Marantz CD63 & CD67 mods list

Your blue lines are connected to the wrong end of the links (need to closest to the opamps) you removed but other than that it's fine. Personally, I would not remove the muting to start but it's very easy to remove the headphones feed as you describe. To be honest, unless you replace some caps in the psu and local decoupling to the dac and opamp then change to opamps to lm4562 or similar, you will make it sound worse by just bypassing the hdam.

Thanks for looking at the 1st diagram, I have included a 2nd update, is this what you mean??

Minor tweaks like removing headphones and swappng the mains cord will not prep the players for HDAM bypass. I would do op-amps, filter caps and seriously beef up PSU caps first.

Thanks for the tips. I'm only 100 posts in the thread, more tonight!! I'll leave the HDAM alone then but at least I can now do it. :D I'll probably have a better understanding of which op-amps, filter-caps and PSU caps when I get further into the thread. There seems to be some many suggestions it's extremely difficult to keep up!
 

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Hi guys, I'm looking for a nice (free) tweak to do next while I wait to get DOS parts. Does the following make sense?

I currently have 2 transformers in my player: a 50VA 2x12v that buzzes very slightly in proportion to the load, and a 30VA 2x15v for the output section that is absolutely fine. I bought a display tx but it was DOA.

My driver ICs are currently regulated to 9v with 7809/7909s fitted to the rails in place of the dropping resistors.

I'd like to:

1. Bring my display back
2. Raise my drivers to 12v
3. Minimize the noise from that slightly buzzing transformer if possible

In my box of bits, I have:

- Original KI transformer
- 3x 7812
- 3x 7912
- A rectifier diode bridge
- 4x Elna "For Audio" 56v 12,000uF caps
- 6x Black Gate 16v 220uF
- Veroboard

Can I do the following:

- Disconnect the 50va transformer secondaries
- Reconnect the original KI transformer to all pads except the ones fed by the 30VA 2x15v output transformer (assuming it fits!)
- Build a dual regulated power supply on the veroboard with 3x12v regs in parallel per rail
- Remove the existing 9v driver regs, isolating the ICs
- Wire directly to the pins of the driver ICs with the 6 Black Gates on local decoupling duties (to the top screen?)

Can someone sanity check that for me? I'm hoping that either the buzzing from the transformer is caused by the way it's currently connected and that would go away in the new configuration.

Cheers,

Ben
 
Thanks, I already tried that and it seemed to make no difference. I'd also like to get my display back if I can while also getting my servo towards a more 'final' solution. I figured if I can get them running off an OK supply board from bits I have then I can swap another one in later using better components.
 
Fair enough Ben, I remember that I tried it before after some advice but it also made no difference.

Why not connect the KI TX in, but use its servo windings for other psu's such as the dac or clocks? Your 50va tx will be miles better than the original windings for servo duties.

The more separate supplies you add in, will relieve that 50va of more and more load and the buzzing should go away.

Lee.
 
Definitely worth doing Ben. That driver ic psu upgrade won't be totally evident until everything else is isolated from it. I'd definitely concentrate on splitting off the rails as much as possible before worrying about the output stage. Many more gains are made by doing that than by adding a better output stage imho (as long as you have good opamps).

My cd63 is currently only a transport outputting spdif to my modded chinese dac. I currently have separate low-noise regs for pretty much everything. Every time I add in another psu or reg I can clearly hear the improvement, even through the dac which is not the ultimate in quality.

Sorry if I'm prattling on, I have no idea how much you've done and have missed large chunks of this thread recently.

Lee.
 
I removed the 50VA supply last night in preparation to build a standalone servo supply, reinstalling the original transformer The buzz is still there, so it must be something else. I just can't listen to it now - the bass weight has vanished and the top end is grating. I'm not sure if it's best to perservere with the servo PSU plan or just put the big torid back in! Will 50VA supply direct to driver ICs bring the bass back?!? :confused:
 
A while ago I had also a humming torid (the original one) and that was because of a loose soldering contact on the PCB (the 10V supply, the most demanding). Maybe somewhere on the supply lines there's a bad contact? Try to move the wire a bit, to see if it disappears. I think your 9V servo chip supply must work on the standard toroid as well as the 50VA dedicated one without the buzzing.
 
I wimped out and crammed the servo PSU back in. The sound is back again. I left the KI tx connected for the display. I think I'm still out of my depth with the driver ICs. I'm going to look at driving my DAC and decoder 5v supplies off the unused KI tx output windings instead.

TIL: Clock mods without a big servo PSU makes my ears bleed.
 
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