Cheap CD clock upgrade

Well, depending on what I get, I might re-use the DOB and PSU. Apparently Teac VRDS CDPs respond well to that treatment. OTOH might just sell the Marantz alltogether.

I'll certainly audition other transports against my modded Marantz to see what the difference is, but the Marantz hasn't got the greatest or most stable transport mech. in the world. How much that matters remains to be seen.

Also, the Marantz is 13 years old now, and it's starting to skip more where it shouldn't. A good clean of the laser helped a lot but I think it's probably on its last legs.

Michael.

 

just admit it Michael! You just WANT to upgrade/change! What about a universal tranport? CD/DVD(a)/SACD etc...? Replace both your current DVD and Marantz? You've still got the DAC for that side of things! The higher end Toshiba DVD players are built like tanks! But, you may wish for something MOre "prestigious"

 

Well you're right MO! I just can't handle my cheapo old Marantz which I've had since I left Uni still being the centre of my now - far better system

TBH though, a univeral player + DAC is looking like a really attractive proposition. I really would love one of those Teac DV-50 universal players but they are mucho dinero - about £3.5K in the UK I think

Michael.

 

Michaelab - knowing you're not scared to get the screwdriver out, have you tried cleaning & greasing the laser mech - I just got a 'faulty' (i.e skipping) CD63 which is now perfect again (the third I've done) - the grease on the cogs that drives the laser assy (& the silver rail it runs along & the plastic guide opposite (you'll know what I mean when you see it!) gets all brown & clagged up - clean it all off with isopropyl alcohol & a toothbrush/cotton buds & regrease. Did the trick for me.

 

thanks robs - I'll give that a try. I just cleaned it fairly casually last time. Cleaned the laser with "cassette tape cleaner" alcohol and cotton buds

There was a load of grunge in the bit of the "clamp" that spins aswell. There's a single ball bearing there aswell which I cleaned and that made the transport so much quieter.

Michael.

 

NetAudio Rockclock + psu


I've ordered a Rockclock and matching psu from http://www.net-audio.co.uk.

Its going in my Arcam Alpha. I've had it from new so I'm quite used to what it can do. Lets see if I can make it sound better than the Naim CD5 I've listened to recently !

 

I hope your right !

I'm trying to extract the last nth from my Denon, but it will never sound like a Naim, I hope !!

I ordered the miniclock and psu....As far as I could tell the rock is a shielded version plus one or two extras. I plan to shield the miniclock by placing it in the appropriate sized damped copper tube, and then securing it to the side of the Denon. I'll probably end up doing the PSU too.

 

rock clock, Arcam and Naim CD5 notes

In NetAudio's blurb, http://www.net-audio.co.uk/clockbasics.html,
he summarises it to "The RockClock also has an improved power supply over the MiniClock and MiniClock MK2 plus it uses more expensive better quality components such as Elna Audio Grade capacitors in the PSU and decoupling areas. This help in the rejection of noise being fed into the clock through the power supply lines from noisy sources.

Shielding it and taking care of power supply decoupling should result in something similar. Especially if you intend to use a seperate psu.

I've been reading about different I/V techniques to get the music out of my tda1541a. Some even go as far as zero oversampling and no brickwall filter. Later may be.

I compared an Arcam CD33, CD23 and Naim CD5. The CD33 is much nicer than the CD23, mainly in the mid to high frequency range. Appeared to me as more air without it sounding sssssibilant. The CD5 had very good rythm, but it seemed to spotlight instruments and vocals. It didn't seem to present much space. It seemed a little flatter than the CD33. I then listened to the CD5 with a Flatcap2. This improved the soundscaping markedly. Amplification was by Nait 5, which was also powered by the FC2.

as an aside : As far as I can tell, my old Arcam Alpha has better soundscaping than the naked CD5 ! Thats the main reason I still have my Arcam .... and the matter of 1150 gbp or 750 gbp 2nd hand.

 

Any thoughts comments on whether it'd be worth getting a 4 year old heavily used Marantz 63 KI Sig reclocked? I could get it done fairly easily (I hope) through my local dealer.

 

Yes - it would be worth it. Which clock are you thinking of getting? I clocked my 13yr old Marantz CD50SE and it (see here and it was definitely worth it

Michael.

 

Still not done the deed yet to the denon. The crystal and caps though obvious have another connection ? so I'm looking into that at the moment.

Oh yes the miniclock arrived and it was allready shielded so I will not bother with the extra.

The next problem is finding space within the unit, its fairly stuffed as it is. I might have to suspend the thing and its PSU from the top cover. I'm still thinking on this one.

 

So whats the results of the upgrades then?

How easy are the upgrade to do?

GAZZ

 

The proverbial piece of cake with the priviso if you know your way round a curcuit board.

The Net Audio stuff comes with concise instructions.

Is it worth the trouble Yes penny for penny its close to the best value mod I done.

 

opened up my Arcam 7se, all i can see is a black casing which i think the power supply/ clock are in. The black cover wouldn't come off. Any help before i order the parts

GAZZ

 

I've not been inside the arcam......but your looking for the crystal. It should be a silver can with rounded short sides, it will have a frequency printed on the side and thats what you need.

the crystal will have two ceramic or similar caps in close [next to] proximity. Yu remove the three components and solder a res into one of the crystal's holes then connect up the new clock as described. When you switch on the player if it doesn't work or you get a strange display you try the res in the the other hole. Once the player works ....it may sound distorted you remove the res and away you go. That was the effect I had when I installed mine. I'd get the psu board as well it make life very much easier and will sound better to.

 

Thanks Zanash

 

I had the clock in my Rotel RCD-991 replaced with an Audiocom Superclock (by JC himself!). The Rotel already had a reputation as a very low jitter player (around 150psec), but even see it still saw significant improvements.

Reclocking makes the CD player sound... more. It doesn't radically alter the sound (the CD player is still the same player), but it just gives you more of the good points, more detail, more separation.

My -991 will be receiving the next stage, the clock psu, once audiocon actually get around to sending me the caps I ordered for it.

Michael - have you tried doing to your marantz what we did to Dino's? That should help with the skipping.

 

I agree sum what ! the essential sound of the CDP is more to do with the output stages, but the clock will effect the sound. I had, as you say more of everything and plus a bit. So much so that the £25-00 sh player now out performs the £1k player that was/is pride of place.

 

So what is the £1000 ish player, and what is the £25 player with the mods

GAZZ

 

The expensive CDP is Quad 77 [not quite the 1k but not far off]
The cheap [dog out the box!]CDP was a second hand Denon dcd920.

The mods to many to write here, read the post on tired old cd's

http://zerogain.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=469