You know, on the VWVortex forums they debate endlessly on whether the 1.8T or VR6 engine Golf is a better starting platform to mod. Some say it depends how many thousands you're willing to spend on it. One could try telling those guys to stop tinkering, save their money and buy an Audi V8. One could also go on pouet.net and tell all those demoscene coders to stop wasting their time pushing the envelope of what's possible in 64kb. It's all creativity within constraints in a mutually supportive community.
Some people on here are out to build a giant killer, but others like myself are just having some open-ended fun making incremental improvements to their old players. It's fun to always have another little bit to do. The forum is also a huge part of it. I wouldn't have done any mods without you guys, but with your help I'm hooked. What are the forums for owners of $10k players like? If I had to guess I'd say probably not as interesting as this one.
At the end of the day, people will find ways to spend their time and pocket money in the way that gives them the most pleasure over time. It's not just about the ultimate end result. I've always loved my CD63KI; I've just found a new way to enjoy it.
The boutique parts are shiny.
Some people on here are out to build a giant killer, but others like myself are just having some open-ended fun making incremental improvements to their old players. It's fun to always have another little bit to do. The forum is also a huge part of it. I wouldn't have done any mods without you guys, but with your help I'm hooked. What are the forums for owners of $10k players like? If I had to guess I'd say probably not as interesting as this one.
At the end of the day, people will find ways to spend their time and pocket money in the way that gives them the most pleasure over time. It's not just about the ultimate end result. I've always loved my CD63KI; I've just found a new way to enjoy it.
The boutique parts are shiny.
No not at all, exactly as Martin said.... have lots of fun and spend as much as you like, it's all about what you want and nobody else.
I think a lot of the fun is ordering the bits, waiting for Mr posty to drop off a nice little jiffy bag full of shiny caps and regs, warming up the iron and soldering away. It's somewhat therapeutic and feels like quite an achievement to personally make something that let's be honest is quite complex 'better'.
I wasn't trying to tell you what to do or insult you in any shape or form in my previous posts, I was just speaking from experience.....
The story goes (this may be long and boring, sorry
):I once owned a NAD C515bee CDp that I bought new and within only a couple of months I was looking for better as you do, I bought a Beresford DAC to partner with it but still wasn't happy so I looked around and came across a site offering upgrades for the DAC, wahey, that was the answer I was looking for....
So after an informative phone call I fired up the steam engine and set off on a transatlantic voyage (20 mins down the road) with my 515bee to talk upgrades with a chap called Brent
, he sorted me out with LM4562's, ZA's for analogue, SEPC's for the DAC, FC's for the PSU's and I was very very happy with the results.However.... the diy bug had now struck and I was addicted (your fault Brent
).So after going a little mad with bit's and bobs I ended up with the 515bee housing a new clock and psu, Class-D regs for the DAC, Class-D regs for the analogue, bypassing this and that, more FC's for this, loads of damping, billet RCA's, new 'tin hat' 4562's and I think somewhere in the region of 50(ish) ZA's spread all over.
This all came to around the 500 mark, was I happy? Sure the player was very good (to my ears) but I was hooked so shortly after I sold it with the intention to start with something better.....
Then came the CD6003, to which I haven't gone mad this time round, just diodes, a few KZ/ZA/Os-cons/FC's, a couple of Ampohm output caps (cheers Lee) and a pair of very cheap regs for the DAC. All in all around 40 quid tops and I'm super happy with it.
I guess the moral of the story is... It is very easy to get carried away.
Peace
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Not boring at all, and you're bang on with the fun of the postie delivering the caps and the therapeutic feeling. I work as a software engineer writing code all day, so it's a nice contrast to tinker around with something manual like this.
It sounds as though I really need to progress from swapping capacitors and op-amps to sorting out the regulators. Has anyone got a Regulators for Dummies guide, preferably with pictures?
It sounds as though I really need to progress from swapping capacitors and op-amps to sorting out the regulators. Has anyone got a Regulators for Dummies guide, preferably with pictures?
Has anyone got a Regulators for Dummies guide, preferably with pictures?
Yes, I think I can help you out with a very simple reg (courteously provided by Martin Clark). It's a super cheap 5v or 3.3v reg that has worked wonders in my CDP......
