CD-PRO2M Builder's questions and comments

StephanLJ · « **Reply #200 on:** 20 Aug 2005, 01:55 pm »

Hi
There is a guy in Taiwan who is building boards that replace the original ones. He has described a new clock and also an I2S DAC.

http://my.so-net.net.tw/chijen/index.htm

Has anybody an idea how to get this stuff. I tried to mail him but I get no response.

Stephan

valveheaduk · « **Reply #201 on:** 30 Aug 2005, 08:43 am »

Hi there!

New to this forum!

Very interested in buying one of these CD-Pro2M kits, but having no luck e-mailing Ken either from here or his site. Does anyone know if he's on holiday?

Cheers!

- John

Gordy · « **Reply #202 on:** 30 Aug 2005, 11:48 am »

Hello John,

Welcome to AC! I think Ken travels often for his day job and is sometimes (read: often) hard to reach, but hang in there, he'll turn up eventually!

Gordy

valveheaduk · « **Reply #203 on:** 30 Aug 2005, 01:49 pm »

Hey Gordy!

Thank you

Cool - thought it might be something like that.

Must stop torturing myself by looking at all the pictures on this thread - haha!!!

Cheerio.

sts9fan · « **Reply #204 on:** 31 Aug 2005, 04:10 pm »

I think I may be interested in building this kit. On a DIY scale of 1-10 where would you place the difficulty?

JoshK · « **Reply #205 on:** 31 Aug 2005, 04:21 pm »

Quote from: sts9fan

I think I may be interested in building this kit. On a DIY scale of 1-10 where would you place the difficulty?

About a 6, in my opinion. I have built a couple of simple kits before attempting this and built one simple tube preamp from a schematic. I didn't find it hard at all but it does take patience and it isn't a quick kit to build imo. Experienced kit builders will probably find it a breeze, while complete newbies might find it a tad difficult.

The most difficult part, imo, is stuffing the VFD display board as it has quite a few soldering points, 40 pin sockets and such that take time and patience. A good soldering iron with a really good fine tip is a must I think.

The instructions are pretty good if you follow them carefully and have pictures to show what sometimes is hard to describe in words. If you follow the instructions line for line you should have zero difficulties.

sts9fan · « **Reply #206 on:** 31 Aug 2005, 05:34 pm »

Cool thanks for the info

RonR · « **Reply #207 on:** 4 Sep 2005, 05:06 pm »

Quote from: JM

I've replaced the clock with a Tent Labs clock XO2 to the CD-PRO2M module. I've also added an independent power supply for the new clock. The results were shocking....

I've just done the same thing with a Tent Labs XO3 clock, but using it as a clock source only (not reclocking the spdif output for now), with much the same results as Julien. I'm taking the power for the XO3 from the 9V PSU board instead of a seperate supply.

Julien, did you try the XO2 clock by taking power from the 9V board before you added the separate power supply? I was wondering how much improvement a separate supply would give considering the amount of regulation on the XO3 board already?

Next on the list is a non-o/s DAC to be fed with the I2S feed from the CD-PRO2M module.... but that's for another day.

Cheers,

Ron

StephanLJ · « **Reply #208 on:** 5 Sep 2005, 09:43 pm »

Hi RonR and JM

Can you explain more fully what you did and how and finally how did the sound change?

Greetings Stephan

RonR · « **Reply #209 on:** 6 Sep 2005, 08:35 am »

Hi Stephan,

The XO2 / XO3 clocks are basically very low jitter replacements for the original crystal oscillator on the CD-PRO2M transport. The XO3 can also reclock the spdif output and provide a clock source for DACs.

Details of the installation for CD-PRO2M can be found on the Daisy-laser site http://www.daisy-laser.nl/homeoptics/page24.html - follow the links to the hands-on pages for step-by-step instructions.

As for the change in the sound, I think Julien had it just about right in his description "the sound appears more analog, more natural"

Cheers,

Ron.

JM · « **Reply #210 on:** 6 Sep 2005, 03:30 pm »

Quote from: RonR

Julien, did you try the XO2 clock by taking power from the 9V board before you added the separate power supply? I was wondering how much improvement a separate supply would give considering the amount of regulation on the XO3 board already?

Ron,
I did not try the clock without its dedicated PS so I can't comment on the differences. But Guido was very emphatic about the advantages of having a dedicated PS for the clock, he convinced me...

Recently, I replaced all electrolytics in the CD-PRO2M board with either BlackGate PK I had or Panasonic FK (I wanted to try the Sanyo OS-CON, but the US distributor wasn't interested in selling me any). I have some BlackGate N on order for the analog coupling caps.
I also replaced the buffer op-amp with an AD8028. All these "mods" after about one week break in helped improve the sound from my kit even more. The sound is easier on the ears, and very smooth and detailed.

Occam,
Thanks for the suggestion. I'll be trying the AD8066 next. Their specs are similar, but I think the AD8028 is having trouble with my TVC in some rare instances. The AD8066 might be better able to handle my passive pre.

Stephan.
I think Ron answered your questions. If you want to have an idea of how the Tent clock can be installed on the CD-PRO2M kit, have a look at my gallery. I added some images showing the CD-PRO2M PCB after the "mods".

