Almi's Logitech Z-5500 Mod (High-End upgrade for the speaker system)
May 24, 2014 at 1:54 PM Post #31 of 544
Hi ramachandra!
 
First, thanks for advices! :) But, the third mod is very complicated for me, i am not engineer, and i am very scared to do it! this is my damaged amplifier board  
 
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0U_OGrlerlzZFRkd2IyUVpxbG8/edit?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0U_OGrlerlzV3dNalNHelVVZXM/edit?usp=sharing
 
My wondering is, am i correct with connections on the second photo, between pins 6-7? Is simple solder bridge will be enough? I don't see any other lines to be damaged, right? I'm hope that the op amp was faulty, and not some other unknown component. Any help, from anybody, will be welcome! :)
 
May 25, 2014 at 2:07 AM Post #33 of 544
  No need to worry about the pin 5, 6 and 7, because they are not in use, only the pin 8 is important on that side. You just need a new OpAmp, and to be careful with the heat.

Thanks man! So, can i leave them (6-7 pins) free without bridge then? What soldering temperature is right for this purpose? My soldering iron is 200C min. BTW, already ordered new op amp, obviously killed the previous one during soldering...
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P.S. The OPA1612 are really amazing!!! Tried the surrounds in stereo mode, and man, what a difference! The stereo separation, the brilliant highs, the stage, dimension... Everything is there! I already replaced front and centre satellites, with yamaha ones, and sub with pioneer speaker, now i am thinking about the filter caps replacing, with ELNA for Audio 10000uF 63V as my final mod! The system is really something special now! 
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May 25, 2014 at 7:56 AM Post #34 of 544
"So, can i leave them (6-7 pins) free without bridge then?"  Yes, you can.
 
For chips 240 Celsius is usually ideal temperature for a limited time. I have a long sharp tip for soldering and loosing the heat fast on the end, so often use 300 Celsius.
 
Jun 1, 2014 at 8:12 AM Post #36 of 544
Hi, ramachandra
 
I replaced op amp and everything is soooo good now! 
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 I decided to order Nichicon KG 10000uF 63V for main filter, instead of elnas, because they seems suspicious to me, all on the ebay can't find them in Elna datasheets, and i am concerned being fakes. Ordered Silmic II for 47uF 50V, but they are very expencive, so can i use instead Panasonic FM for 22uF 50V? Are they good? Some people say the FC are better, or Nichicon KZ? What you suggest, KZ or FM(FC)?
 
Jun 1, 2014 at 9:39 PM Post #37 of 544
Most of the Elna capacitors are few years old factory surplus on eBay and not made for the public, so you will not find them on data sheets, and the look also varies when and were they are made. I bought, used, listen hundreds of them, even opened up few and i found them genuine. If you really want my opinion, chose the Elnas and stay away from the inferior Panasonic, and use only Nichicon if there is no other choice. On the end you will not regret a penny.
 
http://www.ebay.ie/itm/2-X-ELNA-FOR-AUDIO-10000uF-63V-ELECTROLYTIC-CAPACITOR-/400702240596?pt=US_Amplifier_Parts_Components&hash=item5d4bb6f754
 
http://www.ebay.ie/itm/10pcs-ELNA-SILMIC-Electrolytic-Audio-Capacitors-22uF-50V-/221073139710?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3378fc67fe
 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/10-pcs-ELNA-SILMIC-II-RFS-47uf-50v-Audio-Electrolytic-Capacitors-/251534961646?pt=Vintage_Electronics_R2&hash=item3a90a6ebee
 
Or you can try Mouser for the smaller caps. I do not know other source than eBay for the 10000uF Elna for Audio.
   

 

 
 

 
Jun 2, 2014 at 3:41 PM Post #39 of 544
Why do all that instead of buying better speakers? Is a cheap way of creating a drastic sound quality improvement? AFAIK, