6h5c said:
Thanks Ray!
Is this also applicable to the other coax mods? Or is it just this one?
Newbee onboard...
Hi there !
I've a headache, but not because of this topic, coz of my job... whatever, I've red a lot, and getting really addicted to it !
In fact I've found a topic about a tuned CD53, I do not even remeber what I was looking for on eBay... but found many topics about my CD player, my honest CD53, and I am amazed of what it seems to be able to do... ( ok guys, I'll spit my questions very soon... ). I am not fond of electronics nor audio equipments, but I love music, and good music deserves honest equipment. As a poor french worker, I've bought a budget audio system : the simple CD53, an Arcam Alpha One amp (damned I bought this without pre-amp for vinyls discs...) and upgrader my speakers from Heybrook the the famoous Quad 12L in my small flat. Wire are the Marantz one from CD53 to Arcam, Real Cable for the Quad.
Now are the questions (hey stop sleeping !):
the aim is to upgrade the CD if it can saves me money and gives me a top player, so that I can buy one of these new chinese wonder amplifiers and better speakers (bigger Quad ?...).
-can someone makes a scale of mods by priority and price?
-are the eBay kits ok ? http://cgi.ebay.fr/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...ssPageName=MERC_VI_RSCC_Pr4_PcY_BIN_Stores_IT
-starting to improve step by step, what are these steps ?
-for a first step, will the opamps (what is it ??) upgrade the very first and already good one ? For this: http://www.selectronic.fr/article.asp?article_ref_entier=EV2.3794-9999
-is this opamp directly fit by the by with OEM ?
I think I won't sleep tonight and will dream of my good old CD53...
...still many questions... the many capacitors upgrade may be cheap and easy...
Thanks guys !
Matthieu, a new CD53 modder =)
Hi there !
I've a headache, but not because of this topic, coz of my job... whatever, I've red a lot, and getting really addicted to it !
In fact I've found a topic about a tuned CD53, I do not even remeber what I was looking for on eBay... but found many topics about my CD player, my honest CD53, and I am amazed of what it seems to be able to do... ( ok guys, I'll spit my questions very soon... ). I am not fond of electronics nor audio equipments, but I love music, and good music deserves honest equipment. As a poor french worker, I've bought a budget audio system : the simple CD53, an Arcam Alpha One amp (damned I bought this without pre-amp for vinyls discs...) and upgrader my speakers from Heybrook the the famoous Quad 12L in my small flat. Wire are the Marantz one from CD53 to Arcam, Real Cable for the Quad.
Now are the questions (hey stop sleeping !):
the aim is to upgrade the CD if it can saves me money and gives me a top player, so that I can buy one of these new chinese wonder amplifiers and better speakers (bigger Quad ?...).
-can someone makes a scale of mods by priority and price?
-are the eBay kits ok ? http://cgi.ebay.fr/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...ssPageName=MERC_VI_RSCC_Pr4_PcY_BIN_Stores_IT
-starting to improve step by step, what are these steps ?
-for a first step, will the opamps (what is it ??) upgrade the very first and already good one ? For this: http://www.selectronic.fr/article.asp?article_ref_entier=EV2.3794-9999
-is this opamp directly fit by the by with OEM ?
I think I won't sleep tonight and will dream of my good old CD53...
...still many questions... the many capacitors upgrade may be cheap and easy...
Thanks guys !
Matthieu, a new CD53 modder =)
Re: Newbee onboard...
Matthieu,
Changing these three caps is a good starter. Price: 3 euro.
You'll be rewarded with strong bass and better dynamics.
Regards, Jaap
Malefoda said:
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Matthieu,
Changing these three caps is a good starter. Price: 3 euro.
You'll be rewarded with strong bass and better dynamics.
Regards, Jaap
Re: Newbee onboard...
Hi Matthieu,
Welcome to this thread, and to the Marantz CD53/63/57/67 modding community 😀. The CD53 will certainly be a top player if you upgrade it. The PCB is equal to that of the CD63, so all the CD63 mods apply. If you read through this thread you'll find there are multiple lists of mods that are recommended to start with, like taking out the muting transistors, changing the opamps and bypassing the output caps and the HDAM circuit. And there's the mods lists by Brent and me of course.
For a fully modded player according to my own basic list, it cost me about 150 euro's in components. After that you can add separate PSU's and as much Black Gates as your budget allows
.