StephanLJ · « **Reply #211 on:** 6 Sep 2005, 06:46 pm »

Ron R and Julien

Thank you very much for your reply. It seems to be worthwile to fumble with the CDPRO2.
Julien could you be more specificic about the changes you did with your transport. Perhaps you could edit the scematics and show us exactly were you added caps and which values you used???

I know it´s a lot I´m asking for.

Greetings Stephan

PS: I would be greatly happy if Julien would tell us more about his NOH.

RonR · « **Reply #212 on:** 9 Sep 2005, 08:49 am »

Hi Stephan,

If you look at JM's gallery picture of the upgrade Here, you'll see that the caps without the black sections on top are the ones that have been upgraded.
If you have the CD-PRO2M reference manuals (available in PDF from Daisy-Laser) then you can work out the rest!

Cheers,

Ron.

Bryan P · « **Reply #213 on:** 10 Sep 2005, 04:23 am »

Greetings All
I am interested in the kit, but have not been able to contact Ken.
Thanks
Bryan P

valveheaduk · « **Reply #214 on:** 10 Sep 2005, 10:18 am »

I've tried getting in touch for two weeks now but so far no luck - hope he's OK. Might be on vacation or something? Anyone know?

Gordy · « **Reply #215 on:** 10 Sep 2005, 02:56 pm »

Last week I tried contacting Ken, but my Email was returned...

I too hope all is okay with him!

StephanLJ · « **Reply #216 on:** 11 Sep 2005, 10:21 am »

Hi

Neither could I reach Ken. I tried phone, e-mail everything. So I finally tried to order directly from my3c.net. Here is the link:

http://www.my3c.net/product/detail.asp?gid=8&ky=&pid=1943

So far I just got word that they received my order. So maybe this is the way to go.

Good luck
Stephan

poseidonsvoice · « **Reply #217 on:** 13 Sep 2005, 01:50 am »

Hi fellas,

New to this forum, hope all of you are doing well. I own the CD Pro2M kit which I purchased from Ken a while ago. I was waiting for Ken to come up with a clock design from Taiwan, but it looks like the wait is just too long.Since I'm almost finished with the transport, I figured, I would share with you all the clock options available:

1) Tent Labs XO3 ($175 with free shipping from DIY Hifi Supply). Admittedly this is probably the best option since it has the reclocking circuit. I believe this is essential if you are going to use the CD Pro2M as a reference level transport. Details on how to implement it is shown here:

http://www.daisy-laser.nl/homeoptics/page13.html

2) Tent Labs XO2 ($139 with free shipping from DIY Hifi Supply). This is the option for those of you who will be using the CD Pro2M as a cd player or transport. The instructions to implement it are the same as in #1, but you don't connect the reclocking wires since you don't have them with this clock.

3) Tent Labs isolated clock ($37 + shipping). This is a bare bones oscillator where you will have to design the surrounding circuitry, basic power supply, etc...only for serious modders.

4) Vacuum State Electronics Reference Level 5 clock including power supply ($235 + shipping). This is basically Allen Wrights design, where he takes a Tent Labs isolated clock and adds a very, very clean power supply. This is cool cause the power supply comes with the clock itself, you don't need to purchase a separate one or use one from the CD Pro2M itself. However, it doesn't look like it has a 'reclocking' circuit so its best to use this on CD Pro2M's that will be used as stand alone cd players only. Nice value. Probably similar in performance to a Tent Labs XO2.

5) Audiocom Super Clock, LC Audio XO3, Trichord Research etc...these are more expensive clocks which may or may not sound better than the Tent Labs XO3. I'm a little nervous about these clocks since they seem to be hyped up but may only exhibit a slightly better performance for about a $100 price difference.

Unfortunately, the HagClock (www.hagtech.com) needs some modifications to be implemented for the CD Pro2M which is why I didn't list it. The CD Pro2M requires a 8.4672 MHz oscillator which Jim Hagerman doesn't regularly stock, although he does have ideas for deriving that frequency. The HagClock looks like it would be the near equivalent to the Tent Labs XO2. It doesn't have a reclocking circuit like the XO3. However, the HagClock is $129 assembled and only $69 when you build it yourself!!! Nice value. I can see myself using the HagClock in other designs. He stocks these frequencies: 11.2896MHz, 16.9344MHz, and 27.0000MHz.

Finally, I strongly recommend (like Julien has done), a completely separate power supply for your new clock, not the one derived from the CD Pro2M circuit board itself. You can probably use it temporarily, but when funds allow, just build yourself (or purchase from TentLabs) a separate power supply. The only exception to this is with the VSE Reference Level 5 clock which includes its own power supply.

Best regards

,

Anand.

valveheaduk · « **Reply #218 on:** 13 Sep 2005, 08:47 am »

Hi Stephan.

Just looked at that link (thanks for that) but my chinese is a little rusty

Worried about clicking on the wrong button or something, and I'd rather go through Ken if possible.

Cheers,

- John

zemtex · « **Reply #219 on:** 14 Sep 2005, 07:42 pm »

Anyone testet the CDpro 2 kit vs a Teac VRDS transport? ...or have the a opertunity to do such a shootout?

- Regards zemtex