Re: Modifying an audio cd player?

[Laurence Payne]

>I have an ancient but loved Marantz CD player,
>It is not too happy playing back CD-R's and
>specifically CD-RW disc's.
>I understand this to be an issue of laser focusing etc
>common with audio cd players of a certain age.
>I was wondering would anyone have experiance, or
>know of any site's, that detail how to modify audio
>cd players?
>I was thinking along the lines of, well is it possible to
>connect a CD-ROM drive to my Marantz cd player?
>Here in London at any number of computer fairs,
>CD-ROM and DVD-ROM drives with power supply
>can be bought for £20.
>The ribbon cable within my Marantz that connects
>the transport to the main circuit board appears to be
>an IDE cable? So I was wondering is it a viable option
>to connect a CD-ROM drive via the marantz cable?
>And have the CD-ROM drive powered by it's own
>dedicated supply.
>The objective being as CD-ROM's lasers are dual layer
>focusing, to have playback of CD-RW media.
>Anyone know of anywhere I might read up on the potential
>for such a project?
>Has anyone here attempted a similar modification?
>Any success? I'd be truly grateful for any tips. or advice.

Go to Richer Sounds and buy their cheapest CD unit. It will sound
exactly like the Marantz, and play back CD-R.

The modifications you suggest are impossible.

[jms_London]

Go to Richer Sounds and buy their cheapest CD unit. It will sound
exactly like the Marantz, and play back CD-R.

The modifications you suggest are impossible.

Well you're no help!
"Richer sounds cheapest CD unit" will sound exactly like
my Marantz will it? Oh NO it won't - my unit is a duel differential
(twin 7350 DAC's) bitstream with an SA732bs digital filter -
A very distinctive High end Marantz sound from late eighties,
early nineties, now out of production several years.
The modifications I suggest are very possible!
DVD-ROM drives are used in any number of hi-end
kit from OEM's such as Rotel, Creek, Meridian etc,
I just need someone to steer me to any sites that could
be helpful - unlike you Laurance Payne.
I suggest Larry, you stick with Richer sounds cheap
Taiwanese imports - you obviously can't tell the difference.
If anyone has any constructive or helpful comments I'd
be truly grateful.

[Laurence Payne]

>I suggest Larry, you stick with Richer sounds cheap
>Taiwanese imports - you obviously can't tell the difference.
>If anyone has any constructive or helpful comments I'd
>be truly grateful.

I wasn't trying to be unhelpful. Just practical.

I'm a musician, not an audio freak. But I've got ears. And my
opinion is that cd players have now completely become commodity
items.

Please let us know how you get on.

[Richard D Pierce]

In article >,
jms_London > wrote:
>
>Go to Richer Sounds and buy their cheapest CD unit. It will sound
>exactly like the Marantz, and play back CD-R.
>
>The modifications you suggest are impossible.
>
>Well you're no help!
>"Richer sounds cheapest CD unit" will sound exactly like
>my Marantz will it? Oh NO it won't - my unit is a duel differential
>(twin 7350 DAC's) bitstream with an SA732bs digital filter -
>A very distinctive High end Marantz sound from late eighties,
>early nineties, now out of production several years.

Ever consider WHY?

>The modifications I suggest are very possible!
>DVD-ROM drives are used in any number of hi-end
>kit from OEM's such as Rotel, Creek, Meridian etc,

Really? So you're bascially asserting, with NO prior knowledge,
apparently, that the effective interface to a CD-ROM drive is
compatible with whatever control circuitry already exists inside
the Marantz?

Gee willikers, Mr. London, if you already are so c*ck sure of
this, why are you wasting your time asking us mere mortals?

>I just need someone to steer me to any sites that could
>be helpful

Methinks what you are really looking for is someone who's going
to tell you what you want to hear, whether the asnwer has any
connection to physical or engineering reality or not.

>I suggest Larry, you stick with Richer sounds cheap
>Taiwanese imports - you obviously can't tell the difference.

Yeah, like Marantx stuff, much of whose internals came from
Taiwan.

>If anyone has any constructive or helpful comments I'd
>be truly grateful.

