The drivers are 12v, unregulated. I can definitely recommend the "Search this thread" feature if you don't want to read the whole thing. It's helped me a lot. There's a lot of information in here and it'd be a shame to make Ian have to repeat it all
Brent has written a useful step-by-step upgrade guide here: Marantz CD63 upgrade guide. It starts with the servo section.
Thank you ,Thank you
Got the manual and guide by Brent
Will mod the servo section first
Much easier to work with external PS
Glad to know if SPDIF output can also be improved
Adding a 50-100va transformer for the servo section is the most important thing to do.
Good smoothing caps after the tx + bridge helps too.
Clocking the 8.46 should come next imho. The rest as Ian said will bring further benefits but those two are definitely the priority mods imho.
Running a coax from the decoder out to the spdif phono socket will isolate the signal from some noisy tracks etc.
Lee.
Good smoothing caps after the tx + bridge helps too.
Clocking the 8.46 should come next imho. The rest as Ian said will bring further benefits but those two are definitely the priority mods imho.
Running a coax from the decoder out to the spdif phono socket will isolate the signal from some noisy tracks etc.
Lee.
The 63 makes a fantastic transport if you feed the +/- supply with a 50VA + transformer. Fit 2x large value caps (22000uF preferable)
You don't need to clock the dac either as it is not used when using as a transport run that 16.9 clock direct to the decoder. Clock the servo. Fit separate regs to the servo and decoder chip (4 in total). Fit caps like Oscon SEPC on the 5v rails to those chips after the regs. Once run and tested get rid of the fuses on the pcb as they do not help audio at all
Brent
You don't need to clock the dac either as it is not used when using as a transport run that 16.9 clock direct to the decoder. Clock the servo. Fit separate regs to the servo and decoder chip (4 in total). Fit caps like Oscon SEPC on the 5v rails to those chips after the regs. Once run and tested get rid of the fuses on the pcb as they do not help audio at all
Brent
I've done quite a lot of mods, but it sounds as though I might've missed the most important thing! So am I correct in thinking that it's as simple as getting a 50-100va 12v-0v-12v transformer and wiring it to u308-u309-u310 in place of the stock tx secondaries? I already have 22,000uF smoothers on those rails.
Yes get it done. I've been saying this for a few years now.
Or build a large off board +/- 12V supply and wire into the unit
Brent
To do the job properly I would remove the original tx and fit 2x other tx for display and output. But cramming in another TX will do a cracking job. 50VA is fine and can be squeezed in. Running a 12V tx will give you approx 16.8V dc so headroom should not be a problem.
Brent
Check the service manual. In the 1st few pages, there are pin outs for each chip. You need the XTI (xtal in) pin. Dont worry about asking these questions, there's a guy selling 63 mods on eBay who's been modding these players for 10 years?? He had to ask the very same question here last year!!!!!!!
That's normally done for a reason!
Yep! Connect 1 wire from each winding together and that is your centre tap to gnd!
On another note, I wonder what Zorkai pressure sensitive adhesive is. The only reference I can find to it is that it's blu-tak under another name?
Thanks Ian! That opens up a lot more choice on the RS site. Sorry, I'm still being a bit thick here on which wires to connect to get my centre tap. Could I wire red and brown in the following ASCII art, for example?
|+----- Vsec (green)
||
||
|+----- 0v (red)
|
|+----- Vsec (brown)
||
||
|+----- 0v (blue)
|+----- Vsec (green)
||
||
|+----- 0v (red)
|
|+----- Vsec (brown)
||
||
|+----- 0v (blue)
