Marantz CD63 & CD67 mods list

Someone did once suggest a couple of very specific "fixes" to the ground layout and I tried these on one player. I think it made a little difference but I can't remember the specific advice that chap gave.

Not me, but I can give a precis with the benefit of hindsight: start with another player, the 43/53/63 architectue is an utter mess electrically ;) There are too many big slots and a gross lack of copper for the 'ground plane' to work as one might assume.

More positively: the best you can do is to be clear on the supply AND RETURN loop of any new supply you add-in. That means if you add a new, independant supply for a particular job, control both sides of it - don't just tag your extra 0v return on near the existing psu and hope for the best. Rather - take both poles of the new supply off as local to the job in hand as possible (that is, at the decoupling cap for that particular job, oh except that the 43/53/63 often sucks at having those, too...)
 
....just for your amusement: I couldn't help myself and did one last experiment to the the ground layout: Disconnected anlog and digital ground in the PSU and tied both together at he center-tap (ground) of the transformer. Simple and brilliant idea i thought.

Result: BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!

Thank You & Good Night.

Mickie
 
And it came to pass, that the famous Marantz CD63 & CD67 mods list went silent and darkness fell upon the lands and cries of woe and consternation rose to the unheeding heavens from those who know and those who troll and it was a time for greiving and tearing of hair and knashing of teeth and who would come to relieve the suffering in that bleak hour???
 
And it came to pass, that the famous Marantz CD63 & CD67 mods list went silent and darkness fell upon the lands and cries of woe and consternation rose to the unheeding heavens from those who know and those who troll and it was a time for greiving and tearing of hair and knashing of teeth and who would come to relieve the suffering in that bleak hour???

OMG, why I don't understand a single word?
 
Some CD-Rs play in some cd players, but not others. It might be burned in a format that's supported by newer CD players but not by older ones like the CD63/67. skipping or repeating can mean either the disc was burned faster than your CD-R media is certified for, or your CD player is incompatible with the brand of CD-R disc that you recorded on. The sad fact is, not all brands of CD-R media will work in all CD players. I've found that I can play a burned CD on one CD63 and it will work, but on another it will not. Someone mentioned somewhere I think that there is a mod that cures this problem most of the time. I will have a google and see if I can find it.
 
It has all to do with the reflective layer on CD-R's, which is less reflective than an original CD. If you have a scope, you can clearly see the decrease in amplitude of the HF signal when a CD-R is inserted. If the amplitude gets too low, it won't play. Since not all players are adjusted to the same HF amplitude, it will play on some, but not on others.

Modern players have a decoder chip that has an extra amplifier that boosts the signal if a CD-R is detected. The quality of the HF signal can be increased by using good quality CD-R's and burning them on a low speed.
 
It has all to do with the reflective layer on CD-R's, which is less reflective than an original CD. If you have a scope, you can clearly see the decrease in amplitude of the HF signal when a CD-R is inserted. If the amplitude gets too low, it won't play. Since not all players are adjusted to the same HF amplitude, it will play on some, but not on others.

Modern players have a decoder chip that has an extra amplifier that boosts the signal if a CD-R is detected. The quality of the HF signal can be increased by using good quality CD-R's and burning them on a low speed.

This is, by some margin, the best explanation of CDR-playback issues I've ever read! Thank you Ray.

I did know that burning the discs slowly was a positive thing and only recently a friend informed me of why modern burners can't be set for 1X audio burns... it's because they use extra laser power to compensate for the high top speed burning and that power will be too high for the slowest speeds. I don't think the disc will set on fire as such, but it would presumably make coasters of the blanks!
 
There has, however, been some talk about doing certain burns using a good drive (e.g. a nice Plextor) at low speed on a good disc and it sounding superior to the original. I can't explain that, unless the explanation is that with a low speed burn on such a drive (there's a setting you can turn on to further help: Varirec: see below) the disc is easier to read etc.

Varirec debate here: http://www.cdrlabs.com/forums/testing-varirec-t12440.html
 
Last edited:
I know, I still own my Plextor SCSI CD-rom drive and my first Panasonic 4x speed SCSI CD-writer! Paid fl. 999,00 for the writer back then, including a SCSI card :eek:
I earned it back two-fold by making copies for everyone :D

Maybe if the original disc is of lower quality, the burning process can create a 'stronger' copy? If you read the disc with something like EAC, all data should be flawless, and burning it to a decent medium could be an upgrade over the original in that case.

But there's also the issue of unbalanced discs: if the CD-R has better balance than the original one, the HF signal and thus the sound may be better.

Ray
 
Last edited: