Marantz CD63 & CD67 mods list

[disco]

Originally posted by 6h5c
Hey Jaap, how's things? You are (still) very busy looking at your pictures :-). Are you working on a fancy PSU for the output stage? Nice work .

You are right about the trannys. That's why I use an PCB tranny for The Flea.

Regards,

Ray

Hi Ray, still busy making progress

I was working on a Low Noise reg for the Discrete Output when I came across the Jung Regulator (AKA ALW-reg) and wondered if it would be beneficial for the analogue part of CD63. Has anyone measured S/N ratio after removal of the mute circuit? Would an Ultra Low Noise / Ultra Low Impedance PSU make a noticeable difference to the overall reproduction quality of this player or would the present amount of noise disappear behind greater shortcomings? In my experience less noise gives less harsh highs.

Good job on that digital-analogue converter board. Is there news on the availability of half assembled units? My eyes are not good enough for the small components used but I would certainly be interested in a prefab board.

The balanced mains is a great success. Me and three mates are enjoying clean mains every day now. Still have to include a circuitbreaker, in the form of a Solid State Relais, powered by one of those cute PCB trannies.

[SimontY]

Jaap,

The more psus I add the better the player sounds. And everytime a low-noise voltage reg goes in the sound quality jumps forward. So don't hold back - do it!

Simon

[Mags]

Hi Simon.

The player is still burning in at the moment. I used the player before with invisus regs and a LM6171/ad825 combo in the output stage, the Zapfilter does sound a lot better but it seems to be a little over clinical at the moment. I'll have to wait and see how it settles down.
Another thing is I have just got some new speakers that also need to be run in so it's a combination of everything.

Cheers,
Mags.

P.S. They are both Audiocom Superclock 3's.

[SimontY]

Ahh, definately sounds like you need to let the dust settle and reassess things later.

[awpagan]

Originally posted by Mags



Hi Simon.

Yep there's 9 invisus regs in there, I managed to get them very cheap though

It's sounding very very nice but a bit dry and over clinical, it's still burning in at the moment though. I'm not to sure the Zapfilter is the way to go yet so I'll probably try one of Ray's discrete output stages later on.

Glenn, what filter did you end up using before the zapfilter? Also what sort of offset do you get from the zapfilter? I had over 200mv on the left channel before I installed 1k resistors over the original 100r's in the current mirrors. Here's a pic of were to add the new resistors, the ones circled in yellow.

Cheers,
Mags.

the cd63/67 are voltage output dac's
blob 2,4,6

allan

[Mags]

Originally posted by awpagan



the cd63/67 are voltage output dac's
blop 2,4,6

allan

Hi Allan.

I have soldered over 2/4/6. The pic of the zapfilter is from another thread were someone else had the same problem, it's apparently a manufacturing problem

Cheers,
Mags.

[disco]

Originally posted by seroxatmad
So would you say the KI version wasted the money on a round transformer? Did it actually add anything to the sound quality? i.e less vibration? Better regulation? Less noise out of its secondaries?

John

I did use a Block tx, and it got so hot that you couldn't touch the thing. It melted the adhesive on the mounting brackets and fell-off.
Lee.

Hi John / Lee,

This question covers it all I guess:

Q: what properties of the trannie may be reason to (audiable) shortcomings?

A1: current capacity. Not enough current available slows down the loading of the reservoir cap. That's the first cap after the rectifier bridge. Enhancing capacitor values and inserting power regulators present a bigger load to the power supply (=more current running) what asks for a more powerful trannie to fill up the reservoir cap swiftly after a sudden current demand.

A2: impedance. Units for higher current hold normally less impedance because of the thicker wire used. Less impedance makes current 'travel faster' to the consumers and would be beneficial to dynamic headroom. On the other hand, less impedance in combination with a bigger reservoir cap changes the way the PSU ringing is dampened. Effects vary from case tot case and must be studied with a scoop.

A3: parasitic capacitance. Toroids show much broader bandwith than stacked core units. As a result toroids pass more 'mains inserted pollution' than old style units.

A4: core saturation. Toroids have an even magnetising characteristic what is a good property. When the trannie is loaded to the edge _what might be the case with the stock unit after beefing up cap values_ it starts to behave distorted. Toroids show more rapid decline of the magnetising curve than old style transformers and should be kept far from using to the max power.

A5: regulation. The change in output voltage to desired voltage after a change of the load. Bigger trannies show better regulation. It must be noted that a certain load has to be presented to the transformer to obtain optimal regulation. See the two metal oxid resistors I for that reason put on my big PSU for a small load

[awpagan]

Jaap
i found a nice little filter for the discrete output stage.
for use after LM317/337/..78/79's

allan

[disco]

Originally posted by Mags
Hi.

Here's a couple of pic's of my new toy. Still a bit to do as most things are held down with Blu-Tac and I'm going to sort out the wiring.

Cheers,
Mags.

Close fit Mags, only for the brave-of-heart.
Cutting the PCB on the left of the original tranny makes it possible to bolt down the extra tranny to the bottom of the chassis. You need weight to absorp the resonances.
Black Gate N(X) are quality caps with very good HF properties. Because of the high price advised to apply only where useful (they make great coupling caps too). Give 'm ample time to brake loose, specially on mA currents they take a long time before coming to live.

[disco]

Originally posted by awpagan
Jaap
i found a nice little filter for the discrete output stage.
for use after LM317/337/..78/79's

allan

Hi Allan, long time since...
I can't open your attachment but by the looks of it it has a large partscount, more than the Jung Regulator which is LN and LI from the start. See http://waltjung.org/Late_Articles.html