Mr. Payne had an extremely helpful and constructive comment that
is technically quite appropriate: you CANNOT shoehorn some
computer drive into your beloved Marantz, whether YOU think it
can be done or not. That you care to ignore what possibly could
be an entirely, as opposed to mostly, incompatible interface is
really YOUR fault, NOT Mr. Payne's.

The task you ask is a pure engineering task, and engineering has
this way of forcing one to confront reality, where once's
preconceptions don't mean squat in the face of contradictory
physical behavior. That you care to ignore this is also your
fault and done at your peril alone.

--
| Dick Pierce |
| Professional Audio Development |
| 1-781/826-4953 Voice and FAX |
| |

[Robert Morein]

"jms_London" > wrote in message
...
> Hi,
> I'm new here.
> I have an ancient but loved Marantz CD player,
> It is not too happy playing back CD-R's and
> specifically CD-RW disc's.
> I understand this to be an issue of laser focusing etc
> common with audio cd players of a certain age.
> I was wondering would anyone have experiance, or
> know of any site's, that detail how to modify audio
> cd players?
> I was thinking along the lines of, well is it possible to
> connect a CD-ROM drive to my Marantz cd player?

No. Absolutely not.
Although the physical cables may look superficially similar, the formats and
protocols of communication are completely different.

[Laurence Payne]

This is getting interesting. The CDM12, often puffed as a feature in
the brochures for expensive CD players, is apparently a cheap
commodity item, used in a wide range of CD players at a wide range of
prices. The quote below is typical:

>I guess then you won't be interested in the fact that the cheap
>plastic diffraction grating in the ubiquitous Philips CDM12 transport
>is more accurate and does a better job than the old high-mass glass
>lenses in previous models? Never equate price and performance in CD
>mechanisms! Remember that deep inside all the fancy alloy casework of
>the $10,000 Mark Levinson 31.5 transport is a Philips CDM12 which uses
>exactly the same reading head as the cheapest Magnavox portable. I
>guess Madrigal just couldn't afford the 'far superior glass
>lens'..............


So, in a UKP1000 + unit, the actual transport only costs a few quid.
Plenty left for a power transformer and a handful of components
then.... :-)

[jms_London]

Thanks anyway, but I've found the answers elsewhere,
and it was obviously beyond the scope of the posters
in this group, so I'll just bid you all a happy life and leave
you all to your bickering.

Hey Dicky, you're a bit of a fraud aren't you -
"Professional Audio Development"? -
Initially you're quite convincing, but quickly it
becomes evident you don't really know as much
as you'd like to fool others into thinking you know!
But I suspect most are wise to you....................
And you really are very unpleasent, that sham air of
arrogant pompous superiority - you are just so silly,
I suspect your nasty character probably stems from
some childhood trauma, or maybe you just have
undeveloped genetalia, whatever, but it is not very
healthy to spend so much time huddled over your
PC and using the web as a tool to boost your dented
ego - it just makes you too bitter!

So, toodle pip, and watch your blood pressure!

PS. Web-based email account now closed!

--
| Dick Pierce |
| Professional Audio Development |
| 1-781/826-4953 Voice and FAX |
| |

[Richard Crowley]

"Richard D Pierce" wrote ...
> So, post the answers.
> Personally, I'd bet $10 you have no such answers.

I'll throw in annother $10 to the pot.
I can use a good laugh.

[Laurence Payne]

>Thanks anyway, but I've found the answers elsewhere,
>and it was obviously beyond the scope of the posters
>in this group, so I'll just bid you all a happy life and leave
>you all to your bickering.

Excellent!
Please share the solution?

Would a cheap computer unit slot in? Was it an IDE connection?

[entropious]

Laurence Payne > wrote in
:

>
>>Thanks anyway, but I've found the answers elsewhere,
>>and it was obviously beyond the scope of the posters
>>in this group, so I'll just bid you all a happy life and leave
>>you all to your bickering.
>
> Excellent!
> Please share the solution?
>
> Would a cheap computer unit slot in? Was it an IDE connection?

Give it up guys. The last thing he said sounded like PLONK to me.