Marantz CD63 & CD67 mods list

[SimontY]

Originally posted by 6h5c
Don't forget to remove the muting transistors!

I didn't really hear any improvement taking these out, and he did ask for the top 3! Taking those caps out tho - wow! The bass!

[6h5c]

Originally posted by SimontY


Interesting. The pic, which is good, makes me wonder about all the extra trace and pin path for the signal. Does this not make it of paramount importance to place psu caps on each op-amp?

cheers

I managed to get two decoupling caps under the IC sockets. I use this setup only for testing. After I find a good SMD opamp combo I solder them on a single-to-dual SO8 adapter that goes into the player.

Ray.

[6h5c]

Originally posted by davidsrsb
Both the CD63 and CD6000 families are let down by the single tracking layer plus ground plane aproach. Most of the chips and decoupling have very indirect 0V connections. A few well placed chip ceramics might have far more effect than all of these audiophile exotica being suggested.

Looking at the supplies around the smd chips, even their 0V connections are noisy and the +5V is worse. The master clock is obviously jittery and the 470R series termination resistors in the clock outputs to the DACs and servo is too large, turning the secondary clocks into 3V pk-pk triangle waves. A suitable ferrite bead could give a much cleaner clock.

I agree, the PCB is not optimum. The CD57/67 layout is better though. But the local decoupling is also very important, a few small caps make a big difference!
I use a lot of 100n PPS capacitors on the bottom of the PCB, to replace the original 47n ceramics, and to put in parallel with the swapped el-caps.

Ray.

[SimontY]

I wish I could solder like that!

[6h5c]

Originally posted by SimontY
I wish I could solder like that!

It's not too difficult. Use an iron with a fine tip that's not too hot, and thin solder wire with low-flux core. Place the el-cap in the PCB and bend the wires. Place the PPS cap on the bottom and solder it, that's all!

Ray.

[SimontY]

Ahha, I see the 'trick' to it now, very sharp pic, thanks. I've never even attempted to solder SMD, but as I get better I may try some caps. My DIL op-amp sockets are just looked after by 47uF Pany FC under the pcb.

[DJNUBZ]

1 - remove dc blocking caps and short the spaces with a piece of wire

2 - add an after market clock

3 - power the clock with dedicated power

4 - change the op-amps


Well technicaly that could be three

1 - remove dc blocking caps and short the spaces with a piece of wire

2 - add an after market clock and power the clock with dedicated power

3 - change the op-amps

I got the player for about $30 and it does skip a bit sometimes so I don't want to put a large amount of cash into it. The price of most clocks are more then I am willing to spend. Is there an affordable alternative? How about the kwak clock?

Could you tell me what opamp to get and how many I will need? I know that people here have different opinions on them but I couldn't tell a good one from a bad by specs.

[6h5c]

Originally posted by DJNUBZ

Well technicaly that could be three

1 - remove dc blocking caps and short the spaces with a piece of wire

2 - add an after market clock and power the clock with dedicated power

3 - change the op-amps

I got the player for about $30 and it does skip a bit sometimes so I don't want to put a large amount of cash into it. The price of most clocks are more then I am willing to spend. Is there an affordable alternative? How about the kwak clock?

Could you tell me what opamp to get and how many I will need? I know that people here have different opinions on them but I couldn't tell a good one from a bad by specs.

Hi,

As an alternative the Kwak-clock is very easy to build. You can also use the single-supply version. Or you can use a Tent labs XO oscillator module, also works very well, with even less parts count. In the picture you see a small PCB I made, with a Kwak-clock oscillator and buffer, and a two-stage PSU. But you can also use vero-board.

As for the opamps, if you go for dual ones I can recommend the AD8620, you will need one for each channel. That will give you a lot of improvement compared to the original JRC2114.

To cure the skipping problem you can try cleaning the pickup lens, with a bit of isopropanol and a cotton-tip. If the lens is clean or it doesn't help, you can try and increase the laser-current a bit. There's a small adjustable trimmer on the flexfoil of the laser-unit. If you carefully turn it a few degrees clockwise that may help.

Regards,

Ray.

[guido]

More caps exposed..

Next to the dac is a tent clock, right on the pcb. PS comes from an alw reg which also feeds the +5 clock ps on the dac.

Second alw reg for the +5 analog ps on the dac. Both have are fed by a 317 ps with own transformer.

Rest of the mods is like mentioned here (opamps/mute/headphone/etc).

it's a 63ki

[6h5c]

Originally posted by SimontY
Ahha, I see the 'trick' to it now, very sharp pic, thanks. I've never even attempted to solder SMD, but as I get better I may try some caps. My DIL op-amp sockets are just looked after by 47uF Pany FC under the pcb.

Here's the decoder part. I also use SMD resistors in the analog filter. They are small 0,1% MELF type. They fit exactly between two pads and are far less expensive.

Regards,

Ray.