Dangers of modding

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randytsuch

Dangers of modding
« on: 27 Feb 2003, 02:50 am »
Thought I would share with you guys one of the pitfalls of modding stuff.  There is a chance you can take something that works fine, and break it.

That’s what I did a few weeks ago.  I made a few changes to my SACD 1000 (I know I should only make one change at a time, but that is too much hassle, and takes too long.)  I make the changes at work, where I have better equipment, took the board home, put it back in, turned it on, and nothing. :bawl:

Believe me, it’s a REALLY bad feeling to take something that used to sound really good, and break it.  So, I take the board back to work, undo a change I thought caused the problem (removed an aftermarket clock I bought).  Plugged the board back in that night, and still nothing.  Now I’m really bummed.  :bawl:  That night, my wife asked me if anything was wrong, but I could not tell her I just broke the CD player.

So, back to the drawing board.  By now, I am wondering how much SACD 1000’s are going for on Audiogon.  Situation is bad.  But, I sat down, and really looked at the remaining changes.  I had tried to take the dac used for the rear channels, and feed it the same signal as the front two channels.  I was thinking about paralleling dacs, and this was the first step.

When I looked at what I did, figured I had made a change I should not have.  I undid that change the next day, took it home, and happy times, my SACD 1000 works again.   :D   BTW, I now have the rear channel DAC outputting the front channel information.

Now, when my SACD 1000 was broken, I was thinking if I ever get it to work again, I am going to just enjoy it.   :wink:  So, of course, now that it works again, I have already made another change to it since then (removed a relay), and am currently making a list of blackgates I want to add to the PS and DAC cards.   I have already ordered some Sanyo OSCONS I am going to add the DAC card.  But, I am not going to screw with the transport, can’t figure out how to take it out, and do not want to really break my 1000.

Randy

mgalusha

Dangers of modding
« Reply #1 on: 27 Feb 2003, 03:59 am »
Randy,

Glad to hear you were able to get it working again. I remember you mentioning your plans for additional mods such as paralleling the DAC's. I had a similar experience modifying the Marantz I now use as a transport. I had installed a LCAudio ZapFilter output stage and while it worked there was a lot hiss from the speakers. It turned out this was caused by the interaction of the DAC and the output board. Lars of LC Audio gave me a fix but I was pretty bummed after spending a few hundred dollars and disabling the internal output stage. :(

Keep us appraised on your progress.

Mike

randytsuch

Dangers of modding
« Reply #2 on: 27 Feb 2003, 05:22 am »
Hi Mike,
I will keep you posted on my progress.  I actually started writing something on the mods I made the my sacd 1000 so far, might post it by later this week, or maybe next week.

Randy

Ferdi

Dangers of modding
« Reply #3 on: 27 Feb 2003, 08:03 am »
I know exactly how you feel. When I installed a new clock in my CDP (after midnight of course) it also refused to start up again. It turned out that one of the power-leads to the clock-card had come loose again. :oops:

Easy fix and all works. Boy, feeling that relieved is almost good enough reason to break it in the first place.  :D

Hantra

Dangers of modding
« Reply #4 on: 27 Feb 2003, 03:52 pm »
Heh. . .

The difference with me is that I never expect anything to even power on after I get finished modding it.   :lol:

I have fried a Jolida amp that cost me almost as much as it was worth to have repaired.  A Pioneer Elite DVD player. . . About anything I can screw up, I'll do it.  

That's half the fun though. . .  The worst part is having to explain to the factory what the hell you were doing, and why.  heheh


B

ABEX

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Dangers of modding
« Reply #5 on: 28 Feb 2003, 06:13 am »
Try this one.

My B&K amp got fried because those wonderfully knowledgable freaks at Ratshack told me a replacement fuse would work.It worked ok!PUFF :oops:  and I'll take your $400 and getting B&K to send new transistors! :roll:

I do not trust anyone anymore unless I know they know what the hell they are talking about.I can understand making mistakes,but when it comes to simple things to ask like will this work?I expect atleast a ,well I would not try it till you talk to the manfacture.

Be safe is better than being sorry!That is not to say I have never been wrong either,but I do admit when I do not know about something! :wink:

nathanm

Dangers of modding
« Reply #6 on: 28 Feb 2003, 08:02 am »
Quote
I do not trust anyone anymore unless I know they know what the hell they are talking about.


Wow, there's a Catch-22 if I ever heard one!  :o

ABEX

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Dangers of modding
« Reply #7 on: 28 Feb 2003, 08:06 am »
Checked your site which looks pretty intresting.Nice Pic's!

nathanm

Dangers of modding
« Reply #8 on: 28 Feb 2003, 08:07 pm »
ABEX: Whose site?  Pic's what?

Also, check your PM Abex, there's a little present waiting for you, for like the past week or two...:wink:
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On-topic make up text:
Well you know the old saying, "If it ain't broke don't fix it".  But what fun is that?  Heck, there's whole companies dedicated to fixing unbroken things!  I tried "modding" my speakers and consequently broke them.  It could be worse though, I could've dropped them on my toes.  You guys that have no qualms about cracking open a brand new CD player and messing with the fiddly bits certainly have my admiration.  Yikes.

ABEX

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Dangers of modding
« Reply #9 on: 28 Feb 2003, 09:43 pm »
I was refering to your site here:
http://my.execpc.com/~saruman/

shows you have talent!