shigaclone
Thanks Peter, from pin 29- D out- gee ,you've got to have steady hands!, BTW the track is so narrow so have to get to hardware store to check it out. Hopefully i can still revive the "clone"
Thanks Peter, from pin 29- D out- gee ,you've got to have steady hands!, BTW the track is so narrow so have to get to hardware store to check it out. Hopefully i can still revive the "clone"
Finally finished with the electronics side of the Shigaclone now - at last!
VERY happy indeed with it - certainly the best sound from red-book CD I have heard to date... and its still sitting bare on an upturned mouse mat haha! Will be experimenting with bamboo chopping boards next!
Altered my DPA DAC to BNC inputs this afternoon, and changed the output on my Shigaclone to BNC also. Also changed the output resistors to 392 /93 ohms yesterday. I'm amazed at the change - punchy bass which you can sometimes feel rather than hear. Nice 'bouncy' bass guitar rendition which one is able to follow, rather than having it submerged as in lesser players. All the sound quality of the stock JVC now, but with added punch, detail, and refinement (but NOT at the expense of speed or an exciting sound). Love it! Have to say though I also had more or less the same quality from using that resistor output with regular phono sockets as well. Adding the BNC's didn't seem to improve anything, at least not that its really noticeable - perhaps a little extra clarity but hard to tell.
I have to say that I am currently not missing my Garrard 401 rig at all, which is saying something!
Incase nobody can be bothered to read through the posts, here's a summary of what I changed:
C934 - 4.7uF Black Gate N
C929 - 4.7uF Black Gate N
C953 - 47uF Black Gate N
C906 - Keep the original in place!!!
C916 - 47uF Black Gate N
C939 - 47uF Black Gate N
C952 - 470uF Elna Silmic ARS
X901 - Citizen CSA-309
Remove - refer to Okapi's PDF file.
Digital output - 75-ohm BNC. 392 ohms series, 93 ohms shunt.
- John
VERY happy indeed with it - certainly the best sound from red-book CD I have heard to date... and its still sitting bare on an upturned mouse mat haha! Will be experimenting with bamboo chopping boards next!
Altered my DPA DAC to BNC inputs this afternoon, and changed the output on my Shigaclone to BNC also. Also changed the output resistors to 392 /93 ohms yesterday. I'm amazed at the change - punchy bass which you can sometimes feel rather than hear. Nice 'bouncy' bass guitar rendition which one is able to follow, rather than having it submerged as in lesser players. All the sound quality of the stock JVC now, but with added punch, detail, and refinement (but NOT at the expense of speed or an exciting sound). Love it! Have to say though I also had more or less the same quality from using that resistor output with regular phono sockets as well. Adding the BNC's didn't seem to improve anything, at least not that its really noticeable - perhaps a little extra clarity but hard to tell.
I have to say that I am currently not missing my Garrard 401 rig at all, which is saying something!
Incase nobody can be bothered to read through the posts, here's a summary of what I changed:
C934 - 4.7uF Black Gate N
C929 - 4.7uF Black Gate N
C953 - 47uF Black Gate N
C906 - Keep the original in place!!!
C916 - 47uF Black Gate N
C939 - 47uF Black Gate N
C952 - 470uF Elna Silmic ARS
X901 - Citizen CSA-309
Remove - refer to Okapi's PDF file.
Digital output - 75-ohm BNC. 392 ohms series, 93 ohms shunt.
- John
Johnm. Where would we be without this forum ! Still hankering after the kit that costs Monopoly money and not a hope of ever hearing it, let alone buying it.
DIY is such fun and if a) it works and b) sounds half decent you're grinning from ear to ear. If it sounds grrrrreaaaat (as Tony would say) then you've hit the jackpot.
I started with a BNC that I ripped off an old CD player. I must experiment with resistor values. The only thing that worries me a bit is that someone (can't remember who) said that the "life" of the motor and CD mechanism, might only be 500 hours. I resisted the temptation to buy more than one boombox, but now I'm not so sure ?
DIY is such fun and if a) it works and b) sounds half decent you're grinning from ear to ear. If it sounds grrrrreaaaat (as Tony would say) then you've hit the jackpot.
I started with a BNC that I ripped off an old CD player. I must experiment with resistor values. The only thing that worries me a bit is that someone (can't remember who) said that the "life" of the motor and CD mechanism, might only be 500 hours. I resisted the temptation to buy more than one boombox, but now I'm not so sure ?
Puffin said:
Umm, that person would be me... 😀 I have a spare mechanism partly for this reason, and partly because I stupidly blew up the first micro-controller I modified. (my bad) It isn't necessarily the case that many of these will not last well beyond the 500 hour mark either, but they had to cut corners somewhere in the design to save money, and the motors, laser, and using the cheapest electrolytics possible are all logical places to do that.
Puffin said:
Did you ever hear Shigaraki owner complaining that his transport didn't last more than 500 hours?
While the mechanical part of the transport may not look substantial, I don't find any problems here, have been using it permanently since last October (which is approx 800 hours already) and it works as new.
I once found it develop some noise when the pickup was returning to the beginning of a disk but adding more grease fixed it.
BTW, can anybody recommend a source for that white grease used to lubricate gears?
I got some spare laser assemblies on Ebay for $8. Still looking into spare motors.
Since I still don't care for BNC's that much in my home stuff, I prefer the Canare 75 ohm RCA. Very nice connector.
