6h5c said:Here's a nudie picture
Lot's of caps, more voltage regs and ferrite shielding around the flatcables. The servo and driver electronics is mounted on a PCB under the transport. So the PCB is mainly PSU, DAC and analog. The digital-out is nicely shielded under a HDAM can. And: no opamps!
This pic is from the Marantz website, there are actually three cans in the player.
Ray
It looks very nice Ray. I wonder if you'll mod it...
Just a minor update, if anyone remembers I was moving house, I've now got my room up to about 70% sound quality of my last one. I'm using 2 large poly diffusers, 1 small one and 1 diffuser made from dowels stuck to plywood. The room is still not giving a coherent and excellent sound so I may need to add some absorption next. A rug or two on the walls then...
6h5c said:Hey, our thread has almost moved to the third page! Time for a new post, allthough it's a bit off-topic: I've got a new toy!!
Let's see if a HDAM-bypass-procedure has as much impact as it has on a 67
Ray
Hi Ray,
Out of interest, how did it compare in unmodified form with the stock/modified 63/67.
I think my 67 is fast approaching termination after my last attempt to fix a lifted trace and I'm looking for something to replace it with. I've always wondered whether the basic SA players approach the levels of the modded 63/67.
Regards
Pete
Hi Brent,
Yes, it does. The DAC output is single ended, so no conversion or adding of outputs is needed. EDIT: it's not, it's a CS4397. It has a discrete LPF, then a HDAM circuit, followed by a discrete 'current amp', as it says on the PCB. I wonder what that does. Maybe a beefed-up HDAM? I haven't got the manual yet, is there anybody around that has it?
Originally posted by SimontY
It looks very nice Ray. I wonder if you'll mod it...
YES!
I finally found some time to listen to it last night, and the player beats both my modded 57 and 67 by a considerable margin. The 57 has the discrete FET output and the 67 uses opamps, and both have Flea clocks. I know these players are not as heavily modded as possible, but I think it's going to be hard to reach the same level. With 'normal' CD's the 8400 gives more detail, and the soundstage has more depth. With SACD the differences become even bigger, again more detail and definition, and overall the sound is more relaxed and controlled. I find the sound a tiny bit too bright, mainly in CD mode, but you can clearly hear the good points. Like a diamond in the rough, waiting to be polished
. Regards,
Ray
awpagan said:
Hi Allan,
It's a SA8400, and it uses a CS4397 from Crystal. It has a switched capacitor network on board, which is supposed to be a bad thing for the sound. But I am wondering how good or bad a modern DAC like this can be, so I didn't let that scare me. I'm going to tweak it step-by-step and listen very carefuly to the results, and I hope my verdict will be positive in the end
.Regards,
Ray
Hi ray
switched psu
how cheap, but it does work for the price
There is some DVD mod threads on here.
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=48393
one main mod they do is the power supply.
allan
ps the CS4397 from Crystal is suppose to be very good,
I have never tried it, i am looking at the wm8740 but i'm still waiting for them.
switched psu
how cheap, but it does work for the price
There is some DVD mod threads on here.
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=48393
one main mod they do is the power supply.
allan
ps the CS4397 from Crystal is suppose to be very good,
I have never tried it, i am looking at the wm8740 but i'm still waiting for them.
Re: CD 53 SE Mods
Hi,
Most amps or preamps have input caps, it would be a surprise to me if your amp hasn't any. If you have a multimeter you can measure the offset of your '53 just before the output caps, if it is low enough you have nothing to worry about. Now you're probably wondering how low is low enough...
Regards,
Ray
RCruz said:
Hi,
Most amps or preamps have input caps, it would be a surprise to me if your amp hasn't any. If you have a multimeter you can measure the offset of your '53 just before the output caps, if it is low enough you have nothing to worry about. Now you're probably wondering how low is low enough...
Regards,
Ray
What is it with these electronics guys? Didn't they go through primary school? You buy a 1000 euro machine (I didn't pay that much ) and then YOU have to tell the engineers how to spell "supply" 
. Reminds me of the "low jiter" thing . Did I spell "spell" correctly by the way?
Ray
) and then YOU have to tell the engineers how to spell "supply" . Reminds me of the "low jiter" thing . Did I spell "spell" correctly by the way?Ray
Attachments
6h5c said:What is it with these electronics guys? Didn't they go through primary school? You buy a 1000 euro machine (I didn't pay that much
Ray
Ha ha
Yes, I have one of the "low jiter" XO's - a modern classic.
6h5c said:What is it with these electronics guys? Didn't they go through primary school? You buy a 1000 euro machine (I didn't pay that much
Ray
I like the old service manuals written in Jinglish (japanese english)
You always had a classic in these somewhere and during training courses they were found.
again and again When explained to the instructor at the time they would see the funny side of it too.
