Marantz CD63 & CD67 mods list

[RCruz]

Originally posted by Malefoda
As you may know I've fitted a Super Regulator, from Sercal aka Brent, in the best CD53 of the world (yes I have no competitors for you are all with 63/67 ).

Here is the pictures of the player at the moment.


The SReg 5V is powered via C813.

Hi Matthieu

I am also modding a CD53 and am very interested in your work.

I examined your photo but did not identify the Sreg.

Can you please explain more ?

What type of clock are you using ?

Regards

Ricardo

[Thomo]

I forgot to say Merry Christmas, so I've done it now instead

Just a quick pic to show progress so far.




Wires still to be tidied and still 2x2200uF 35v BG FK to be added onto legs of S-Powers on the rear panel. But I'm struggling to think of anything else to do. Any ideas welcome.

Lee.

[Malefoda]

Originally posted by RCruz


Hi Matthieu

I am also modding a CD53 and am very interested in your work.
I examined your photo but did not identify the Sreg.

Can you please explain more ?
What type of clock are you using ?

Regards
Ricardo

Hi Ricardo, the Sreg is just in front of the BG at the opamps. It's the small PCB wich I managed to make it look as stock as possible. I think it does look OEM I feel bad with war in my CDP. The Clock is the famous Flea, you can find more about it at Pink Fish Media forums. It has its own PSU. Beside the full Ray's list (wich is a big work!) I've the clock and its PSU, Raygulators for the opamps, BG@LM4562, HF coax mod, damping and cooling on chassis... now it's a so great player! I just hope I'm near the CDP I was near to buy, the Naim CD5i and for this that all the work done is justified. Unfortunately I've no Naim to face :'(

Originally posted by Thomo

But I'm struggling to think of anything else to do. Any ideas welcome.
Lee.

Lee, clean this up! If it's me I can't sleep at all!

Matthieu

[Mikko H.]

Originally posted by SimontY
Hi Mikko, and Merry Christmas to all!

I have lots of noise too, and I'm not sure where it comes from, so I'll be eagerly following developments.

Re. your sound, I would think about changing the interconnects to ones with pure copper conducters, and putting the CD player on wooden cones. You'll also need to let the new upgrades "settle down" if you haven't already done so. The sound from the CD player should be fairly neutral, so there could be some brightness elsewhere throwing your sound out of balance now that the CD player is more precise.

Simon

Thanks for tips Simon ! I have run the CD player in for a while so it should have settled down quite good. I think I have one Cardas copper interconnect left on my stock, I will try this on my system. I will also check my speaker crossover quality, I think these speakers are now the weakest point in my system.

About the noise. The DAC output signals have a lot of noise because of high frequencies related to PWM output (signal edges). I think I should shield the wires coming from DAC or add some high freq series filters straight to DAC output pins before wiring to output stage. These later "add on's" are not quite ideal because the signals are lift away from steady ground plane on main PCB. One thing just came in my mind: With Sercal discrete output stage, the inputs does not have their own GND pin for return current to DAC. Now the grounding goes through output/PSU GND routes and this can cause some noise problems.
BTW, is the Sercal discrete output stage exactly the same topology that Ray has created or is this some mod from that? At least the component quality on Ray's output stage is better.

- Mikko

[SimontY]

Originally posted by Malefoda
I just hope I'm near the CDP I was near to buy, the Naim CD5i and for this that all the work done is justified.

Hi Matthieu,

My CD player was found to be on a par with a modified Naim CD3.5, although they sound quite different. As yours is a bit less modified and the CD5i is nothing like a modded CD3.5 I'd *guess* that you'll be competing well with that model.

Your work is superbly neat btw, it puts anything I do to shame!

Originally posted by Mikko H.
...With Sercal discrete output stage, the inputs does not have their own GND pin for return current to DAC. Now the grounding goes through output/PSU GND routes and this can cause some noise problems.
BTW, is the Sercal discrete output stage exactly the same topology that Ray has created or is this some mod from that? At least the component quality on Ray's output stage is better.

Hi Mikko,

Some interesting thoughts there. Let's wait and see what Brent has to say, as he is aware of a noise phenomenon when using S Powers on a discrete buffer stage.

I'm not sure the component quality is too far from ideal on the Sercal board - I know Brent spent time listening to parts to reach cost vs. performance ideals. With the huge overheads of fabricating professional PCBs one has to draw a line on parts costs.

With that said, I'm happy to be using big fat Kiwame resistors and polystyrene filter caps, and I'm sure they contribute to the warm, sweet sound I have. I also suspect my big parts approach has something to do with the noise problem I have (it's quite severe). The carefully laid out, short tracks of a good PCB should help to minimise noise.

Simon

[Malefoda]

Thanks for the POV Simon, maybe I'll bring my CDP to each friend I'll visit

And final word for the Super Reg feeding the analog section of the DAC:
I do put the amp louder than before, less harsh. And what depth and silence around each instrument!

"one small step for my iron, but one giant leap for music".

Thanks ya all
Matthieu

[RCruz]

Originally posted by Malefoda


Hi Ricardo, the Sreg is just in front of the BG at the opamps. It's the small PCB wich I managed to make it look as stock as possible. I think it does look OEM I feel bad with war in my CDP. The Clock is the famous Flea, you can find more about it at Pink Fish Media forums. It has its own PSU. Beside the full Ray's list (wich is a big work!) I've the clock and its PSU, Raygulators for the opamps, BG@LM4562.

Thank you Matthieu

Your work is superb !!!

I have done similar mods in my CD53 and want to upgrade with a clock in the servo and dac.

Also love the micas you placed around the opamps... I will do that also.

I recently upgraded my analog PSU with a 30VA TX and the result is a much bigger sounstage with good bass and definition.

I did not find a way to post pictures (mine seem to be too big) but will find out soon.

Regards

Ricardo

[Malefoda]

The next step will be about dedictated TX, remember the 53's one is even smaller than a normal 63... maybe a custom Toroidal or many small ones... Any thoughs about R-shaped ones?

[RCruz]

Originally posted by Malefoda
And final word for the Super Reg feeding the analog section of the DAC:
I do put the amp louder than before, less harsh. And what depth and silence around each instrument!

Hi again Matthieu .

This seems to be the next best practice i must take.

Can you specify the pins on the DAC where you input from the Super reg ?

Are these the 21 and 22 +5v input ?

Did you remove CD12 and CD13 ?

Ricardo

[Malefoda]

I removed nothing, these fine Elna RJH are still there. The feed is through U199 wich feeds boths pins you said.