Suggestions for Marantz CD6003 mods?

[nad]

Hello all!


I'm looking for suggestions on components for my 3 week old Marantz CD6003.

With my NAD C515BEE I changed just about everything, I don't want to go that far this time, just looking to change the most effective components.

I've been looking at the the supply for the start, not looking into discrete regs or anything like that, just cost vs performance efficient caps, Schottkys and the sorts.

Haven't really got a limit on budget as such, although I dont want to spend a fortune on it so open to any ideas.


Maybe polypropylene caps like MKP's for the output, but what value?
Clock, which one? etc etc



Thanks.......

 

[nad]

Anyone?

 

[nad]

Nobody in this vast community willing to help??

 

[Thomo]

Hi Nad.

The basic rules of modding apply to this player as well as most others imo.

I modded an SA7003 and got nice improvements in detail by replacing the Cerafines decoupling the HDAM to Rubycon ZA.

And yes, replacing the two back to back Silmics with 4.7uF (or greater) MKP or MKS film caps will also give big gains. I'd measure the dc offset before these caps though, as if there's hardly any you can get away with bypassing them altogether.

I know you didn't want to add regulators etc, but re-clocking the SA7003 was of huge benefit to the sound, really improving in all areas.

Cheers, Lee.

 

[nad]

Hi Nad.

The basic rules of modding apply to this player as well as most others imo.

I modded an SA7003 and got nice improvements in detail by replacing the Cerafines decoupling the HDAM to Rubycon ZA.

And yes, replacing the two back to back Silmics with 4.7uF (or greater) MKP or MKS film caps will also give big gains. I'd measure the dc offset before these caps though, as if there's hardly any you can get away with bypassing them altogether.

I know you didn't want to add regulators etc, but re-clocking the SA7003 was of huge benefit to the sound, really improving in all areas.

Cheers, Lee.

Thanks Lee, much appreciated.

I have the CD6003 running with a PM7003 and the output is a bit slow and mellow, I crave attack and PRaT. Would I be better off starting with something else or clock the CD6003, replace the psu caps, swap the diodes for shottkys and new decoup/coup caps?

 

[Thomo]

Well, the sound of the SA7003 was very balanced. Nothing jumped out as being immediately obvious about the sound, but everything was there and for me, it was fantastic.

Have you changed any components yet? Or is your player still stock?

If you've not done anything yet, the first thing on my list would be to link out those two back-to-back Silmics on the output of each channel. If you'd rather have a cap there to prevent dc a 4.7uF mks, mkt or mkp cap will be miles better than the two standard electrolytics. This should do away with some of the muddiness of the bass and help things move along.

Check out the massive cd63/7 modding thread on here. Most of the tweaks there can be applied to your cd player too. http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digital-source/54009-marantz-cd63-cd67-mods-list.html

It'll take some reading, but you'll start to learn what works for modding cd players.

Cheers, Lee.

 

[nad]

Well, the sound of the SA7003 was very balanced. Nothing jumped out as being immediately obvious about the sound, but everything was there and for me, it was fantastic.

Have you changed any components yet? Or is your player still stock?

If you've not done anything yet, the first thing on my list would be to link out those two back-to-back Silmics on the output of each channel. If you'd rather have a cap there to prevent dc a 4.7uF mks, mkt or mkp cap will be miles better than the two standard electrolytics. This should do away with some of the muddiness of the bass and help things move along.

Check out the massive cd63/7 modding thread on here. Most of the tweaks there can be applied to your cd player too. http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digital-source/54009-marantz-cd63-cd67-mods-list.html

It'll take some reading, but you'll start to learn what works for modding cd players.

Cheers, Lee.

Thanks Lee,

Thinking about it, I was at Brents shop a while back when you was there and you mentioned your shop, do you have an open shop or is it online only?


Cheers,
Ant

 

[nad]

I know you didn't want to add regulators etc, but re-clocking the SA7003 was of huge benefit to the sound, really improving in all areas.

Cheers, Lee.

I think clocking is out of the question, the IC (CDCE913) runs at 1.9v so a 3.3v clock would be a no-no, nevermind a cheaper more common 5v affair. The IC has an internal VCXO which has been tested by many at 50pps, I know it's not ideal but it's far better than most. A £145 clock in a £200ish player just doesn't make sense to me, anyhow, I've a bucket full of ZA/FC caps and a load of hexfreds to put in so that's me busy for a few hours.

Thanks anyhow, but unless someone comes up with a 1.9v clock for a sensible price, I don't think I'll bother.

 

[Thomo]

Hi Ant, sorry I haven't been in touch for a while, I've been really busy lately.

Brents clocks have a 1.7v output so they'd be fine there. Also, fitting a really good clock along with the other parts you have will turn this player into something fantastic, but if they're out of your budget it's no problem. I can build you a cheap clock on strip-board if you like, email or phone me about this if you like.

Also, I wouldn't use FC caps after the regs, I always find they give a ragged, harsh sound. They're great before regs though.

Cheers, Lee.

 

[GaryKrant]

I modded an SA7003 and got nice improvements in detail by replacing the Cerafines decoupling the HDAM to Rubycon ZA.

