POS Rescue Squad

[rickcr42]

Another one for the Ricktionary

i hope someone is keeping track of all the Rickisms so at some point we can maybe have the "Rickanese to English" translation Rictionary at some point which i will then post at the top of the forum so maybe once in a while someone will actually know just what the hell it is I am trying to say.......not that i myself always know this !

(imagine a "google" right click "translate rick to english" feature )


Anyway,back to reality (dammit !!!!!!)

If there is one area that is easy to correct that for me is a problem across the board with all budget (and some not so very) players it is that cheap,thin,ringing tin lids.
I always do a "tap test" with anything not made out of wood to hear what sound it will make when it is exited by outside influence on the theory that when listening to speakers at any volume over a whisper this sound will be mixing in with the overall sound.It will not be at a high enough level to identify as a distinct sound source but will be there just the same reinforcing any music at that frequency with the end effect of making the entire sound one that is a bit raggedy or edgy.

This is why I began the practice years back of adding mass and damping to ALL CD players below the high end and why I have wood sides at the minimum with some weight on top (can even be a heavy DAC,books,the above penny box,a hunk of brass or lead...) with the real action going on below deck out of direct sight and that is adding damping pads as are used in automobiles.

Any car that has even a minimal radio will have damping pads and why when you purchase a new car the cost for having a sound system as part of the option packages seems to be a bit high considering the quality but the reason is the interior of the car is sound proofed and that is where the extra cost really enters-not the actual system.

Fail to purchase this option thinking you will add your own system later and you are screwed once you add the system and realise no matter how much loot you throw at it the sound still sucks.

Realising every good but mostly unknown (outside the particular industry) idea will be capitalised on by someone with an idea we always see high priced examples of things that if you go to the actual source cost pennies in scale whern directly compared to the "audiophile" version of the same thing but relabeled.

So.The best single CD player cover damping,better even than those exotic elastomers,is the damping sheets from the audtomotive industry.these puppies are very dense,very heavy,totally inert so once attached to the inside of the lid and you rap on it with your finger tips you will no longer hear that tinny "tick tick tick" sound but a nice solid THUNK which tells you no amount of in room vibration will get that baby singing in harmony !

Options,always aoptions

1-rip some out from the old family sedan.don't worry,mom will never notice

2-go to an automotive supply store and purchase the raw sheets.They come in packages with "tiles" of the stuff,cut it to size,glue it in,see ya..................

3-Parts Express.Is there anything these cats don;t have at a good price ?

www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=268-010

or you could buy the high end high priced versions with fancy names.either way this is a "mod" that has merit if you use loudspeakers for anything above background music levels


www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/dampere.html


other "must" tweaks

wood is good :

www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/box_clever_e.html

Mains inlet :

www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/filter.html

nice general blow by blow on CDP modding,works for any

www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/cd63e.html

www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/cd67.html

some more "top mass" :

www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/press_e.html

finally,a nice "double barrel" shotgun approach to isolating the whole deal :

Cheap CDP Feet :

www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/bulletspikes_e.html

cheap isolation platform :

www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/sandblaster_e.html


Yes.it's true,I AM the founding member of


TEAM CHEAP BASTARD !

[xerxes]

I think I have all that covered.

My current CD player is a Cyrus, and like all their products it's built into an inverted cast aluminium chassis, which is pretty inert; if you rap the casework with your knuckles it makes a dull thud, rather than the usual "bong" you get with thin pressed steel cases. Here's some pictures:





You can see how the same basic case is used for a variety of different components with different front and rear pannels. From a product design, tooling costs and manufacturing point of view is a really neat idea. However, it's also quite restrictive; Cyrus' most powerfull amp is a 150w monoblock and I suspect that they would struggle to shoehorn anything more powerfull into such a small case.

I have all my Hi-Fi eqipment plugged into a 6 outlet mains filter, which I found had a really nice effect on the overall sound. I also have the CD player on three sorbothane hemispheres to isolate it from the stand.

[rickcr42]

My current CD player is a Cyrus, and like all their products it's built into an inverted cast aluminium chassis, which is pretty inert; if you rap the casework with your knuckles it makes a dull thud, rather than the usual "bong" you get with thin pressed steel cases.

that is one serious chassis cover there ! I Like !

You can see how the same basic case is used for a variety of different components with different front and rear pannels. From a product design, tooling costs and manufacturing point of view is a really neat idea. However, it's also quite restrictive; Cyrus' most powerfull amp is a 150w monoblock and I suspect that they would struggle to shoehorn anything more powerfull into such a small case.

monoblocks ! Bridge each stereo amp input,take the output from across the two "hots" for 300 WPC !!!!!

(unless the design is a floating output type already then forget it )

having one chassis with minor changes for various parts makes a lot of sense if you want to keep production costs down and have a matched system but can be a bit...ah...boring

(unless a McIntosh ! I swear they only truly look great together on a rack because everything else looks so damn feeble on the same rack ! )

I have all my Hi-Fi eqipment plugged into a 6 outlet mains filter, which I found had a really nice effect on the overall sound. I also have the CD player on three sorbothane hemispheres to isolate it from the stand.

Well sounds good to me dammit ! Get rid of line induced crap and airborn crap and all that is left is internally generated vibrations,something that only applies to things having a motor though i doubt a CDP with a lid like that would overlook something so obvious

[xerxes]

unless a McIntosh !

The McIntosh style is pretty idiosyncratic with all those anologue meters it looks quite retro to my eyes. In terms of price, and likely performance as well, McIntosh is in a different league to Cyrus; you could probably buy the entire Cyrus product range for the price of a single item of some of McIntosh's dearer components.

[rickcr42]

Definately throwback gear with a modern high end high twist.

analog meters

BIG AND HEAVY

transformer coupled amplifier outputs even on the SS amps

tone controls

balance controls

speaker/headphone switching

BIG and HEAVY

wood cabinets for the line level gear and some amps

BIG and HEAVY

makes a bold statement on the rack that usually needs other such gear to balance out the look or it will get lost in the shuffle.

I can take or leave it myself but I DO find the chrome palted open chassis tube amps very attractive,so much that I have attempted to emulkate it wihtout much success