The regulators and the clock in the E-Bay kit are a good start, but if you are on a budget you can build the clock yourself (Kwak clock or PFM Flea) and fit some LM317 PCB's for the regulators to start with. The OPA627 is a very nice sounding opamp, and is certainly worth a try. AD8620 is also a good one. If you want to go for cheap with good results: fit the CD-Enhancer FET or transistor output stage. It uses a passive filter and only a handful components. It's a lot of work to fit it in, but you get rid of the opamps 😉.
Regards,
Ray.
Malefoda said:
Hi Matthieu,
Welcome to this thread, and to the Marantz CD53/63/57/67 modding community 😀. The CD53 will certainly be a top player if you upgrade it. The PCB is equal to that of the CD63, so all the CD63 mods apply. If you read through this thread you'll find there are multiple lists of mods that are recommended to start with, like taking out the muting transistors, changing the opamps and bypassing the output caps and the HDAM circuit. And there's the mods lists by Brent and me of course.
For a fully modded player according to my own basic list, it cost me about 150 euro's in components. After that you can add separate PSU's and as much Black Gates as your budget allows
.The regulators and the clock in the E-Bay kit are a good start, but if you are on a budget you can build the clock yourself (Kwak clock or PFM Flea) and fit some LM317 PCB's for the regulators to start with. The OPA627 is a very nice sounding opamp, and is certainly worth a try. AD8620 is also a good one. If you want to go for cheap with good results: fit the CD-Enhancer FET or transistor output stage. It uses a passive filter and only a handful components. It's a lot of work to fit it in, but you get rid of the opamps 😉.
Regards,
Ray.
gy21 said:
Hi,
It could be applicable to other coax mod's, I haven't done the datalines yet (SCLK, WCLK, DATA). They are coupled through a 100R resistor, so there could be a DC offset present there. The HF signal already has a 1n coupling cap. Best thing is to measure, just to be sure.
Regards,
Ray
Thanks Ray!
The Dac pin 11 and 12 to cpu doesn't contain any resistors in between, so those coax mods should be ok?
The Dac pin 11 and 12 to cpu doesn't contain any resistors in between, so those coax mods should be ok?
Re: Re: Newbee onboard...
c120
c504
c510
I have used my DC block Silmic while I'm waiting for my Rubycon ZL. Still breaking them in.
disco said:
c120
c504
c510
I have used my DC block Silmic while I'm waiting for my Rubycon ZL. Still breaking them in.
gy21 said:
Why would you want to use coax for those lines? They are I2C communication lines between the CPU and the DAC/decoder chip. There's no data going over those lines from decoder to DAC or vice versa, only at power-up and if you use the volume control of the DAC. You should do the SCLK, WCLK and DATA lines however (pins 8, 9, 10 of the DAC).
Regards,
Ray.
I'm stuck : already improvments just by changing 3 caps ?! That's cool!
Thanks for you replies, the main problem is... there almost 300 pages to read !!!
2 more questions : how to be sure of the barnd of the caps, on the french websites they often don't mention it, I think I'll order with the Fanrell references...
So for less than 40€ I buy : the 3 caps and opamps ?
Also, what do you mean by muting ? Does the CD63 " mutes " ? And the HDAM ?
In fact many " short cuts " as PCB are strange to me, is it Power Control Board ?
If some are gentle enough to find me the 3 caps ref in Franell's... =)
and... thank you all !!!!
Thanks for you replies, the main problem is... there almost 300 pages to read !!!
2 more questions : how to be sure of the barnd of the caps, on the french websites they often don't mention it, I think I'll order with the Fanrell references...
So for less than 40€ I buy : the 3 caps and opamps ?
Also, what do you mean by muting ? Does the CD63 " mutes " ? And the HDAM ?
In fact many " short cuts " as PCB are strange to me, is it Power Control Board ?
If some are gentle enough to find me the 3 caps ref in Franell's... =)
and... thank you all !!!!
Sorry I do not know how to modify my previous post...
So this is my current stuff... the optical bloc have been changed years before.
( Macs also get improved with overclock 😉 my iBook is oc 800@900 and the 7500Mobility also... )
So this is my current stuff... the optical bloc have been changed years before.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
( Macs also get improved with overclock 😉 my iBook is oc 800@900 and the 7500Mobility also... )
Matthieu,
Just start reading at the beginning, you have to get to know the player first 😀. Start with the mods list I posted. Here you'll find refs to Farnell order numbers, and a description on how to disable/remove the muting transistors.
Ray.
Just start reading at the beginning, you have to get to know the player first 😀. Start with the mods list I posted. Here you'll find refs to Farnell order numbers, and a description on how to disable/remove the muting transistors.
