cambridge audio cd 4se

[whats gan on]

i bought this cd player last week and i am very impressed with it
i was expceting a pile of dung. but when i took the lid off i noticed it was well designed, much better than the cd 4 i used to own
does any body have any experience with this player i would love to do some diy with it i have pics i can send

[Sonusthree]

Oh yes indeed my friend
It is surely an excellent player (except for the display).

I have done all the usual mods;
Black gates, shielded, mains lead, cabinet damping, Sorbothane feet, Audiocom regulators for the clock and digital sections, Quality Gold/Teflon RCA sockets, 75 Ohm resistor termination on digital out, Switch to disable display lights etc.

Still more to do though.

Did you know that this player was designed by John Westlake from Pink Triangle who posts on this forum when he can find the time? It's one of his favourite designs for Cambridge audio alongside the Isomagic Dac.

Well I have to say that it sounds pretty fanflippintastic in stock form but us DIY'ers are never satisfied.

I'm sure that you noticed that the board uses surface mount components making it (for me) a nightmare to consider changing opamps etc. I will one day but, right now, it scares me to risk my player. Also the ribbon cable that connects the laser is very delicate and I've knackered a few in the pursuit of audio nirvana. If anyone knows how to release the ribbon without stressing it then please contact me.

I am considering adding this tube buffer at the moment
http://www.audiodigit.com/index.php?section=81
There is plenty of space inside the case. I'm thinking that it may be easier for me to use this as an output instead of trying different opamps. Perhaps I could just bypass the output devices and avoid soldering surface mount stuff alltogether?

I'm also going to try a simple mod to dim the display lights in an effort to make it readable from more than 6 feet away.

Another important thing is the remote control. The stock remote that I got with the unit has only basic functions (Yours may be different). I have recently purchased a Cambridge Audio SRC-01 which means that I can now access programming, search and display functionality that was previously unavailable to me. It will work with any philips based CD remote.

Congratulations on a great choice and welcome to the forum.

[whats gan on]

hi thanks for the info and welcome, do you have any pics of yours modified i would love to copy it, i am used to cd players that cost £2500 now i can not afford that sort of money any more. i would love to see if i could get this player close to a really hi end player. have you compered it to any exspencive players with the mods i have have noticed 2 x + 5 volts 7805 at the bottom of the cd player i think they power the dacs do you know which one power's the clock is it a 7805 in between to plus and minus regs at the back as thee is 5 all together i would be very greatful for your help if it is not to much trouble

[whats gan on]

hi the lead from the laser if held firm and lift up vertical no side ward movements at all, the lead will be fine i have had it off a few times. the link you sent me was very interesting
i know what you mean as this lead and the laser has to come off to get at the board i am really looking forward to your reply

[sreten]

Originally posted by whats gan on
......i would love to see if i could get this player close to a really hi end player.....

Hi,

I've got one. It allready is. If it sounds good in your system leave it
pretty much well alone except possibly for the coupling capacitors.

Which should also be checked at the amplifier end and if your going to
be a purist about it one set of coupling capacitors shouild be removed.

/sreten.

[whats gan on]

hi thanks for that my mate wants me to take it down and compare it to his modified cd 63 with clocks and other stuff done to it i will let you know what i think when i get back in a few hours
thanks for your input

[whats gan on]

Originally posted by sreten


Hi,

I've got one. It allready is. If it sounds good in your system leave it
pretty much well alone except possibly for the coupling capacitors.

Which should also be checked at the amplifier end and if your going to
be a purist about it one set of coupling capacitors shouild be removed.

/sreten.

one more thing is the transformer any good as it is not a toroidal transformer
bye for now i am off to compare it

[Sonusthree]

Originally posted by sreten


Hi,

I've got one. It allready is. If it sounds good in your system leave it
pretty much well alone except possibly for the coupling capacitors.

Which should also be checked at the amplifier end and if your going to
be a purist about it one set of coupling capacitors shouild be removed.

/sreten.

Hi Sreten. I'll definitely be looking into this one. A cheap tweak is a good tweak. Have you done any of these things to yours?

Originally posted by whats gan on
one more thing is the transformer any good as it is not a toroidal transformer
bye for now i am off to compare it

Torroids have their own disadvantages and I reckon the stock transformer looks quite beefy enough for the job. If anything I may consider completely seperate powersupliies for the digital and analog sections but I have to (reluctantly) agree with Sreten.Mods should be done only after careful consideration. The mods that I have added so far have been 'Like for like' capacitor and regulator mods. To be honest I'm not exactly sure what difference they have made. At the time I was very pleased but I was also very eager to believe that I was helping things. All I can say with any certainty is that I don't think I have made it worse!!

The obvious thing to do to most players is to add a quality clock but I remember reading that the CD4SE has a very good clock circuit and that changing the clock could therefore be detrimental.

I would also like to say that the ONLY reason that I would consider adding the valve output is to remove some harshness from my system. (yes, I know it is a sticking plaster solution) I would at first use as a stand alone buffer to test and then consider substituting the outputs for this. If I didn't have this problem with MY system then I would be more than happy to stop the modding.

My recommendations to you are to first try one or both of these things;

(a) Add some bitumen damping to the case and transport but don't foul the mechanism.

(b) Consider swapping the captive mains lead for a good quality shielded one. Safety alert Just make sure you know what you are doing.

These are easy and cheap first tweaks and are unlikely to damage the player.

I'd be interested to hear your opinions on the results.

[Sonusthree]

Here's an old picture from May this year showing the board with Audiocom super regs on the bottom for the Digital sections.

At the top of the picture just out of view (attached to the brown wires) is another Audiocom regulator feeding the clock circuit. (Can't remember the name but it was the best one they sold at the time.)

You can also see the Black Gate caps. I messed up a bit here I think. From memory I increased from 2200uF to 3300 but they are just a little too wide and just about touch the sides of the transport mech which I'm sure cannot be a good thing. Also they are now standing off the board more than I would like so I will have to sort this out sometime soon.

You can also see the (Pink) Elna cap that I parallelled with the original on the transport side. This seems to fit neatly under the transport mech but I doubt it has any sonic benefits but who knows?

And the Bitumen damping and the extra copper shielding on the base. Once again YMMV.

[whats gan on]

hi i am back with the cd 4se and the cambridge is a much better cd player, though the marantz is a very clean sound which sounds thin compared to the cd4se the vocals are fuller warmer instruments sound very real i must say for £15 the cd 4se is a megga bargain. cheaper than a trichord clock 2, i must admit i would like a little of what the marantz offers which is treble but if i was to lose the sound it has now
i do not think i would risk killing its sound i have thought of running the clock from a 12 volt motor bike battery. in the past i had a qed digit just giving the opamp its own power was very big upgrade i reckon super regs on the AD711 opamps should be very good upgrade any one have any thoughts on this