Worth upgrading CDP clock/power supply?

Justafan

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Hi all

Just a general query really. I have a Marantz 6000 OSE KI that I bought about 9/10 years ago and have always been happy with it. I just replaced my similarly aged Mission 780's with Leema Xero's and am loving the improvement in sound, but as my Marantz is now the oldest bit of kit by a decade my thoughts inevitably turn to upgrading!

While I've been researching a number of exciting sounding players (Shanling T80, Cambridge Aruz 840c) I stumbled across some websites offering mods and talk of replacing the internal clock and/or internal power supply. Having absolutely no experience in modding hi-fi stuff in the past I'd like to know whether these sort of options would really make enough of an improvement to warrant paying up to £500 (for both the best available clock and internal psu mods based on two websites I've seen tonight. there are cheaper mods available too) and the hassle of shipping my player away to them (I certainly wouldn't be confident of doing the work myself!) or would it be a better to just go for a completely new player, which would be a little more expensive?

I also live in an area that would require a good few hours travel to the nearest hi-fi store where I could demo other players to see how they sound these days so I can't easily compare other players unfortunately.

Any thoughts and theories on this practice and it's merit would be gratefully appreciated :)
 
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I had a clock mod done on an old Meridian 500 transport a few years ago. Mine only cost £50 and I think that it did improve things.
However:
- I certainly wouldn't have paid £500 for it
- You're considering spending a lot of dosh on quite an old player. Old players eventually break and can be difficult to get replacement parts for. It's a clear risk.
- If I were going to do it, I'd make sure that the basic unit was of a higher quality than a Marantz player, eg. a Teac VRDS or similar to the Meridian 500 I had (i.e. a good dedicated transport)
- £500 would buy you a good s/h player (e.g. Quad CD99), and I have to say that I'd expect the Quad to sound a good deal better, and also retain it's value massively better.
 
Hello , i personally wouldnt spend £500 on upgrading a 10 year old cd player , i wont last forever , if your after a new cd player or a ' tweak ' i would sell the cd player for a half decent price and buy a new player fom scratch with a warranty etc .......my friend has a Marantz CD 6003 player and sounds astonishing for the price , im thinking of buying one myself ....i love it......you can buy this cd player for around £300 or cheaper on-line .

alot has changed in 10 years with technology , i certainly wouldnt part with £500 to convert old to new , the cd player could knacker after the upgrade ......id be gutted !!!

Regards Trev.
 
Thanks for the feedback.

My initial thought was that it could be a cheaper alternative to buying a new player outright - especially given that the mods go UP to £500, you could get a new clock fitted for around £150 - and to get the most out of an older machine before saving up for a new player. But I would also be a little worried in case anything went wrong and it sounded worse once I got it back home!

I also wouldn't go down the second hand route because, as you said yourself, older machines are prone to failing and needing replacement parts which could be harder to come by. It that's potentially true of my machine why wouldn't it be true of someone else's old machine?

I've also heard the 6003 as my cousin has it and it's very nice, but I'd be looking at buying a midrange player rather than a budget one, even though it doesn't necessarily sound like a budget model. I'd rather take the £300 that it costs and put it to something of a higher spec and save up a little longer.
 
Have you thought of buying an external DAC instead? It could be a lot cheaper, less hassle, and more cost effective.

In the UK you could consider the Cambridge Audio DACmagic or Musical Fidelity V-DAC. Both have been widely reviewed.
 
I was mulling over the addition of a DAC. I'd looked at a few threads on here last night and the general consensus from senior members seemed to be that a DAC would improve something that isn't necessarily geared for good audio sound i.e. a DVD player or such like, but wouldn't really improve the sound much more than a dedicated CD player already offers. The Cambridge DAC seems to be around £230 and the Musical Fidelity around £150, so they aren't really a much cheaper alternative.

For me it currently sits alongside updating the clock/psu mechanism as an untried and uncertain potential upgrade, but I'll certainly take it onboard :)
 
Trichord were one of the websites I saw the mod options at, which I was basing the prices from. The reviews their products and upgrades seem to rave about them, but I won't know for myself unless I actually part with the cash (and my machine) so it's a bit of a leap into the unknown!
 

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