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Nevertheless, the Marantz is absolutely very good. In this setup, the two players were compared. Naturally I tried the various players in different positions on different racks in order to get the best impressions. It really more resembles analog. The CEC is even more fluid, lusher and a lot more spacious than the Marantz.
The sound is fuller and more fluid. Strangely enough, high-hat sounds themselves are more smooth on the Marantz but shorter, less fluid than on the CEC. Compared to the CEC the Marantz is more staccato and more technical. The one area in which the CD94 is comparable to the CEC and maybe even better, is the attack and dynamics. It is just that little bit more lively and less rounded on the transients. But this is very much more a technical difference. If you listen with your gut not your brains surely the CEC is better all-round.
A massive, heavy affair with a huge lens assembly that uses real quartz-glass. This is old hat technology but for many, myself included, these transports are still amongst the best ever made and still rate highly. The CDM1 is also almost indestructible and seems to last forever. It reads any cd or cdr. And it reads it FAST! And it never skips. The CEC uses a basically simple and lightweight Sanyo transport but modifies this entirely. First and foremost there is of course the belt drive. Not only the spindle that rotates the cd is belt driven; also the lens assembly is belt driven.
Further, under the spindle axe there is a large counterweight that, together with the heavy puck that you place on top of the cd, makes for a massive and very inert whole. On top of this slight niggle, many experts claim that, for cd, you need low mass. The exact opposite of what CEC achieved.
And yet the sound quality is overwhelming. And I have heard many, many cd players and transports. Although the Marantz comes remarkably close and is even technically slightly better in some areas, the CEC easily takes first place when it comes to emotion in the music. But the CEC wins me over with its more engaging sound. And the Marantz comes pretty close to the presentation of the CEC! Ik sta op het punt om een CDmk2 van iemand over te nemen, alleen twijfel ik of dit de juiste keuze is.
Ik heb een hele audio zoektocht achter de rug van vele luistersessies. Ik ben zelf nog maar 30j maar het huidige hifi geluid spreekt me niet aan, vandaar dat ik laatst een mooi paar hoogrendement luidsprekers kocht en een buizenversterker van Audio Note.
Sinds de komst van de AN Oto valt mijn Auralic streamer door de mand jammer genoeg. Het liefst koop ik een instap C. Of AN transport, want de meeste mainstream spelers klinken nog altijd digitaal. Zo kwam ik op uw website terecht en na lang speurwerk kwam ik een mooie 94mk2 tegen die gerecapt is en zelfs met doos. Alleen is de vraagprijs , Hi Nick, I understand your situation. In that case, probably no server will truly please you, no matter how expensive.
But if the unit is in perfect shape cosmetically as well as electronically, then it is worth it. Do also check that the drawer belts have been replaced as that is not something that everyone is comfortable doing. Especially since you will be using the machine as a transport, you only care about the caps in the power supply and the servo part.
Nice caps for the DAC are pointless for your purpose. It all depends on the state of the capacitors as well as the laser adjustment. Very interesting! How do you describe the difference between cdm1 and Cd pro? In general, linear mechanisms sound relatively tighter and drier while swing-arm mechanisms sound smoother and more relaxed.
Beste Christiaan, Inmiddels heb ik de CDmk2 thuis en ben vooral onder de indruk als deze gebruikt wordt als transport. To do so, buy some very good quality IC sockets — because I know you very well you want to experiment with different OP amp designs. Keep in mind — just pulling out one Op amp and replace it by another one is not the way that game works, because EVERY high bandwith OP amp today needs its proper implementation — so read the papers….
You can also go full throttle and buy some discrete OP amps from companies like Burson Audio — and if that is not enough, you can use Daniel Weiss devices from Switzerland — they are very, very good, but also very expensive — and they need proper implementation, which means a complete redesign of the IV stage and filter design!!!!
I opted for Burson Audio, which are way better than any integrated OP in this player not always the case and not even in the same galaxy, than what was used in the original design of the CD94! All Philips TDA implementations there are two exceptions have a DC offset at the analogue output section of the IV stage — which we have to get rid of.
The way to do so ist a coupling capacitor directly in front of our output sockets. Here you have to calculate the capacity of the cap — which determine the lowest frequency your player will be able to produce…a figure around 22mF would be perfect.
