That Sony will not have been on the same level on your home system Simon. I took the Sony home to try and although it was very nice it failed in pretty much every area compared to mine.
My cd player sounds very much removed from the sound you hear at my work when listening to it at home.
Brent
My cd player sounds very much removed from the sound you hear at my work when listening to it at home.
Brent
Aye, of course it will. The Sony was nicely made and with further mods (reclocking and discrete stage) could probably rival ours.
Mine at home has a big rich bass that wasn't really heard in the other environment. Good work setup tho 😉
Mine at home has a big rich bass that wasn't really heard in the other environment. Good work setup tho 😉
Now that i've re installed windows I can plop a few pics on here.
These are of the regs and caps used on the laser driver ic + on one of them you can just make out the blue tx behind the KI tx.
Brent
These are of the regs and caps used on the laser driver ic + on one of them you can just make out the blue tx behind the KI tx.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Brent
From my experience of modding two in the past, the CD63 is a great start. There's a lot of discrete components, very few surface mount components, pretty good DAC chip and loads of advice out there (which is also applicable to other players, but needs translation as such).
John, you really should have a go, you won't be disappointed.
There are better stock players out there. I'm using one myself, but for a newcomer, its good to have the service manual and such a detailed thread. To some extent I've modded my CD940, but it required a bit more thought.
John. You KNOW it makes sense!
John, you really should have a go, you won't be disappointed.
There are better stock players out there. I'm using one myself, but for a newcomer, its good to have the service manual and such a detailed thread. To some extent I've modded my CD940, but it required a bit more thought.
John. You KNOW it makes sense!
Thanks for your opinions guys. I'll defo give it a go.
I looked up the meaning for RCD on wikipedia and this was in the description:
"These values were set by tests during which volunteers and animals were subjected to shocks of known current and voltage."
Whoa, how much did they get paid for that?
Brent, I don't think I will mess around too much at the main box, the house is rented and I may not get away with that. I noticed some solid copper earth rods in B&Q yesterday, worth a go?
Lee.
I looked up the meaning for RCD on wikipedia and this was in the description:
"These values were set by tests during which volunteers and animals were subjected to shocks of known current and voltage."
Whoa, how much did they get paid for that?
Brent, I don't think I will mess around too much at the main box, the house is rented and I may not get away with that. I noticed some solid copper earth rods in B&Q yesterday, worth a go?
Lee.
Speaking of other players, my mate who gave me the new clock has an old Rotel. It has separate power supply and dac boards.
On the dac board, there are probably around twenty caps. 90% of them are Black Gates, the opamps are pretty good too. This is the standard machine, no mods. It retailed for around £600 in the late '90s. It is miles ahead of the standard KI (for only £100 extra) and was around at the same time but it is hardly heard of, and they very rarely come up for sale.
I think I'll convince him that he needs some new regs and bits!
Lee.
On the dac board, there are probably around twenty caps. 90% of them are Black Gates, the opamps are pretty good too. This is the standard machine, no mods. It retailed for around £600 in the late '90s. It is miles ahead of the standard KI (for only £100 extra) and was around at the same time but it is hardly heard of, and they very rarely come up for sale.
I think I'll convince him that he needs some new regs and bits!
Lee.
Thomo said:
A guy I've not seen for years also has a Rotel from the late nineties, which I believe is also loaded with BGs.
His was a ~£500 player, the RCD-472 or something along those lines. The sound was pleasant and involving but I think magazine reviews were only luke warm. I'd expect they could sing.
Brent has modded a more recent Rotel to a high level...
I sure have. It was the RCD-02. Fitted loads of SPower regs a clock , BG , LM4562 and 2x TX.
Was very nice indeed. I was impressed by its build quality
Brent
Was very nice indeed. I was impressed by its build quality
Brent
Thomo said:
I buried a copper pipe and connected it to my hi-fi using 3 x 10mm^2 earth cables. Sadly I must report the sound quality gains are minor. I think how much improvement you get depends on what gear you use, what mains filtering you use and how bad the earth was in the first place. Also it will depend on how decent a connection you can manage! It's not easy to get a low impedance connection to earth... And spikes have been criticised a lot for generally being ineffective. Those B&Q ones are copper plated steel usually. Pure copper would be pricey. The pipes are pure copper though... this is Russ Andrews' preferred method of earthing. I suspect his mains filters require a good earth, which is why he goes to some length to discuss the best ways to attain a quality earth for your gear.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Simon
A copper latice would be ideal. Make sure you use grease or ideally copper slip around the connection as these corrode over the years making the connection high/higher resistance.
Brent
Brent
rowemeister said:
Indeed. I reckon the 1m pipe is very good technically. Perhaps better would be several sheets of PCB etch board, with the wiring directly soldered. I bet that would give you a seriously low resistance connection! Or would it not?
I fear the thin pcb tracks would corrode too quickly + their surface area is very small.
Brent
Brent
rowemeister said:
The surface area could be good if you leave all the copper on it! Anyway - the pipe will corrode too!
How about using an old stainless steel sink. Not the best conductiveness but a large area and wont rust + would be cheap even if you bought a new one lol
Brent
Brent
And finally back on topic... I added a ground lift switch to my CD63 so I can try with or without house earth. It could be used to quickly kill possible earth loops occuring in the system.
I used a rocker switch that I scavenged from an old switchmode psu, which slides perfectly into the hole left by the original captive mains lead - result!
I used a rocker switch that I scavenged from an old switchmode psu, which slides perfectly into the hole left by the original captive mains lead - result!