The photo below is of my DAC digital & analogue supply regs side by side on the same stripboard, white is 12vin, left side is 3.3v and right is 5v. Total cost for both... £3 tops.
Here's the schematic:
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
The input 10ohm/10uF (or more) forms a filter which deals with incoming noise in the audio range and above. The '317' offers much better ripple rejection than 'fixed' 3-pin regs and using two cheap green LED's like this to set the output absolutely minimises output noise - they do not even need a capacitor in parallel. You can use this up to about 250-300mA from a 9v supply without a heatsink.
And here's my stripboard layout hole by hole for the 'dual' 5v & 3.3v regs combined.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Hope that helps?
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Thanks!
Yes the regs are connected straight to the DAC power pins, the 'remote' grounds (green cable) for each reg are connected as close to the dac as possible.
The 12v supply to the 317 regs is what supplied the original 5v/3.3 regs, I simply tapped the 12v BEFORE the original regs and cut the trace to them and AFTER to remove them completely from the circuit.
If you are going to replicate these regs it is important to know you need standard 2v LED's and NOT the more common 'super bright' LEDs as they pass through 3v which doesn't set the 317's voltage out to 5/3.3v
Ant
No problem, if you fall upon any questions regarding the '317' regs please don't hesitate to PM me, I'm more than happy to help if I can.
Ant
Simon - no, this schematic is only a simple way of getting more than one paid for from a cheap 3-pin reg Reference in that other thread are based on stuff I'm not willing to donate to the DIYAudioClusterF_K.Clonefest for a long while yet. None of 'em involve 3-pin regs at all anyway.
Anyway - addressing the schematic NAD posted: it should be noted that using R=220ohm will give about 5.2vDC out; if you want an accurate 5.0v try R=330 or 390r instead. The absolute DC voltage will NOT matter for any audio application; but the output from this simple thing is about as quiet as can be for the low cost of entry.
Discussion behind this schematic starts here:
Using 3-pin regulators off-piste: part 1
Reference in that other thread are based on stuff I'm not willing to donate to the DIYAudioClusterF_K.Clonefest for a long while yet. None of 'em involve 3-pin regs at all anyway.Anyway - addressing the schematic NAD posted: it should be noted that using R=220ohm will give about 5.2vDC out; if you want an accurate 5.0v try R=330 or 390r instead. The absolute DC voltage will NOT matter for any audio application; but the output from this simple thing is about as quiet as can be for the low cost of entry.
Discussion behind this schematic starts here:
Using 3-pin regulators off-piste: part 1
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You lost me there ... I guess this is an insider's inside swipe at something
unmentionable. Speaking of all-out assaults and serious money, has anyone checked out this latest review? I don't have a clue if this is justifiable or worthy of discussion (within the frames of referance here) but it sure makes "our" efforts look somewhat puny and pocket change at that6moons audio reviews: Audioaéro La Source
Ugly sucker...I prefer my neo-retro Swedish lokking 67'!
I got the bits - cheap as chips - and will have a go at building one tonight. Still trying to figure out fitting to DAC from schematics - not pulled board yet. Looking over the CD63 service manual, I can't see call for a 3.3v supply; just numerous 5v.
Another dumb newbie question regarding tapping the supply - any reason not to power a bunch of these straight from the PSU (grey wire?) and then wire 5v/ground down to the chips?
Another dumb newbie question regarding tapping the supply - any reason not to power a bunch of these straight from the PSU (grey wire?) and then wire 5v/ground down to the chips?
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Not sure what this grey wire is, you mean on the transformer? If so, that's AC so it still needs to be made into DC ie. it needs a power supply (bridge / rectifier and smoothing cap).
The distance from the regulator output to the chip consuming the power should be as short as practically possible. You're right that nothing runs on 3.3V in the CD63, it's almost all +5V.
The distance from the regulator output to the chip consuming the power should be as short as practically possible. You're right that nothing runs on 3.3V in the CD63, it's almost all +5V.
Ah, whoops, yes the AC thing was pretty obvious come to think of it. Thanks.
OK, here it is - another clone! This time, a dual 5v version with Elna Silmics.
Good one!
Did you see Martins post above quoting the R=220ohm will give about 5.2vDC out; if you want an accurate 5.0v try R=330 or 390r instead.