CD6000KI - anyone tried a power lead change?

I've just bought one and I'm thinking of fitting a male IEC connector so that I can use my Eupen power lead.

This isn't a power lead debate but I'd be interested to hear the views of anyone who's tried this and has some opinions.

 

I also noticed the Heart-modded CD6000OSE has a different power lead but I don't know what type of cable they used.

 

Maddog, if u get this mains thing done plz let me know if there are worthwhile gains as ive been thinking of doin it for some time but wernt sure if it was worthwhile. I find the Ki improves greatly on an isolation platform.

Ultra

 

People pay as much as £80 each for high-end IEC sockets and plugs. May be because these things are a bottle neck, I thought!

So I spent 81p at Maplins for a gland nut to hold the cable securely to the chassis and hard-wired the mains cable in using silver solder.

Better connection than with £160 worth of IEC socket and plug?

 

Did anyone read the article on page 13 of WHF Jan 04 issue, about the Roskan Caspian M Series-1 amplifier? The revised model cost £100 more and WHF wrote, “Helped by the new mains inlet filter the M series-1 delivers a cleaner sound than it predecessor and this improvement alone is worth the extra cashâ€Â. There is also internal view showing the inlet filter.

These filters were originally invented by Schaffner and commonly known as Schaffner Filters. I have seen their application in areas of high interference such as large computer monitors by Dell.

Many types of these filters are listed at http://rswww.com/
Cable & Connectors | Connectors - Electrical/Power | IEC Inlet Filters | Earth Line Choke
Search for IEC Inlet Filters

Pic below shows one of them.


More about it in the TNT Audio article at http://www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/filter.html
Lucio Cadeddu, the author, points out, "You can use these filters with your CD player, D/A converter, turntable and with the preamplifier."

If you don't want to chop up your Eupen cable, this filter plus IEC plug combo is a good option.

 

If anyone wants to try one of those, i have a few knocking about. Happy lo let one go
I didnt like its effect.
its 10A rating, not sure if it is Schaffner, ill have to check.

 

Paul
Did you ever try these out? Effective?!

 

Not really considered filters - might make it harder to flog in the future.

The question for me is whether:
1) replace the mains cable with Eupen cable
2) fit an IEC socket to the chassis or
3) fit an IEC socket to the existing cable a few inches out from the case

Any ideas?

1 would give the best connection but no adjustability of cable in the future
2 would provide the best socket solution but would require some drilling/cutting etc.
3 would be the easiest socket solution but maybe not the best sound

At the moment all three have pros and cons

If I felt the Eupen was the right cable for the job then I'd go for option 1 I think.

 

me = Andy

Did try it, i didnt like the result, i found it supressed the sound if that makes sense.
But YMMV so welcome to try it.

 

I did option 3) on my TV with great results, so it should work in your CDP, and it is the most pratical solution, you can keep the cable if you replace the player too...

 

Good thinking there! Option 3 will look non standard and that could also make it harder to flog.
Drilling/cutting is not as difficult if you use make up a template for the hole, use a mini-drill to drill series of holes and finish off with small files.
But once this is done, going back to option 1 will be difficult, unless you make a blank plate to cover up the large hole made for the IEC plug.

So best course of action is to fit an IEC socket to the existing cable a few inches out from the case to decide if you like the sound with Eupen cable or some other one. When you have found the best cable, hard wire it in.

 

Sounds good BlueMax. I'll go along with that.

Now where's me solder.....

 

Maddog2, I have gone for option 3 with my 6000OSE. With option 3 you have the option of reconnecting the original 'marantz' cable with a connector block inside the player when it comes to selling time, covering any history of changes.

I initially tried a CSA cable, which made significant improvements even when compared with a standard IEC cable taken from my PC.
I then decided to connect the CSA to my Pioneer A400 with an insulated connector block and bought the bulkier Eupen 05/04 for my Marantz.

There's also another effective external electrical tweak that can be performed - of which some of you may already be aware. Anyone interested ?

 

I know! connecting up a Pioneer A400 Amplifier

 

incidentally, of the equipment i've sold with IEC sockets on an inch of the original captive wire, no owners have complained or tried to bargain the price down further. I think as most hifi enthusiasts know about the benefits of different mains cable its actually an advantage to have the facility to chop and change (no pun intended)

 

This is a clever idea. Overlap the cables and tighten up the two screws. Near-as-damn-it perfect connection.
Use a gland nut to secure the incoming cable to the back panel.

Mounting a row of 30 amp connector blocks, well insulated metal box instead of a gang socket should reduce losses and pickup of RFI. Not as easy option who want to plug things in and out all the time, though.

 

Well the other effective tweak was.......
....which is also virtually as effective as replacing the mains cable IMO
is.......

To 'disable' the coax digital output.

How?

Use a phono shorting plug. However it is important that the shorting also includes a 75 ohm resistor so that it isn't a complete short out....please excuse me for my highly technical description.

I used a nice looking all gold plated plug from maplin but it wouldn't make any difference in practice what quality of plug you used.

This tweak makes a surprisingly distinct improvement on my 6000OSE player. :banana:

It'll be interesting to hear how you all find this tweak.

Thanks,

Dav

 

Mudan is spot on!

RF impedance theory says that if a transmission line is open circuited, then it will have reflections at certain frequencies. Since the digital output signal has a wide range of signal content with regard to the frequency content, it will have some signal reflected. This reflected signal can back feed into the input of the digital output circuit (no circuit is perfect, and none have the textbook infinite input/output isolation that the texts imply), and then back into the rest of the digital circuitry, causing jitter.

Terminate this unused digital output with a 75 ohm resistive load, and the reflections no longer occur, the transmission line has been terminated in it's characteristic impedance, and the backfeed has been reduced greatly or eliminated altogether. Less jitter, cleaner sound.

Something called a 'terminator' has been available for many years for use in computer networking, for this purpose.
Should be available at Maplins for a few pence.

 

Thanks for the theory BlueMax.

Campaign Audio Design even sell this plug for those who don't solder. See Cap 10:

http://freespace.virgin.net/cad.cables/acesries.htm

I believe some pricier CD players even have a switch to enable/disable digital output. e.g Rotel RCD-991.