Marantz CD63 & CD67 mods list

[6h5c]

Maybe a 67 in a 63KI chassis with KI tx would make a very good starting block

Brent

And I'd love to hear the new generation players that also do SACD, modded.

How is yours now Ray?

Hi guys,

Good to see the spirit is still present here .

I'm hoping to tell you soon... Both my 67's have an extra small toroidal now, that feeds the analog stage. One of them still uses the good old opamps in the filter and the other one has the output PCB installed. Both of them have nearly identical mods, and both have a Flea installed. This way I can do a nice A-B comparison between the opamps and the outputstage . I also have a 63KI that is almost finished and modded in the same manner. Then I can do a A-B-C comparison . But I need a Flea PCB for it, anyone happen to have a spare one?

SACD is a whole different ballgame, my SA8400 leaves both 67 players in the dust, and I don't even have to play a SACD . But maybe there's still hope for the 67's, as i'm working on a DAC right now (one of the reasons I haven't been posting much here...) that already outperforms the CD section of my SA8400 while it's not even finished yet! It's the EzDAC, that uses asynchronous upsampling to 24/96 and a PCM1794 DAC. Very nice first listening results! Not finished yet, I want to fit a Flea in there too, for the 24.576MHz clock, anyone happen to have a second spare PCB ? I wonder if it's going to beat my 8400's SACD playback, it's already somewhere in between now...

So maybe the 67's are going to beat the 8400 as a luxury transport...
By the way, the upsampler of the EzDAC accepts I2S input data, so maybe it's a nice plan to leave the CS8416 S/P-DIF receiver out and hook it up to the decoder of the 67 directly?? The PCB is small enough to be fitted inside a 63/67. Instead of only an outputstage you just replace the whole DAC-section. If you guys want to take your CD playback to the next level, this is definately worth investigating.

Regards,

Ray

(lurking at the sideline...)

 

[SimontY]

This is all very exciting Ray!! I'm interested to hear about your ABC comparison and how far away they are from your SA8400 and EZDAC.

If the CD63ki lags in detail you need to reclock the servo.... but it's not like that hasn't been said already

Are you collecting players now?

 

[6h5c]

Are you collecting players now?

It starts to look like it, you can see on my website how many different players I had, there was a brief moment I had ten of them here...
But last month I sold a modded CD67mkII, and before that an Arcam and a CD52mkII had to go. Now I only have four left, and two cheap ones with ugly cases, for spare parts .

<OT>This new DAC has gotten me very excited. It's not an easy task to build, with two 28 pin SSOP ic's and all the other SMD components on it, but it's not very expensive if you consider the results, it sounds very good. It will wipe the floor with some major $$$ commercial DAC's. Can't wait to have another listening session with some of those 'audiophiles' with fat wallets and their $$$ off-the-shelve stuff .

There are some nice pics of my DAC-in-progress (and others) in this thread, if anyone's interested.</OT>

Ray

 

[Fidelity Audio]

Hi, thanks for the suggestions.

CD04 & CD07 were moved to CD05 & CD06, closer to the dac pins so I think they're ok.

You recommend using the invisus on the dac, do you mean just the dac and nothing else? At the moment it supplies dac & decoder & servo analogue.

Lee

ps I would have used 470uF 16v on the opamps but I seem to have run out!

Ah those caps are ok, I should have checked those others.

Whoops sorry about your lack of BG hehe

Brent

 

[Fidelity Audio]

Also, does anyone know where to get an 8.467 xtal from? I can't seem to find one anywhere.

The elusive pic

Lee.

Go on ebay to a audiocom clock . Contact him and ask if he can supply you the crystal. Its a 5ppm jobby and charges about £4.

Brent

 

[Fidelity Audio]

If you're putting it on an Audiocom clock then contact them directly.

Otherwise: http://www.audioupgrades.co.uk/clocks.shtml

lol

Hehe thanks Simon

There will be pics of servo clock and servo divide pcb on there soon

Brent

 

[Fidelity Audio]

So maybe the 67's are going to beat the 8400 as a luxury transport...
By the way, the upsampler of the EzDAC accepts I2S input data, so maybe it's a nice plan to leave the CS8416 S/P-DIF receiver out and hook it up to the decoder of the 67 directly?? The PCB is small enough to be fitted inside a 63/67. Instead of only an outputstage you just replace the whole DAC-section. If you guys want to take your CD playback to the next level, this is definately worth investigating.

Regards,

Ray

(lurking at the sideline...)

