Marantz CD63 & CD67 mods list

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#14,461
CD7!!! MMMM now there would be a thing of beauty!! Never actually seen one other than pics on the net!

Indeed as Simon Mentioned, Lee has CD94MKI and I have a philips CD960 which was identical except mine originally used the TDA1541 chip and SAA7220P/A where the 94 used TDA1541A. However both of ours now wear a double crown!!! CHeck out the CD650 mods link on Simons signature. We post there quite a bit. 🙂
 
#14,466
FritzS said:
In which range did you rate the Philips CD650?
I own one and mod them blue-danube DIY audio - Philips CD 650 Modifications
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Sorry, I missed this post before, the forum didn't e-mail me.

The 650 is quite shut-in and messy sounding as standard but with a good output stage and the digital filter and decoder supplies taken care of, and with good re-clocking it is stunning. It needs more work than most because the standard supplies are so lacking, and given its age the old caps will be fairly useless by now.

Sorry to say it but your mods aren't really enough to fix its audible issues. You need to feed the SAA7220 and SAA7210 with their own voltage regulators. Even 7805s will work well, but use heatsinks, they'll get hot! Your mods will clean things up but leave some harshness and grit in the sound with a treble quality that is off the mark. You'll also want to change the caps on the servo board under the CDM2 - huge gains to be had from doing this, it opens the sound up nicely (maybe my caps were badly dried up).

If my PCB hadn't developed a hard to find fault I'd still be listening to it, it gave me nirvana, it was exceptionally musical-sounding - extremely warm and full-bodied with good detail. I'd say even vinyl wouldn't easily match its attributes.

edit: one more strong recommendation - change the DAC for a TDA1541A and the digital filter for an SAA7220p/b - these are straight swaps and will bring detail levels up nicely.
edit2: I notice your cd650 board is quite different to mine - almost every IC was in a socket like some mad Philips prototype, and the riser-board to fix some logic problem was big and red!
 
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#14,472
GOT IT! one very battered box and a slightly dented side panel. I figured on the worse, like something killed or knocked out of kilter, but no! it started up flawlessly and all the pretty new gubbins work perfectly. There are mysterious red diodes lit up on the DOS board and music flows peerlessly. Well not really cause you all know about burning in new parts (and anyone who doesn't believe can please keep their opinions to themselves!) and there are a whole slew of new bits and bobs like the super caps from Brent that need forming. So in about ten days I can give a full report. Even fresh from it's harrowing encounter with the box haters, it kicked butt and sent the stock '67 home in shame. I've also got a new proper power cable on it that needs a bit of current flowing thru it for a while. Thanks guys for the good work. My 67' is now nipping at the heels of Brent's...
 
#14,473
shepperd said:
...(and anyone who doesn't believe can please keep their opinions to themselves!)...
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It's not a matter of believing, Shep, you should know that. The other people just can't hear the difference and they are just jealous because we can. :clown:

It's seriously funny by the way, if you follow a thread on people that say that cables don't make a difference because they can't measure or hear anything different...

Ray
 
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#14,474
Maybe ignorance is bliss? Playing some nice tunes as we speak. I'm going to try out a method I read about: instead of leaving the Isotech cd on endless repeat. The idea if I remember is something like 5 hours on then turn off for another five, and so on until the caps are fully formed. Anyone have an opinion?
 
#14,475
Sad world,
having found a tube amp to " try ", a Wiliamson KT88 in the cheapest way, Music Angel, I've try to ask what can be done to improve its sound on a french forum... OMG the mistake... one spit on that stuff with words full of hate, spit on idiot forums such as... here! ( the french guy think himself more brilliant than Pass seems... )...
Is music a mater of fight more than share? A pity.
 
#14,476
A pity it is, Matthieu. A lot of people think that a piece of equipment is "ment to be" as it left the factory. They think the manufacturer has calculated and chosen all the parts with great care, so it all comes together in harmony. The original state of the piece should not be altered under any circumstance!

Well, I guess they should stay camping at a commercial electronics company for a week. Then they will find that every single part is chosen with one (or two) things in mind: how can we cut the costs and how can we increase profit (I know, because I did it for about six years 😀).

I'm glad i'm a "let's open the hood!" type of guy 🙂.

Regards,

Ray
 
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#14,477
shepperd said:
Maybe ignorance is bliss? Playing some nice tunes as we speak. I'm going to try out a method I read about: instead of leaving the Isotech cd on endless repeat. The idea if I remember is something like 5 hours on then turn off for another five, and so on until the caps are fully formed. Anyone have an opinion?
Click to expand...

Dunno Shep, I never did any special burn-in tricks with players. Some say you should use a CD with pink noise, to "expose" the system to all frequencies. It's true for loudspeakers, it makes the cone suspension more flexible. Even my new Sennheiser plug-ins sounded much better after 24h of noise.

Ray
 
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