Maybe they were used to break the boredom.
allan
Must admit there jinglish was better than my enganese(english japanese)
Hi! Am new to this so please jump in and save my KI if need be.
Carried out the muting transistor extraction and bypassed the dc blocking caps so far. What a difference! Been listening to some Jack Johnson lately and the change is amazing. The transparency is brilliant.
My Superclock 3 will be with me soon and am planning a midway upgrade of the v regs to LM317s (till I get some Super regs or Q powers) and the HDAM bypass after upgrading to OPA627s. All in time.
Leon
Carried out the muting transistor extraction and bypassed the dc blocking caps so far. What a difference! Been listening to some Jack Johnson lately and the change is amazing. The transparency is brilliant.
My Superclock 3 will be with me soon and am planning a midway upgrade of the v regs to LM317s (till I get some Super regs or Q powers) and the HDAM bypass after upgrading to OPA627s. All in time.
Leon
Hi! Andy I think it was you who sent me the link to the manual on another post. Thanks again. Are there any other schematics apart from whats in the manual? If so could someone send me a link to them please?
Regarding the opamp upgrades, there are some on the RS website (www.rswww.com) which have noise values 1/5 that of the OPA627s. Anyone try any of these?
Is there a particular reason the OPA627s are used in SOIC form with Browndogs rather than the DIP8s?
Apart from LM317 v regs has anyone tried any better ones without going as far as an Audiocom or Trichord upgrade?
I'm planning on sticking on an IEC filtered socket and getting rid of the cheap and nasty power lead. Any thoughts on using the filtered socket as opposed to implementing an on board filter?
Regards
Leon
Regarding the opamp upgrades, there are some on the RS website (www.rswww.com) which have noise values 1/5 that of the OPA627s. Anyone try any of these?
Is there a particular reason the OPA627s are used in SOIC form with Browndogs rather than the DIP8s?
Apart from LM317 v regs has anyone tried any better ones without going as far as an Audiocom or Trichord upgrade?
I'm planning on sticking on an IEC filtered socket and getting rid of the cheap and nasty power lead. Any thoughts on using the filtered socket as opposed to implementing an on board filter?
Regards
Leon
leonlobo said:
Hi Leon,
I can answer a couple your points.
Why use the OPA627 in SOIC? Because the DIP is large and when you mount two on an adapter they get in the way of the newly upgraded filter capacitors. But I use the DIP-8 ones and they sound wonderful. I've used a few other op-amps and none came close. I will go discrete fairly soon.
I've not tried better regs yet, but I'm about to stick in a couple of Audiocom for the clock psu and servo clock divider psu. I will report.
I use a pre-made mains filter in my pre-amp and it seems ok, but then I've not tried without it!! In my CD player I just use a coil in series with L & N, and have an X cap across L & N. This is probably worthwhile IME.
I just changed my standard mains lead for a chunky one from Ebay with enormous plugs (Wattgate copy IEC, cryo treated) and thick conductors, brasso'd and Deoxit'd and the sound has got bigger and more rich. Impressive for little outlay! Also got me a Russ Andrews Classic Powerkord and put it on my power amp (less effect but pleasant).
Not been posting much on here because I'm having difficulty getting my new room to sound as good as the last one, so there's no point upgrading the cdp again yet
Regards
Simon
Regarding better opamps - have a look at http://www.bursonaudio.com/Burson_HDAM_Module.htm
Hi,
Finally found the cause of the balance problem. A lifted PCB track on CD16 was letting a couple of volts of DC into the signal line.
It's fixed now (but the bottom of the PCB is beginning to look like an explosion in a spaghetti factory ) but with all the mods it's really sounding sweet.
I've decided it's got a bit too fragile to handle too much more modding so I think I'll limit the mods to swapping opamps for now and just enjoy listening....... and maybe start to attack an old Philips CD160 
Thanks to everyone who helped me with their advice
Pete
Finally found the cause of the balance problem. A lifted PCB track on CD16 was letting a couple of volts of DC into the signal line.
It's fixed now (but the bottom of the PCB is beginning to look like an explosion in a spaghetti factory
) but with all the mods it's really sounding sweet.I've decided it's got a bit too fragile to handle too much more modding so I think I'll limit the mods to swapping opamps for now and just enjoy listening
....... and maybe start to attack an old Philips CD160 Thanks to everyone who helped me with their advice
Pete
leonlobo said:
Hi.
Anyone considering the Burson HDAM modules should read this thread first !
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=79185&perpage=10&pagenumber=3
All is not what it seems at first glance.
Andy