Firefox 0 Report post Posted February 5, 2005 More and more mods to the Rotel RCD-991 CDP. Brought to you by your grouchy mad modder! This is the 2nd last phase of mods to be done to av98m's Rotel 991. It entails replacing the Nichicon Muse Finegold caps used for digital supplies with Sanyo Oscon SP caps built solely for this purpose! 2 extra large capacitance Finegolds were also replaced with Ultra Low ESR Nichicon caps instead as Oscons didn't come in the values required. The output caps were also swapped from the top-of-the-line Muse KZ's for the much frowned upon Elna Cerafine's instead. The digital section before modifications: The DAC's, dual PCM63P chips surrounded by Blackgate F's: After modifications, we felt that the player could well be called Barney: The Cerafines in all their glory.. Yes, the underdog beat the crap out of the Muse KZ's! One last picture to end this post. Our stomachs are growling from the lack of dinner!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
heady 0 Report post Posted February 5, 2005 Wow, overwhelming!! DIY heaven. After all that work, how's the sound??!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Absolute0 0 Report post Posted February 5, 2005 Yes, we need to hear the impressions! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
av98m 0 Report post Posted February 5, 2005 debris.. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
av98m 0 Report post Posted February 5, 2005 (edited) the discarded caps: 6 nichicon finegolds 4 nichicon muse 10 blackgate standard grade(F) I'm going to hold off commenting on the sonics until I've had more time to listen and compare (although the initial impressions are very good). Edited February 6, 2005 by av98m Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
digi01 0 Report post Posted February 6, 2005 av98m，你打算怎么处理这些discarded caps？ YGPM Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bpribadi 0 Report post Posted February 8, 2005 the discarded caps: 6 nichicon finegolds 4 nichicon muse 10 blackgate standard grade(F) Wow, throwing away good caps? Anybody want to be the trash can? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Firefox 0 Report post Posted February 12, 2005 New toys!!! 108 pieces bought today... Guess I was in a spending mood.. LOL Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Firefox 0 Report post Posted February 13, 2005 More stuff added into the player... Goodbye to more crappy caps.. =p Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bpribadi 0 Report post Posted February 13, 2005 Very expensive mod indeed How's the sound? Worth the mod or not? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
av98m 0 Report post Posted February 14, 2005 (edited) To keep it short, there is a noticably greater sense of space(soundstage?) and dynamics. This player is definitely a keeper. The parts used were for the most part pretty affordable (panasonic fc, sanyo os-con, elna cerafine, elna rjh etc), in fact dirt cheap compared to boutique caps like blackgates, and better suited for their chosen application. The auricap of course stands out like a giraffe in a polar bears-only country club, and the only reason it ended up there was because we couldn't find any decent film caps(Wima, Solen etc) of the right value(1 microfarad) in any of the shops open at SLS or Burlington Square that day and I didn't want to wait and make a second trip! Not shown in the pics are the class a biasing modules for the opamps(mounted underneath the pcb) Edited February 14, 2005 by av98m Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Firefox 0 Report post Posted February 14, 2005 The auricap of course stands out like a giraffe in a polar bears-only country club, and the only reason it ended up there was because we couldn't find any decent film caps(Wima, Solen etc) of the right value(1 microfarad) in any of the shops open at SLS or Burlington Square that day and I didn't want to wait and make a second trip! Considering Taxi fares, it'd have been cheaper to pay for the Auricap than to go back another day too! LoL.. Brahm: That's by no means an expensive mod.. In fact, I'd say the bill of parts was dirt cheap if anything. That's of course, relative to how stingy a person is. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
av98m 0 Report post Posted February 14, 2005 (edited) Hmm..thought I'd elaborate a bit more on the sonic improvements. The good: Greater sense of space(soundstage?), transparency/clarity, speed, coherence, dynamics etc. Decent to good recordings sound even better after the mods. The bad: Increased transparency comes at a price. Try listening to a badly recorded cd....e.g. some of the mandarin pop albums under the rock records label, or maybe some of the j-pop albums..., and get ready for some serious earbleed. Edit: After some 48 hrs of burn-in, the earbleed factor is more or less gone....think I'll let the new caps/parts burn-in for the rest of the week before commenting further. Edited February 17, 2005 by av98m Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Ruach Report post Posted February 22, 2005 Add in a dedicated transformer for your DACs and it will bring your 991 up to another level of performance. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
huangyong 0 Report post Posted February 22, 2005 Add in a dedicated transformer for your DACs and it will bring your 991 up to another level of performance. How a dedicated transformer can improve the sound? just curious Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