Since I still don't care for BNC's that much in my home stuff, I prefer the Canare 75 ohm RCA. Very nice connector.
Yep DIY certainly rules as far as I'm concerned - and this project has so far only cost approx. £50! If that's not a bargain I don't know what is 😀 (having said that I DID already have the Black Gates from previous projects 😉 )
I have been thinking the same thing recently - I may purchase just the transport as a spare at some point.
I have been thinking the same thing recently - I may purchase just the transport as a spare at some point.
johnm said:
I wasn't quite as lucky due to the theft, and a mis-step that had me wiping out the micro-controller in the second one. I'm out $$ for the 3 boom boxes, and probably another $100 for the other parts - and still have to package this and add mass. Still, and this is a big still, I know of no transport new or used that I could buy that matches this level of performance for less than many multiples of what I have spent or will spend. And another big plus is the fun and thrills of watching your project evolve into something quite special.
It sounds better with every passing day, I just need to figure out what to do about the SMD cap this unit uses in lieu of an electrolytic cap for the tracking servo.
The schematic posted a few days ago here: http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?postid=1495474#post1495474
is very similar to the ones liberated from the RCEZ32, many of the refdes are the same, but the ASP it uses is an LA9242 instead of the LA9241 used in both of mine, and there are some other minor differences such as the use of a ceramic cap on pin 10 of the ASP instead of the electrolytic shown. It's a very useful schematic in conjunction with the RCEZ32 mechanism and board assembly as long as those considerations are taken into account.
Who besides Hayenc and I are using an RCEZ32 as the basis for their ShigaClones?
Puffin - Argos stock the RC-EZ51 which was reported (MANY pages back with pics) as having the same transport and chipset as the RC-EZ31. You can currently get it from them online for £39.95. Not a bad price for future piece of mind 😉 (the laser mech. alone costs around £20-£25 online, and that's without the controller board!
http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/s...=-1&catalogId=1500001001&productId=1500171947
- John
Kevin - I used to write for Hi-Fi World wayyy back. They'd laugh me out of the country if I told them about this. I'd love to then see the smiles turn into wonder when the music starts through the JVC 😉
http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/s...=-1&catalogId=1500001001&productId=1500171947
- John
Kevin - I used to write for Hi-Fi World wayyy back. They'd laugh me out of the country if I told them about this. I'd love to then see the smiles turn into wonder when the music starts through the JVC 😉
johnm said:
May be you should talk to David Price (he is editor now), he looks to me like open minded guy, very DIY friendly.
johnm said:
I still occasionally write for Positive Feedback Online, I will probably mention this thread in my next article, and try to explain the fun we are all having here.. 😀
My wife did want to know why the electronics out of a really cheap boom box could possibly be good enough to use in my system. I expect to hear that question again soon.. 🙂
None of my audiophile/hobbyist friends have heard the new dac or the ShigaClone so I expect some very interesting reactions when that finally happens.. 😉
He was editor while I wrote for them also.
Have to be careful what I say here, but... magazines are ultimately there to make money... being 100% truthful about a product is not ALWAYS top of the agenda... I think the transport would get a 'good' review, with the caveat 'for the price' 😉
Out of interest I wonder if they've reviewed the Shigaraki yet, and what was the result?
That's why I turned to DIY audio - proper high end sound at sensible prices, and you can tailor it perfectly to suit your ears/pocket!
- John
Have to be careful what I say here, but... magazines are ultimately there to make money... being 100% truthful about a product is not ALWAYS top of the agenda... I think the transport would get a 'good' review, with the caveat 'for the price' 😉
Out of interest I wonder if they've reviewed the Shigaraki yet, and what was the result?
That's why I turned to DIY audio - proper high end sound at sensible prices, and you can tailor it perfectly to suit your ears/pocket!
- John
johnm said:
Ok there is at least something funny around this cap . I mean different values produce different sound .Just try to know. So while saying " keep the original " know that -my- original -C906 is actually measuring 158nF or 0.158uF . It is not quite the same value in this position . Having said that I admit that I tend to like more the electrolytic cap there .... of course ... a real and measured 100 n F .
Excellent - will be interested to hear what they all say 🙂
I'm just having a ball listening to my Shigaclone right now - it's totally genre neutral as well. Providing the recording is a good one it favours ANY kind of music. Even bad recordings it will dig out as much information as possible.
I've always found digitally reproduced piano and bass guitar, and kick drum in particular very hard to reproduce, but this little wonder does it with ease. Can't wait to hear what it sounds like with a chassis, and my Shigaclone DAC when I actually get around to making it 😉
Again, MUCHO thanks to Peter for deciding to make this project 'public' on Diy Audio 🙂
I'm just having a ball listening to my Shigaclone right now - it's totally genre neutral as well. Providing the recording is a good one it favours ANY kind of music. Even bad recordings it will dig out as much information as possible.
I've always found digitally reproduced piano and bass guitar, and kick drum in particular very hard to reproduce, but this little wonder does it with ease. Can't wait to hear what it sounds like with a chassis, and my Shigaclone DAC when I actually get around to making it 😉
Again, MUCHO thanks to Peter for deciding to make this project 'public' on Diy Audio 🙂
Stefano, I am certain that there is nothing special about this cap at all. However - as you say - it's the value. I am sure the laser is adjusted at the factory last of all, and this will obviously mean it's adjusted for optimal performance WITH that cap in the circuit. Changing the cap will alter the way it performs... It's value is 'unique' per unit.