Excellent Ray, ive been thinking of a dac upgrade. Keep us all posted
I want a double crown lol

Brent

 

[Fidelity Audio]

Here is the link to the clock / divide pcb page on the web site we are building.

Divide pcb

Brent

 

[Chrisr3521]

hi i know its a bit off topic but which solderstation would you guys recomend, im looking at a ersa analog 60 but im not entirely sure about it, but its a good price and i dont really want to spend too much but on the other hand i dont want to buy a crap one!

 

[6h5c]

Hi,

The Ersa Analog 60 seems like a good choice to me, especially if the price is good. I used an Ersa for yeeears, until finally the heater element gave up. That was also a 60W version, the predecessor of the new Analog 60.

Ray

 

[Thomo]

Right, I have gone back to using my CD67, and it is singing sweetly again. I've transferred all the regs from the 63, but without having the separate servo chip to supply, I am left with two spare LM317 based +5v regs.

The SAA7372GP is fed with separate digital and analogue supplies through r117/r118.

Currently all the digital supply pins are fed by one reg, will feeding the other digital supply pins on the decoder with separate regs be beneficial? If so, which pins will be best to separate?

One other question (if ya don't mind). In the Superraygulator, what is the best option for the supply input? Is it the Transistor/Tant combination or a good quality cap?

Hope I haven't waffled on too much

Lee.

 

[Fidelity Audio]

I have been measuring the 20V section on a bog standard cd63. I have been measuring the current used. My findings are as follows.

The ac (17V x 2) = 3.26 VA and the dc (+20V -20V) = 2.52 VA.

The reason for this test is because I am going to remove the KI tx and fit a 2x18V 15VA tx just for the discrete pcb.

Has anyone else measured these currents before?
Also does anyone have the spec for the KI TX interms of VA?

Brent

 

[Thomo]

Hi Brent.

I downloaded this ages ago, I don't know who did it but I think it's somewhere on this thread.

Not exactly what you're looking for, but it may be interesting.

Lee.

 

[6h5c]

Hi Brent.

I downloaded this ages ago, I don't know who did it but I think it's somewhere on this thread.

Not exactly what you're looking for, but it may be interesting.

Lee.

Hey, that's my PDF!
So Brent: yes, it has been measured before .

Ray

 

[Fidelity Audio]

ah I do have the full pdf on my works computer of that.

Its interesting that your findings were half the VA of mine Ray. Of course I had HDAM connected and you did not.

I think my 15VA will be good, if there is enough room I may squeeze a larger VA in

Brent

 

[adfinni]

I've heard nothing but good things about Quads but I don't recall ever hearing any.

The meet was great but there were no modded CD63s! Mine was broken and Brent was away with his wife somewhere (excuses, excuses!)

In fact I didn't hear any good sources at all. There were loads of fantastic DIY speakers and amps though.

Andy Poynton was there. Just as dry sense of humour in real life hehe

Bah wish i could have been there as at least you would have had my 63 to cast your eye over. On 2nd thoughts france was much nicer and i have a healthy tan

Well looking for a job now, and if someone is foolish enough to give me one and actually pay me then Brent will be seeing my player very soon for its final round of mods. Just hope he can do an NUS discount with my still valid student card

O and how come the thread seems to have been shortened by a few hundred pages ?

 

[Fidelity Audio]

I have just fitted a 15VA 2x18V toroid tx into a standard 63 for the +/- 12V rails. WOW

So much smoother better bass and a much better sound stage. Its defo better than the windings of the KI TX. Its also a Nuvotem like in the KI.

I have also ordered the 30VA version to see if that fits. lol

The 15VA tx was only £12 from RS

Brent

 

[Fidelity Audio]

Bah wish i could have been there as at least you would have had my 63 to cast your eye over. On 2nd thoughts france was much nicer and i have a healthy tan

Well looking for a job now, and if someone is foolish enough to give me one and actually pay me then Brent will be seeing my player very soon for its final round of mods. Just hope he can do an NUS discount with my still valid student card

O and how come the thread seems to have been shortened by a few hundred pages ?

Simon is on holiday at the moment. Somewhere in outer Mongolia probably

Brent

 

[Thomo]

For a while there I thought you may have been running out of ideas, lol.

What are you using to power the diplay etc? Just a bog standard little tx?

Lee.

 

[Fidelity Audio]

LOL

On this test 63 the standard TX is doing everything else and the toroid is doing the +/- 20V.
On mine I may have to fit a few more smaller tx to do disp v and +/-10V

I have actually run a KI on different TX before as the original tx had failed. Its not hard at all

Brent