What is the cheapest tweak you can do to your CD One that results in so big an improvement that you AND I’m not even talking about swapping Better still, how much does this tweak cost? How Very simple. Remove the output muting transistors.<\/span><\/p>\n Okay, I did this on my Marantz CD63 so I’ll talk First, you have to locate these transistors. Open From here, there are 2 ways you can go about this.<\/span><\/p>\n 1. The direct “no-turning back” way.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 With a pair of wire-cutters, 2. The more sensible approach.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Open up the player. Then push Play music as you normally do and be astonished by By the way, I found out this tweak as a matter of The muting transistors serve a purpose. When no If like me, you are a purist, and don’t want to After this tweak, whenever I power off my CD player Minor inconvenience for much better sound. You Sure you can go further by removing the dc If you feel like splurging, you can replace
\nplayer? <\/span><\/p>\n
\ndon’t even have to “try to hear the difference”?<\/span><\/p>\n
\nrectifier diodes, op amps for hot-rodded, space age components here!<\/span><\/p>\n
\nabout FREE? Yeah, in this ‘audiophiles-are-suckers’ world, here’s better sound
\nfor FREE!<\/span><\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
How?<\/span><\/h3>\n
\nabout it here.<\/span><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/diyparadise.com\/w\/wp-content\/uploads\/images\/stories\/mutetrans.gif\"){kind=spacer}
<\/p>\n
\nup your CD63, and locate the HDAM module. This is very easy to locate as it’s
\ncopper-shielded. From the HDAM module to the RCA jacks, the PCB trace goes
\nthrough some capacitors (some Elnas, they function as DC blocking) and 2
\ntransistors per channel. They are marked QN05, 06, 07 & 08.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n
\ncut out the leads of these transistors. Be forewarned! There’s no turning back
\nhere! After you have cut them out, that’s it! <\/span><\/p>\n
\nout the slider mechanism, remove those teeny wires (be extra careful with the
\nribbon cable) attached to the PCB-transport assembly, unscrew all the attendant
\nscrews, and then slowly take out the PCB. Locate the transistors as above.Desolder them with a wick or
\ndesoldering gun. The idea of doing this sensibly is so that, if you don’t
\nlike the resultant sound, you can still revert back to “unmodified”. <\/span><\/p>\nDone!<\/span><\/h3>\n
\nthe higher gain, airier and weightier sound you are going to get. There seems to
\nbe less “inhibitions” I hear. Wow!<\/span><\/p>\n
\ncoincidence. My CD63 was giving out harsh sound. It’s actually distorting. So I
\nasked “DIY guru” VT4C as to what could cause this and he suggested
\nremoving the output muting transistors. Well, you know the rest! <\/span><\/p>\nBUT there is no free lunch!<\/span><\/h3>\n
\nmusic is playing, when the micro-controllers are busy with themselves, sometimes
\nsome creepy noise will leak out. You don’t hear them on stock CD players as the
\noutput muting transistors work as they describe. They mute out such rubbish<\/b>.
\nAfter this tweak, you might hear these weird noises. This is perfectly OKAY. If
\nthis bothers you, then put back the muting transistors or carefully wire in a
\nrelay, but this is best left to someone with some electrical expertise.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nadd anything in there (actually I’m just lazy), you can live by with just a
\nchange of habit. <\/span><\/p>\n
\nbefore my amp, I get kind a short burst of noise. Well, the change of habit is
\nin turning down the volume pot down FIRST before powering off the CD player. OR
\nyou could power off your amp first.<\/span><\/p>\n
\ntake your pick.<\/span><\/p>\nCan I go further?<\/span><\/h3>\n
\nblocking capacitors. These capacitors are located just in front of the muting
\ntransistors, if you track the PCB trace from HDAM module to output jack. They
\nare labelled C655-658. These are wired back-to-back. Some
\nfolks have measured a DC only ~2-3mV. So low it wouldn’t hurt right? That said,
\nI haven’t tried this yet, so I can’t comment further.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nthis capacitor with something better. A friend tried Black Gates and liked it
\nbetter than any plastic cap. <\/span><\/p>\n
\n