You can search for some really good caps in the high end accessory market. And — if you use a big, big silver foil mega hyper cap — you will have very long connection legs, which is not a good thing! I used Mundorf tin foil caps, which are not so big — and fits very nicely into the player — but there are much more options on the market — do not go mad here — it is just one single detail!
Next step would be to get rid of the RCA terminals Marantz used in this player — do not ask me why — but that is the cheapest rubbish you ever have seen. Buy some good tellur copper RCA sockets and solder the output coupling caps directly to the sockets — and you are done! Further improvements can be achived if you change the diodes in the rectifier section of the player.
It is also a good idea to deactivate the headphone amplifier of the CD One last word……as all these modifications means a lot of work that has to be done, do yourself a favour and buy only good original parts, leave out ebay and any cheap offerings, their might be a good chance to get copies of the original stuff….. Now you experienced what it means to implement a TDA near to perfection — there are way more tweaks you can do — but what I explained here are the most important ones — to go any further is another story maybe for part III???.
It does not sound equal — of course not — but it is the same level of quality. What we always have, if we implement a TDA near perfection, is a once in a lifetime digital treble experience. The TDA sounds creamy, smooth and has a tremendous resolution. This resolution has nothing to do, with a tilted up, analytic top end — this treble is natural, real, and relaxed. I am not a big fan to modify the Marantz CD94 with a tubed output stage, because this modification makes things too soft, too polite — and as I use a full tubed amplifier system behind the player, it would be too much of a good thing.
What you also will detect is a tremendous bass performance. The bass gestalt is powerful and deep — really deep, as also tight and very agile — it is one of the most impressive bass performances of any DA converter which is in existence till now. This bass gives your analogue rig a good workout, only the best cartridges also very expensive can muster the bass quality of this vintage modified CD player. In the midrange we will miss some of the 3D magic our analogue front end is capable of — but that is often a matter of the different mastering techniques used with the media CD — because it has to be very loud loudness war — another story, I will write about in the future — so you will face a completely compressed sound on the CD, which is not so much existent on the vinyl mastering of the same production, because such loud and compressed signals are not easy to cut into vinyl.
What you also miss is the attack accuracy a Lyra cartridge can give you — but there is a tweak for that at the end of this essay. Everyone is talking about Non Over Sampling NOS today — it is the newest fashion to get rid of oversampling artefacts, which degrade the pure digital signal time domain.
Oversampling was at the very beginning of the CD era a trick from Philips, as they had just a 14 bit DA converter to offer, while Sony could develop a true 16 bit chip. This is the reason why Philips introduced oversampling — to get 16 bit resolution out of a native 14 bit DAC — and they succeeded. Later on, the situation was comparable to the run for the highest megapixel camera. People do not understand digital technology, they have no knowledge about pixel pitch and all the problems a higher number of megapixel will bring to the game — more is always better — and so we will face in the next years 48mp digital cameras — and nobody knows why a 24mp file looks much better.
The same was going on in the late 80ties and beginning of the 90ties — as multibit DAC technology was the latest fashion. We witnessed the oversampling race…. It starts with 4 times and ends with 16 times oversampling processes…what the people did not realise: With every increase of the oversampling factor, the industry had to work seriously on the speed and accuracy of the clock. DSP technology was not developed in those yers, so instead of that the industry used quarz PLL clock systems.
The sound of these player generation got worse — because of clocking inaccuracy jitter — but the consumer had his higher oversampling rate — GREAT! What you gain is more timing accuracy — because every steep filter digital or analogue will deliver a sort of pre ringing and ripple. You get 3 cycles worst in front of the natural leading edge of a tone. Once you compared the same player with and without oversampling, you will be stunned.
Interestingly enough the US company Wadia discovered exactly those phenomena already a long time ago…. But nothing is gained without something we loose — the frequency linearity of our player will suffer after we converted the CD94 to NOS — which means we get a drop in treble energy around 3db at 20Khz with a soft roll off.
So you have to choose, accuracy in the time domain versus frequency linearity in the treble section. I opted for the timing accuracy and did everything I could do, to get the last drop of openes out of the player, which is also the reason, why I did not imply a tubed output stage at this point. Finally you get a very, very serious CD machine with all the above discussed tweaks and modifications.