Ray.
6h5c said:
Dac pin 11 and 12 was suggested by Rowemeister, so that's why. I'm no expert so maybe I misunderstood, but I just follow suggestions
🙂
http://fr.farnell.com : Nous travaillons actuellement à l’amélioration de notre site internet. Le site Farnellinone.fr sera indisponible jusqu’au dimanche 4 juin à 12h00.Malefoda said:
Just use Ray's list for reference on parts used.
It's not wise to start with the end. In my opinion you should begin with the power supply (PSU) and replace caps and resistors on the main PCB (printed circuit board).
You should really do some reading as all answers are in the thread.
The Muting function acts in case the CD53 is not playing music. It takes of the audio output of the DAC so no computer noises are heard through the hifi set.
The HDAM circuit was intended to do something positive to audio. We experienced something else 😉
The references are in Ray's list. You should get acquainted to searching yourself though. Examen the search function on this forum, it's very handy 😉
Regards, Jaap
gy21 said:
Oh, o.k. I guess I missed that part 🙂.
So Brent, why are you modding the communication lines with coax? 😀
Ray.
Re: Re: Re: Newbee onboard...
Marantz used 'general purpose' caps everywhere, except for the opamps and HDAM. Right now I am replacing caps with both low ESR (Elna RJH, BG, Panasonic FC) and new general purpose (Nichicon RZm).
Replacing with GP in some places doesn't harm audio as I auditioned both of them.
I don't know what the effects will be of replacing all caps with ultra low impedance like Rubycon ZL/ZLH as the ultra low impedance is a heavier load to the PSU. Has anybody experimented with this setup?
Regards, Jaap
Hi AVR,avr300 said:
Marantz used 'general purpose' caps everywhere, except for the opamps and HDAM. Right now I am replacing caps with both low ESR (Elna RJH, BG, Panasonic FC) and new general purpose (Nichicon RZm).
Replacing with GP in some places doesn't harm audio as I auditioned both of them.
I don't know what the effects will be of replacing all caps with ultra low impedance like Rubycon ZL/ZLH as the ultra low impedance is a heavier load to the PSU. Has anybody experimented with this setup?
Regards, Jaap
Attachments
6h5c said:
Ok, here I go!
A last question before I start my order, about the opamps, you talk of associate different ones, but if I only wants the
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
do I have to order 2 to replace exactly as it is the 2 2114D ? ( I mean replace directly )
If you can also tell me wich part from CD63 I do not have in the 53... HDAM and ?
Thanks guy 🙂
Malefoda said:
Hi Malefoda,
Considering your budget and system I'd recommend the Burr Brown OPA2134 (or 2132 -sound the same). These are cheap (leaving money for caps and other parts) and have a sound much superior to the original JRC2114.
The OPA627 is a big step up again, IMO, but it's a *single* op-amp, so you need twice as many (FOUR) and special adapter boards to replace the originals . This option is very expensive and fiddly.
Bypassing the caps just before the output is a HUGE upgrade. This means removing them and jumpering over them with a piece of wire. This upgrade is free. 😀
Some people hear a difference removing the muting transistors too. Might aswell do it.
Malefoda said:
The HDAM is the main thing. I think the only other thing is just some caps are different values and ranges (looks like Elna standard electrolytics for the output caps - getting rid of these will blow you away! Audio shouldn't go through such caps!!!!)
Simon
Effects of damping the chassis
Hi all,
As reported by some of us damping the chassis brings audiable benefits. Now I wonder if it comes down to less movement of the electrical parts (PCB, connecting wires) or if it has bearing to the optical parts, or maybe both. Anybody a clue?
Regards, Jaap
Hi all,
As reported by some of us damping the chassis brings audiable benefits. Now I wonder if it comes down to less movement of the electrical parts (PCB, connecting wires) or if it has bearing to the optical parts, or maybe both. Anybody a clue?
Regards, Jaap
Re: Effects of damping the chassis
My best guess is it's more relevant to the analogue parts, as damping effects are heard with amplifiers too. Maybe the transport likes it too 😉
This feeling is compounded by me putting way too much bitumen inside (2/3 layers on lid) and the sound becoming dead and dry. Yes, I believe you can overdamp it. Let the flames begin...
disco said:
My best guess is it's more relevant to the analogue parts, as damping effects are heard with amplifiers too. Maybe the transport likes it too 😉
This feeling is compounded by me putting way too much bitumen inside (2/3 layers on lid) and the sound becoming dead and dry. Yes, I believe you can overdamp it. Let the flames begin...