Taz...Tea...Tweaks

Well I got up to meet Taz yesterday......my New Sat Nav[TT one] behaved faultlessly shame I can't follow simple instructions!

The main reason was to let Taz have a listen to my DIY speakers but one had a blown tweater and I had to replace it the day before with a cheap sea's.....yuck. Their general performance was poor at home and had not improved with the trip [So the less said].

What I did take up where a few IC's my 99cdp, the modded Ah dac and several boxes of components to mod the sony 5001 cdp.

Taz's system, sony cdp marantz amp b&w speakers....I'm certain he knows all the numbers. Sounded well, ok at low levels but had a totally uncontroled bass and aggressive treble....mid was swamped some where in between. Imaging yes in their somewhere ....but no obvious depth or hieght. I don't think he'll mind these comments because fortunately we were able to sort most of it out!

So we swapped out the 5001cdp and dropped in the 99cdp..as you can imagine this gave a far more detailed and controled presentation, the modded AH dac was added to the 99cdp [via the new coax out I fitted] This for me sounded more dynamic with greater colour but a tad less resolution. Taz asked if would like to leave my quad, as a straight swap for his cdp, I think he may have like what it does ! We also ran the Ah off the 5001 this showed that the sony was providing a good digital out. The AH made the 5001 sound pretty good too.

So down to modding the 5001, This is a relatively recent machine and was the first time I've seen one in the flesh. Not bad really, fitted with good caps and ok opamps.But the psu was tiny and could be an area of future upgrades.

So we ripped out the ten rectifier diodes and swaped for 11DQ10's...I also remove the coupling caps from the output and fitted a pair of 2uf2 400v PIO's and a couple of dale vishay resitors [ok not ideal but the best I had] rebuilt the cdp and set it up for a listen .....

Well what a suprise ....fast clean cultured smooth controled very good imaging.

So who was it who said don't use schottky's ?[makes you wonder if they know what there talking about]. The psu noise floor had now dropped to a point where it was no longer was messing with the output, the PIO's then totally failed to muck about with the signal either . This sony can really sing ....its a stonkingly good cdp not quite up with the quad but it did close the gap.

Other mods previously carried out included removal of the muting transistors fitting decent sockets and case damping.

The cdp sat there playing music for the rest of the day......

Next up, a set of my speaker cables....out went the biwired Music Love cable ....it did not return [and I had to come home without my speaker cables!!]

We swapped IC's about but the type1's taz already had were doing a fine job, though we could hear the differences the cost/performance differential, and system balance certainly favoured the type1's.

We then went through a couple of party peices of mine.....you know the ones two identical cd's one treated one not. Of course we heard no difference as everyone know the green pen is total baloney.....Trouble was that we could. For me this was the best results I've ever heard using the green pen ....so to check this I did Damein Rice's O cd [as I had an untreated copy with me] jaw dropping..... The effect was like pushing the loudness button their was just more of everything, this needed to be heard to be believed!

We also did a few side by side tests of the dac and cd into the amp so we could flick between the two, but this was comprimised as we didn't have two of the same IC's. Results were clear that the dac made an improvment but by no where near the difference it did at the start

Taz seem quite pleased with the overall results [understatment] ....for me the system was sounding very very good and certainly belied its budget origins.

Finally just to say thanks to the restof his family for a great day and feeding me [ with not a raw tomato's or kiwi fruit in sight thank goodness!] I just hope you wern't totally freak by the dowsing......

 

Pete,
You're going to have to be careful, you're turning into the regular agony aunt for mods here.
Great to hear another success story.
Let me know when you're in London again so that I can dem the updates to you.

 

Anything with DQ10 in the part name has got to be something special

 

Must be being dense this morning ....DQ10 ???

Your going to have let me in on that one !

 

I meant the Dahlquist DQ10 from was it the seventies. A classic now, it was the first phased array loudspeaker. I remember hearing a pair fronted by a Decca London cartridge and my ears were almost ripped off.

 

Well I have finaly got to my Pc (bloody msn & kids) so I could see what Zanash had to say. I concur with just about everything except the cd player is the new Marantz cd 5001 ose and not a sony.
Zanash is a gentlemen of the highest order and that's a fact.
The system is sounding fantastic and I doubt you will hear anything near it for the thousend pounds it has cost me so far inc buying all the bits. I will however continue to modify whatever I can as I am sure there is more to be wrung out of the system as a whole, the amp has so far escaped modding with the exception of a decent mains lead and the speakers will be re rewired with solid silver as opposed to the silver plated copper as the solid silver seems to remove some of the "clutter" in the music that we found during our tests the other day.I am starting to enjoy my music again and as for green pens !!! well if you don't think they work then that's fine by me!! but i will be keeping mine

 

I don't know what made me think it was a sony !! oh well there nearly all the same on the inside ;-(