Hi everyone, this is my first post on this awesome audio forum!!
It's a bit of a long shot but is any one familiar with the Roksan Kandy CD Player (PCM1710U 24bit version). I've had this piece of kit for around 4 months now and I feel there is definitely room for improvement. Modding CDP’s is new to me but I really want to give it a whirl!
I've had the lid of it just to get an idea of what I think will benefit it sonically.
This is in short what I'm thinking of doing to it:
-Clock upgrade utilizing a precision oscillator module such as a Trichord clock 4 with dedicated PSU.
-Replace the existing NE5532 op-amps with faster ones like the AD8065 op-amps (What sort of voltage is supplied to the existing op-amps? I have been told that +/- 12V is the absolute maximum for the AD8065's)
-Use better grade capacitors in crucial areas. (This may prove a problem as I have no Idea of how to carry out such a task on CDP’s, but it maybe a lot more straightforward than I perceive. I have only read about it on this forum and it sounds like a very logical idea).
That’s about it really, like I said this is not final. I would be very thankful for any wise words or recommendations that could aid my DIY project!! Oh I've added a photo of the CDP’s circuit , I'm not sure it'll be particularly visible or helpful but I'll stick it on anyway!
Thanks for your help in advance!
Hesky
It's a bit of a long shot but is any one familiar with the Roksan Kandy CD Player (PCM1710U 24bit version). I've had this piece of kit for around 4 months now and I feel there is definitely room for improvement. Modding CDP’s is new to me but I really want to give it a whirl!
I've had the lid of it just to get an idea of what I think will benefit it sonically.
This is in short what I'm thinking of doing to it:
-Clock upgrade utilizing a precision oscillator module such as a Trichord clock 4 with dedicated PSU.
-Replace the existing NE5532 op-amps with faster ones like the AD8065 op-amps (What sort of voltage is supplied to the existing op-amps? I have been told that +/- 12V is the absolute maximum for the AD8065's)
-Use better grade capacitors in crucial areas. (This may prove a problem as I have no Idea of how to carry out such a task on CDP’s, but it maybe a lot more straightforward than I perceive. I have only read about it on this forum and it sounds like a very logical idea).
That’s about it really, like I said this is not final. I would be very thankful for any wise words or recommendations that could aid my DIY project!! Oh I've added a photo of the CDP’s circuit , I'm not sure it'll be particularly visible or helpful but I'll stick it on anyway!
Thanks for your help in advance!
Hesky
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Thought I'd jump in. First welcome to the forum! The first thing to do would be to do some searches about the things you mention, there is loads of info on the site....
In response to your Q's
- for a clock, try Elso Kwak's, he is a member of the forum, you can send him an email and he will send you the schematic. It is a 100% DIY clock though.....Else try Guido Tent's. I haven't used it yet but have heard good reports....and it is a lot less expensive than the Audiocom/Trichord
- cap upgrades. You should be able to change the PSU caps and regulator caps to better types such as Oscons for the digital and Panasonic FC for all others
- op amp. Change to LM6172, you will need additional decoupling on the PSU line though....
All reasonably easy changes with little chance of breaking your player and should make a notable difference
Welcome to the forum Hesky ! It's difficult to see on the picture but I think I see that there are already Pana FC's on the PCB. They don't look like cheap ones anyhow. Built quality is nice, I see that Roksan even used Styroflex caps in the output section. Leave them where they are please.
I like the plan of the LM6172, it is an excellent sounding opamp. Be sure to decouple it well though as mentioned. Placing LM317/337 or better instead of the 7815/7915 ( guess ) combo will improve matters as well.
I like the plan of the LM6172, it is an excellent sounding opamp. Be sure to decouple it well though as mentioned. Placing LM317/337 or better instead of the 7815/7915 ( guess ) combo will improve matters as well.
Hi Zodiac & Jean-Paul!
Thank you very much for the warm welcome, much appreciated. Sorry about the late post I'm in the process of my end of term exams, also this horrendous NTL internet connection I have didn’t help.
I've spent considerable amounts of time reading through treads on this forum, going from topic to topic. This forum is vast to say the least!
A DIY clock is a fantastic idea as assembled clocks are rather expensive as you said zodiac. I came across Elso's KC-7, he has posted a link to download the schematic freely. I've downloaded it as this will save him the hassle of e-mailing it to me, as I'm sure he has been asked many a time. I've e-mailed him to say thanks.
With regards to the op-amps, I stumbled across Lars's op-amp Modules. They are reasonably priced and they use silver mica capacitors for decoupling the power supply, all nicely packaged to. This makes it a very simple install in my player. I do seem to be having problems contacting Lars though, come to think of it all the CDP modifying companies. So I think building a PCB for the LM6172 chips and its decoupling capacitors myself maybe better in the long run.
The 7815 and 7915 chips you mention Jean, I guess these are found on the regulator side of the circuit (I think), the 2 chips without heat sinks. The 2 chips in my player are the KA7812 and L7912CV. I guess these are very similar chips to the 7815/7915 combo, are they still worth replacing with the LM317/LM337 pairing? (Replacing meaning just a straight forward swap?)
Thanks once again!
Thank you very much for the warm welcome, much appreciated. Sorry about the late post I'm in the process of my end of term exams, also this horrendous NTL internet connection I have didn’t help.
I've spent considerable amounts of time reading through treads on this forum, going from topic to topic. This forum is vast to say the least!
A DIY clock is a fantastic idea as assembled clocks are rather expensive as you said zodiac. I came across Elso's KC-7, he has posted a link to download the schematic freely. I've downloaded it as this will save him the hassle of e-mailing it to me, as I'm sure he has been asked many a time. I've e-mailed him to say thanks.
With regards to the op-amps, I stumbled across Lars's op-amp Modules. They are reasonably priced and they use silver mica capacitors for decoupling the power supply, all nicely packaged to. This makes it a very simple install in my player. I do seem to be having problems contacting Lars though, come to think of it all the CDP modifying companies. So I think building a PCB for the LM6172 chips and its decoupling capacitors myself maybe better in the long run.
The 7815 and 7915 chips you mention Jean, I guess these are found on the regulator side of the circuit (I think), the 2 chips without heat sinks. The 2 chips in my player are the KA7812 and L7912CV. I guess these are very similar chips to the 7815/7915 combo, are they still worth replacing with the LM317/LM337 pairing? (Replacing meaning just a straight forward swap?)
Thanks once again!
Finally my cd player tweeks have come to fruition. Once a good P2P layout was drawn up using Elso’s clock schematic I set about soldering it up and implementing it into my cdp. This is sort of version 2 as experiments were made utilizing a ground plain pcb layout.
A separate psu was made up to supply the clock power with the regulation carried out on the clock board which is mounted as close as possible to the cdp PCB. I thought it would be quite a fiddle to get the clock working in harmony with the cd player but this was not the case at all!
The clock works flawlessly and has made a marked improvement on the sound, all in all i feel this was a tweek worth doing even though it some how ended up costing over 80 pounds to do!
Just like to say thanks to Elso for allowing us to use his schematics for personal projects.
A separate psu was made up to supply the clock power with the regulation carried out on the clock board which is mounted as close as possible to the cdp PCB. I thought it would be quite a fiddle to get the clock working in harmony with the cd player but this was not the case at all!
The clock works flawlessly and has made a marked improvement on the sound, all in all i feel this was a tweek worth doing even though it some how ended up costing over 80 pounds to do!
Just like to say thanks to Elso for allowing us to use his schematics for personal projects.
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