Marantz CD63 & CD67 mods list

[SimontY]

Hi,

There's no "solution" to the sound character the player has, that's just how it is and you can have that character in messy, mushy format (standard) or crystal clear format (very modified).

The Burson modules sound terrific and will give it a more open and punchy sound. If you ask him nicely, maybe Brent will regulate your servo drivers, it is very worthwhile, especially if you crave the best bass.

The extra S Power regulators in his Level 5 mod make a big difference, it will be smoother and cleaner again, and finally will have the fluid dreamy high end sound of the unaffordable players.... at least I think that's how those £5k+ players would sound

Simon

[shepperd]

Hi too, Yes I fully intend to go all the way! I space this out because of the £'s. The advantage is that as time goes on, he "learns" more and offers more (thanks in no small part to this on-going thread...let others do some of the work!) the "clock work" he did this time has had a major impact on timing; decay/impact. I don't know if I could take the whole package all at once! and this way I can really hear the difference as I progress to the dreamy hights. It would be really interesting to compared a fully kitted-out 63 or 67 to some of those "high end" players. Don't know if it ever has happend though. An interesting side-effect of all this is how much closer it gets to what (I remember) we call analogue sound, as apposed to digital.

[SimontY]

Originally Posted by Malefoda

Simon, did you try the eBay HK wood spikes under all your players? Always give a improvement?

I've tried those exact cones on 2 cd players, both with considerable gains in musicality type changes. They are also beautiful and I've no hesitation recommending the seller, who ships them out in a gift box to "prove" they're not worthy of being taxed upon arrival.

4 Wooden Speaker Spike Isolation Cone Amplifier NWS04 on eBay (end time 17-Jan-10 10:41:08 GMT)

I have tried oak cone feet (Russ Andrews + an Ebay seller) under an integrated amp and a pre-amp. It made a big difference under the integrated!!

Simon

[SimontY]

Originally Posted by shepperd

Hi too, Yes I fully intend to go all the way! I space this out because of the £'s. The advantage is that as time goes on, he "learns" more and offers more (thanks in no small part to this on-going thread...let others do some of the work!)

Indeed, but people like Brent also have to make choices about which mods are good value, not just good per se. A time-consuming tweak can add a lot of labour cost and might not be worthwhile overall.

If you look at Audiocom mods you'll see it's generally very easy to implement upgrades using costly parts for a very exotic price. I would sell my time to do mods cheaply because it's just a hobby for me... I think Brent's work is more of a happy medium ie. you get a lot for the money including some superb parts like the C2 clock. Brent once showed me a CD63 vanilla version with just a C2 and Burson op-amps and it was surprisingly good!!!

[Chivvyp]

Originally Posted by SimontY

I've tried those exact cones on 2 cd players, both with considerable gains in musicality type changes.
Simon

Hi Simon,

Have you tried these wooden feet with any old plastic case players? I'm looking for some new feet but I'm not sure if sorbothene will work better with plastic case.

Pete

[RCruz]

Hi Simon

IMO, regulating the decoder and HF amp with external psu and regs is fundamental to improve the musicality of these players.... Otherwise the sound is a little clinical.

Ricardo

[SimontY]

Pete,

I put those wooden feet on my plastic CD650 and the change was wonderful, just as it is with metal CD players. I've not tried sorbothane but in principal I don't like the idea, and cones work so well!!

Ricardo,

I found regulating the HF amp with a 7805 makes hardly any difference to the sound. The decoder ones are certainly more important. I recall when I had the big external psu box on my KI I was getting huge dynamics and scale. PSUs are important for any CD player!

[Malefoda]

Simon, they are glued?

[SimontY]

Matthieu,

Yes, with a dab of superglue. It should be superglue, nothing that will stay soft and defeat the purpose of the cones.

[Fidelity Audio]

Originally Posted by SimontY

Indeed, but people like Brent also have to make choices about which mods are good value, not just good per se. A time-consuming tweak can add a lot of labour cost and might not be worthwhile overall.

If you look at Audiocom mods you'll see it's generally very easy to implement upgrades using costly parts for a very exotic price. I would sell my time to do mods cheaply because it's just a hobby for me... I think Brent's work is more of a happy medium ie. you get a lot for the money including some superb parts like the C2 clock. Brent once showed me a CD63 vanilla version with just a C2 and Burson op-amps and it was surprisingly good!!!

I do try to charge as low as possible for my time but there are overheads (like you paying board at your dads ), more often than not I under charge which is good everyone except me .
On another note I do fit more than twice as many parts as Audiocom and approx 1/2 the cost too . All my parts are nice ones too. I will do the small tweaks when doing upgrades also as they all add up to make the sound better.
Whats wrong with Vanilla? It's the second most expensive spice you know!!

Brent