Audiolab 6000CDT Mods

[Lawrence001]

A la Croft

[Gazjam]

First part done, job's a good 'un.



I'm doing the Mods in 3 steps

1 Mechanical Isolation and vibration control
2 RFI / EMI treatment
3 Component changes/ imporovements (particularly to power supply, regulator and rectifiers, Cap improvements etc)

I'm taking time between each till I listen to what each change does.
Doing all at once, easy to lose your way and not know what's doing what.
Or - if its sounding worse, what's the culprit!


1. MECHANICAL ISOLATION

a. Casework
Damped the bottom and rear of the case with SilectCoat


Electrical tape used over aluminium here, just in case, as its near the PCB


b. Interior Damping
Took out the PCB and isolated it on O-rings from the stand offs it sits on




c. Transport Mech
Constructed from thin pressed metal, applied SilentCoat where possible to dampen vibration and ringing as well as adding mass.
Obviously careful to avoid interfering with moving parts, though was able to dampen this as well, Ejecting and inserting CDs now silky smooth and feels solid.
Was quiet before, playback now totally silent.

Looks a mess! But who cares if it works and its not seen anyway?




d. Toroidal Transformer
Made sure the nut was tightened and damped any metalwork with SilentCoat. Also damped where it connects to the bottom of case, further isolating it from vibration.




e. Miscellaneous
Any metal to metal contact points (screws etc) are isolated with o-rings. (Including the SPDIF out socket, now isolated from the rear of the case.

f. CD Transport Isolation on shelf
Looked again at what the player was sat on.

1.
Ikea Apptlig bamboo board, "floating" off the glass shelf on Moongel dampening pads
(recommended by drummers for damping vibration in snares) and this Guy.


2.
SoundampedSteel constrained layer damping sheets sitting on the bamboo board
RCD Cone cups with o-rings in the 'dimple'
Sillicon Nitride ball bearing (idea nicked from Naim Fraim) suporting the CDT at 3 points.

3.
Finally on top, an unused 6Kg bracket from my Sony TV at on top of player adding mass and further damping.
The Audiolabs going NOWHERE!


SO, ANY ISSUES?
Not really happy to say.

Though first thing I did was apply SilentCoat to the underside of the lid, turns out because the way the case is constructed and slides together it wouldn't fit back on with any thickness added to the lid.

Whole lot had to be scraped back off with a Stanley knife - stuff of nightmares!
Anyway... aside that all good.
So much for the plan to dampen the 'biscuit tin' lid!
Not to worry though, there's a nearly 6Kg weight sitting on it, that'll work!

First part done.
Plugged in this morning.





Immediately sounding better already from power up in terms of solidity, soundstage depth, separation and detail.
The sound is bigger, clearer and projects better.

Speaking of detail,
Player sounds more relaxed, but more detail is coming through?
It's like it has more time to play music, things sounding more 'right' in terms of timbre and timing.

Time well spent I like this!


More to come when I look at EMI/RF treatment.
Worked to great effect in my Dac, only potential "gotcha" there was overdoing it in the analogue output section, digital was all good.
Happily here its all power supply and digital circuits,
with switching rectifiers, digital clocks and the like reckon there's scope for improvement there.

Low hanging fruit is the Display PCB, probably spits out out a ton of mush.
Then power supply rectifiers (switch noise), the digital transformer and chips then the clock.

See how I get on at the time.

[Macca]

seem to recall you can switch the display off from the remote?

Think I tried it but couldn't tell a difference (easy to A/B that one) but I might be getting that mixed up with another player.

[Jimbo]

Some serious damping Gary and good you can already hear some benefits. I may go a bit further with damping my tin can Croft amps especially the lids which are a tad thin.

[Gazjam]

seem to recall you can switch the display off from the remote?

Think I tried it but couldn't tell a difference (easy to A/B that one) but I might be getting that mixed up with another player.

You can Martin,
If its anything like the display on my Dac though, even with it "off" theres still power going to it and keeps beaming out the nasties.
Not as bad as when it's on though, but just trying to cover all the bases.

[Gazjam]

Its a lot innit?

I stopped and plugged the Player back in at several points (my thanks to Brucew268) just to check if any of the life went out of the sound as I was adding it.
If not, keep going.

And I did!

[Wakefield Turntables]

Thats properly internally damped, I think you might have missed a bit...

[Gazjam]

Thats properly internally damped, I think you might have missed a bit...

Dammit.
time to open 'er up again.

Very happy with improvement.
Is there any end to this Madness?

Uhm... NO
Now looking at my amps and Dac.



The piano black top plate is connected to a flat panel metal frame, it's side panels slotting down into the case, then bolted in from below.
Removed the lid, and treated the side panels and underside of metal top plate, being careful of ventilation holes.



With the PS Audio gear Im not going anywhere NEAR the internals, just damping the case where I can.

Underside and side slot panels of top panel lid.
and bottom of the case.



Did similar to my Dac as well, which uses exactly the same case.

PS Audio gear is built like a tank and seriously heavy, so wasn't sure how effective this would be?
After doing both Dac and Preamp, there was similar improvement after damping the Audiolab, but even more so.
The Pre and Dac are the heart of the system I guess, and affect everything?

This has been a very good upgrade for little cost, and works on high end gear as well as more affordable kit.

Gotta do the big Meridian 557 now?
The thing weighs 27Kg, but always room for more weight... right?

[struth]

I can walk on water....oops, maybe not yet

[Macca]

I'd be a bit concerned about applying what is effectively insulation to a power amp.

You don't want that sucker overheating.