If there is no vinyl available, you can easily buy the CD and enjoy it immensely…. You are commenting using your WordPress. You are commenting using your Twitter account. You are commenting using your Facebook account. Notify me of new comments via email. Notify me of new posts via email. Skip to content. Lets start with some facts: Any conversion process will degrade the digital signal!!!!
But why was there such a bad AD conversion quality present in the first yers of the CD era??? My own story Let me tell you a story from my own experience…. So why do we choose the CD 94??? The biggest improvement After the recapping is done you have the rare opportunity to listen to a Marantz CD 94 in quasi new condition — and you will be impressed — there are more CD players in existence today which sound much, much worse than that old machine.
Further improvements If you like, you can install now a new high end clock — there are different manufacturers in existence, I would opt for a Tental Labs solution…which fits perfectly into the CD The analogue output stage Now things become very interesting again…You can decide if you want to get rid of the whole de emphasis circuit, because I bet??
The Sound Now you experienced what it means to implement a TDA near to perfection — there are way more tweaks you can do — but what I explained here are the most important ones — to go any further is another story maybe for part III???. The last tweak Everyone is talking about Non Over Sampling NOS today — it is the newest fashion to get rid of oversampling artefacts, which degrade the pure digital signal time domain.
We witnessed the oversampling race… It starts with 4 times and ends with 16 times oversampling processes…what the people did not realise: With every increase of the oversampling factor, the industry had to work seriously on the speed and accuracy of the clock. Happy listening E. Strauss Share this: Twitter Facebook. Like this: Like Loading Leave a Reply Cancel reply Enter your comment here Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:.
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Marantz 94mk2 | Next step would be to get rid of the RCA terminals Marantz used in this player — do not ask me why — but that is the cheapest rubbish you ever have seen. Name required. The KSS A lasers are easier to source, albeit at an eye-watering price. How do you describe the difference between cdm1 and Cd pro? For example Elna Silmic caps in the analogue section promotes a super smooth sound whereas Cerafines give a much more 'in your face' sound. After the recapping is done you have the rare opportunity to listen to a Marantz CD 94 in quasi levi s 501 original fit condition — and you will be impressed — there are more CD players in existence today which sound much, much worse than that old machine. You are most welcome to post comments but I regret that I no longer have the time to respond to all questions. |
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Blasteroid | Graag wil ik het geluid nog wat tweaken. Marantz 94mk2 improvements can be achived if you change the diodes in the rectifier section of the player. CEC Marantz. You need the service manual — which you can find on the web cost free and you should be able to read a circuit diagram — of course. Is het goed als ik je eenmalig contact via uw zakelijke mail adres, om even te kijken op welke merken ik me het best kan richten of u miss aanbevelingen heeft? Sign me up. You must log in or sign up to reply here. |
Its difficult to know where to start. I could seriously write a book about my experiences. My gear was mostly excellent design and build quality such as the Stax mono blocs Classe DR6 so I came to the conclusion that it would be worth modifying my gear to add refinement to the reasonably dynamic sound i had. During the late 90s i had performed literally thousands of mods and built up a memory bank of practical experience in what worked and what didnt.
Eventually i achieved excellent sound quality through perseverance and trying to understand why things changed. For example this led me to studying capacitor construction quite intently. Not algebraic theory mind you , rather , what different construction and materials bought to the table in a practical sense.
Anyway , kids came along and the system was totally dismantled sold or stored. A few years ago i decided to rebuild a sound system based around the 94 and was confident i could improve on my original. The Marantz cd 94 machines had all the ingredients for greatness.
Arguably the best drive ever made in the CDM 1 and possibly the best chip ever made in the tdaa ,excellent multiple regulated power supplies with generally good parts quality for a commercial product. So what do we do to improve it if its so good?
Well the devil is in the details. Firstly , to achieve greatness ,a component is only as good as its weakest link. There is no single place to start really. Its a matter of identifying and working through every single weak link till they are all eliminated or improved. In the 90s I did a shootout with probably 20 different op amps.
