the path, DC is minimised. Which reminds me, changing these resistors is also recommended, particularly if you find the sound harsh at all, I think.
Hope this info helps, and I don't mean to sound patronising, but I don;t know what you do and don't know about electronincs. Personally I know very little, hence why my ideas include disclaiming type phrasing such as "...apparently" and things like that.
Enjoy!
-Simon
It's a pleasure to help
You must be careful when you remove those DC blocking capacitors though. I don't know if you understand what their function is, though I guess it's self-explanatory! They stop any rogue DC from reaching your amp, and ultimaltely speakers, which apparently, don't care to receive DC.
I don't personally have a problem, and you may not. Apparently by closely matching some resistors further up in the path, DC is minimised. Which reminds me, changing these resistors is also recommended, particularly if you find the sound harsh at all, I think.
Hope this info helps, and I don't mean to sound patronising, but I don;t know what you do and don't know about electronincs. Personally I know very little, hence why my ideas include disclaiming type phrasing such as "...apparently" and things like that.
Enjoy!
-Simon
Yes, I expected some sort of rebuttal from this forum member.
Again, don't worry too much. As long as it's on something that is bigger than itself and nicely connected to the floor ie. via spikes, it should be reasonable, if not ideal.
The reason analog just gave for not using heavy things I actually agree with, one can't really deny it. But the worst thing you can do is to have something heavy AND try to decouple it from everything else, AFAIK. This way the energy will have nowhere to go really, and the cd player will resonate for a longer period of time (possibly), making the sound 'thuddy' IME.
This effect was demonstrated clearly in my case by going from stock feet (ie. foam pads) to oak cone feet. The sound became much freer and more natural. The bass was less thuddy and one-note. The sound was easier to listen to and less in-your-face.
I used to have mass on my MDF/steel bolt rack in the way of several large paving slabs. I removed them one day to see if I preferred the sound. Again, similar effect - the sound is more natural, and the bass is more light-footed.
If you havent already, spike your rack to the floor. This seems to add another level of naturalness, speed and detail to a system.
Most people think a rack won't make much difference, and this may be because they've only heard metal/glass ones, and use soft supports, which just seems the opposite from ideal!
Anyway, back to work, before I get in trouble!!
-Simon
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