And yes, replacing the two back to back Silmics with 4.7uF (or greater) MKP or MKS film caps will also give big gains. I'd measure the dc offset before these caps though, as if there's hardly any you can get away with bypassing them altogether.

Fully agree: I'm tweaking my CD6000 and I replaced the back2back output Silmics by MKP Auricaps, and reused the Silmics on the decoupling stage of the HDAMs. I used Rubycons ZA too, but for the decoupling stage of the active filter giving good results.

What I mean, summarizing, is that replacing output capacitors by quality MKPs gives good results. I had 6003 service manual some time ago but now I'm not able to find it, I'll try to get it again in order to give you more accurate advices.

Good luck.

 

[nad]

Hi Ant, sorry I haven't been in touch for a while, I've been really busy lately.

Brents clocks have a 1.7v output so they'd be fine there. Also, fitting a really good clock along with the other parts you have will turn this player into something fantastic, but if they're out of your budget it's no problem. I can build you a cheap clock on strip-board if you like, email or phone me about this if you like.

Also, I wouldn't use FC caps after the regs, I always find they give a ragged, harsh sound. They're great before regs though.

Cheers, Lee.

Thanks for your reply,

Today I swapped the 4 analogue supply Shottky diodes for Hexfreds and the 4 cheap silicone digital supply diodes for Hexfreds also. I swapped the rather large Elna 'for audio' analogue reg decoupling caps for FC's, together with all the digital pre reg caps for FC's and ZA/ZL for all post. I swapped the cheap koshin caps surrounding the dac regs, FC for pre, za's for post but it sounded horrid so swapped back. I didn't touch the dac decoupling so I'll have to order a couple of SEPC's from you.

Thanks for the offer regarding the clock, extremely greatfull. I have a 30mhz Trichord clock 2 laying around, just need to swap the 5v reg for a 3.3v and jobs a good un, then find a 16.9 tcxo to fit, measured the output and that's 1.7v too. Any ideas, shopuld I lose the Trichord?


Thanks again Lee,
All the best,

Ant

 

[Thomo]

Hi Ant, nice work so far. Give those caps time to run in a bit, the ZA's will become less sterile with a bit of use and bass will improve too.

The SEPC's are great caps, but only on digital rails so don't use them for the dac's analog supplies or they'll sound incredibly detailed but sterile.

Cheers, Lee.

 

[nad]

Anyone out there have a spare XO-52 (half size) 16.934 oscillator they want to sell me?

 

[gheorgh]

cd6003 mods

Hi
These are my changes to the Marantz CD6003.

I have doubts about the changes made.
The capacitors 911 and 912 After digital reg are mounted two Panasonic FC. It would be better to mount de Rubicon ZA / ZL?
Future changes are: R-core transformer for the power of analog circuits.

How do I provide for VA? 30VA or 14VA are enough?
The transformer chosen has 4 outputs 0-12 and 0-12, the connector has 3 pins on the card.
How to connect? 0-0 to the center pin and +12 and -12 to pin side is right?
Another change is the replacement of four 220 picofarads Silmic capacitors with polypropylene Auricap 30 picofarads capacitors.
Finally, I'm thinking of replacing the KIA7805API 's digital power with a super regulator Audiocom.
Thank you all for opinions and advice.
Giorgio

 

[UV101]

With respect to better regulation, you'd get better gains by adding the regulator to a single device (poss dac analogue for example) The gains from adding multiple dedicated low noise regs are immense. I now run 19 of them across my whole player (took 2 years to get them all!) Also, check out the fidelity audio SPower. I think they are slightly cheaper then audiocom regs and they are much better spec!

 

[gheorgh]

Hi
Thanks for the advice of fidelity audio SPower.
I read about their specifications:
HEXFET Power Mosfet capable of 5.7A @ 10V and 100°C
Can you tell me how much current supply for the 5V model?
Congratulations on your site where I saw the change in the Marantz CD63.
Could you advise me how to get my VA transformer dedicated to the analog power of cd6003 ?
Thanks

 

[UV101]

I've used a 5V SPower on a Squeezebox 3 before. Thats pulls a constant 1A+ all day long. I'm sure I was told it would drive a 5A load with a big enough heat sink. I'm not sure how many applications in audio that a low voltage reg would be required to drive that sort of load. Its nice to know that it will peak to that sort of current though.

I would always go over size on transformer. I normally use 9-0-9 @ 30va or 50va for 5v rails and would almost certainly go for at least 30va. I would also consider 50va and then run 2 seperate rails with their own rectifiers and smoothing caps. The cost difference between the transformers is next to nothing and the cost of shottky diodes and decent caps is not lots. For less then £30 you can have 2 seperate PSU's with 22,000uF capable of peaking at nearly 3A each!!!

2x9v 50va Transformer £10.28
11DQ09 Schottky Diodes (10) £3.00
Panasonic TSUP 22,000uF/16v (2) £6.42

Thats £23.64 inc UK VAT! Excellent value!!!

Those pics of my CD63's are a few years old now. My main player is a Philips CD960. Thats the one that has lots of SPowers 🙂

 

[gheorgh]

Thanks, I think that I will follow your advice.
Also because the Audiocom products are good, but expensive and absolutely no customer service, people must be quite presumptuous.
will choose among fidelity audio products.