16 bits till I die!

[shep]

Which is one way to say I'm about to send my fugly old Marantz for yet another series of mods (to the UK).
I've sunk so much into this that i can only continue  This time will include finally changing the rubbish RCA jacks for something nice (Vampire), hardwiring properly the fuse bypass, changing resistors to Vishay s-foil, more S'regs and probably some cap changes. I'm leaving it open as to further changes if they don't push the bill to high. Phew!

[richidoo]

What are S'regs?

[shep]

http://www.fidelityaudio.co.uk/regs.shtml

[richidoo]

Cool. Is that the same place doing the mods?

[shep]

yes, has been from the beginning. Great guy. Pricey though.

[topround]

Why send it to the UK, those are easy mods, my 11 yr old could probably do them !Some of these mod guys charge a fortune for such easy mindless work. Shep there must be some local guy who could do that for you. ?

Sometimes modding is just throwing good money away. It is fun to experiment, especially if you can return the component back to original, but if there is a history of mods that work, I can see a mod helping.
Don't forget a good choke in the power supply...way better than some RCA's or fuses

Be careful with caps too, the really good ones can ruin the sound of your player.

Not trying to bust your balls, just a little experience speaking out. Just changing out parts for better parts sometimes makes it worse(usually) the mod guys usually address the basic stuff with boutique parts, because they really don't know how to mod, just solder, power supply mods and circuit mods can sometimes yield great results. Putting lipstick on a pig...is still a pig.

Again, not trying to bust your balls, just I have been down that road a few times and learned a few things.

Auricap is great sounding cap and really cheap,
Jupiter HT another great cap with more extension on the two extremes than the Auricap.
V caps...very nice and refined, but I prefer the Auricap for musicality

Black Gates....don't like em
Elna Silmic 2 are great
Nichicon Gold Tune are very nice
Sanyo Os Com

Sometimes the cheaper ones are better, but we like to believe the more expensive the better, it is human nature, but it is not truth.The modder is fortunate to have a very large diverse pallette of parts to work with, we seldom use the palette and just pick from the top. It is usually a lot of trial and error that gets results, hitting the right combo of parts the first time has to be impossible. There is so much avilable out there and the mod guys always use the same stuff, never being innovative.

I mentioned oil chokes in a previous post, all the manufacturers I spoke to  thought I was crazy using a  oil choke, but you know what,? None of them ever heard a oil choke. So who is the crazy one?
Look up Sakuma, he broke all the rules.

Innovation that is what I look for in audio, I am tired of all the mega watt arc welder amps, all the 6dj8 srpp preamps out there. Can't these guys create new stuff?

Innovation.....innovation....a new way of thinking!

Ok back to your normal broadcast...


Mike

[shep]

  Appreciate but not to fear. This guy knows what he's doing and has been checked out and is a major force in the DIY community. No there is no one here and no these are things I can't do and yes with every mod it gets better. This is about the only place I spend my audio money, well if you don't count sending my amp to California twice. i've had this player 17 years and the speakers 4 so I figure I can go crazy on this player. The parts are no so bad but the time is prime (and guaranteed) plus shipping. For those interested in this sort of thing, the voyage begins here: http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digital-source/54009-marantz-cd63-cd67-mods-list.html and is now 1500 pages long. Yeah most of the guys do there own mods. Somebody had to support the store though. That's me.

[etcarroll]

Damn, you must really love that Marantz!

[shep]

I wouldn't call it love! more like an in-law you're stuck with or an animal that's somehow taken over your life.
Hell I spent a lot more back then on TT's and at least the Marant works every time and i don't have to clean the bloody stylus and worry about Azimuth and VTA. Somebody has to keep the museum pieces running   The worst part is that it's ugly and badly designed (black on black). I'm in good company though. There are a lot of very commited DIY'ers tweaking the bejeezus out of these. So how does a 300$, 17 year old mid-range Marantz with over 1000$ worth of parts and mods sound??? ( I thought no one would ever ask!) I guess you'll never know since I live in the French boondocks   The only comparison is with a neighbor's 1000$ Teac of a slightly later vintage. (running thru Prima Luna and Audible Illusions tube gear)
The Teac is shamefully poor in comparison so I must be on the right track. If I had been smart and more patient at the time, I would have tracked down a hi-end Marantz with the Double crown chip or the big beautifull Sony SE 7 series. (but the tweaking would have been much more extensive and expensive I'm told)
Ok so I'll try and tell you in a later installment  how the sound changes this next time after a trip across the channel. The money stuff is relative: I don't spend any on clothes or fancy food. My rent is cheap and I don't travel so this is a fun obsession. I do a few odd jobs for various people and my mods are paid for. Oh yes and I doubt very much if a 11 year old could do this work.

[eleazar]

What it boils down to Shep if it makes you happy and you enjoy
listening to it then that is truly all that matters 

[bpape]

What it boils down to Shep if it makes you happy and you enjoy
listening to it then that is truly all that matters 

 

Couldn't have said it better myself. 

Bryan

[richidoo]

Our friend Sol has an old Marantz CD player which he has mildly modded, it sounds excellent! I think he put 5532 opamps in it and some other things. He still has more things he wants to do to it. He says that it was built with opamp sockets in case you wanted to swap, and it is easily modded. No wonder it is so appealling to the diy guys.

When I first auditioned Gallo 3.1s the system had a Marantz CD player, and CJ tube electronics. It was an impressive sound. The Marantz was for sale for $600, this was 2006.

[shep]

And off she went today on another voyage to England to have her innards scruted and bits changed for other bits and new bits added (scruted is an invention of mine "scruter" in French meaning to have a good look at) bon voyage ma poule!

[richidoo]

What will you listen to while your CDP is being scruted?

[shep]

An equally elderly Marantz 63se. Not very good but it will tide me over for the time.