The bottom line without boring everyone about the differences was that the AD and AD were the clear favourites being excellent in all areas including dynamics which seemed to be a problem for many op amps being too smooth or bland. The originals in the 94 also had good dynamics but are coarse or ragged in comparison. These are the op amps in my machine today. Not cheap but very capable. Op amps upgrade probably gave a few percent of the improvement in sound quality so dont expect miracles from any single mod or you will be sadly disappointed as with any of the other mods in isolation.
As I said it is a wholistic approach with each mod being rather small incremental improvements I will detail some more of the 94 changes in a number of posts as there is a fair bit to get through ,so i will end this one for now.. Cheers Ian. Rob and vitavoxdude like this. Of course having two of them I have an obvious interest on finding the things that worked. Time to buy a Marantz Some say the Marantz 94 with a single chip was a better idea than the mark 2, with 2 Chips.
They feel going to the two chips compromised the performance in some ways. I have no idea, any thoughts. Question is buy a mark 1 or 2. Great question Steve ,and one i have wrestled wit a lot. I owned both at the same time and compared them side by side. Firstly the mk2 had a bit more weight. It probably had more drive due to the doubling up of dacs and amplification stages in dual differential. The mk1 was a bit sweeter and and maybe a bit less grungy. This was almost certainly due to the better film caps around the tda a even though they werent great caps mylar , inductive Certainly not optimum.
As you could hear comparatively grungy plodding in the mk2 can be totally fixed. I am not pc sure the weight of the mk1 can be made to equal the mk2 but certainly could be improved. I think the dual differential architecture is superior as far as noise and distortion are concerned but the extra room in the mk1 opens up lots of possible choices for even better exotic decoupling caps around the tda and for top line caps the cost will be halved needing 14 instead of The caps in the CD12 and CD 7 around the dac were top quality non inductive polypropylene foil types i believe.
These would be impossible to fit on the tiny mk2 board. I was lucky enough to get a few of those green pps copper foils for mine , but they are no more The only ones I have ever seen are the ones i got. The mounting arrangement for the dac board in the mk 2 is also not optimum either , using steel prongs. This will be the last thing I will do. My last one was hard wired with Discovery signature wire.
Quote from: brenden on November 26, , PM. This is the clock with integrated power supply all caps replaced one by one and assessed. Mostly Silmic 2 super golds but Silmic 2 standards very good too. Bypassed with Jupiter copper foils and pps copper foil caps This lowered the subjective noise floor immensely. I also added a couple of film caps very close to the active devices underneath.
The Silmics are much better than the supplied panasonics and philips caps Not shown is a larger cap in parallel with the power supply. I think from memory uf elna for audio. The two uf caps are just not enough for the clock. Much better sound with the bigger capacitance. The clock power supply needs to be as noise free as possible and very reactive.
Dont use mylar here. What seems to be most important here is to get the power supply to the clock as noise free as possible. Jitter means loss of fidelity. Would love to try a Zen clock here one day Terry. Here is a photo of the big cap beside the clock module held in place by a resin capacitor clamp on ths base of the Here are the tda chips with the Panasonic pps copper foil capacitors. Ian, Nice work. Quick question - Are you running digital filter or 0 x OS? Moving along. The player has been converted to non oversampling using Also added a couple of copper foil pps.
I have boxed in the Duelund output capacitors underneath the player. There isn't enough room to fit them inside. To access underneath I simply need to unscrew the box section. None of this can be seen unless your eyesight is level with the underneath of the player. This will be improved once modding is finnished with better and shorter wire and neater insulation. I cut a small slot in the baseplate for the wires so the base plate can be removed without unsoldering wires.
The wires tuck in neatly to the space at the end of the box once fitted. EUR Almost gone. Marantz cd 94 Opens in a new window or tab Pre-owned. EUR 1, Opens in a new window or tab Pre-owned. EUR 3, Opens in a new window or tab Brand new.
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Marantz CD52 Mk2, new loading gear, serviced, manual, excellent! Opens in a new window or tab Refurbished. Related searches marantz cd Amounts shown in italicised text are for items listed in currency other than Euros and are approximate conversions to Euros based upon Bloomberg's conversion rates. For more recent exchange rates, please use the Universal Currency Converter.
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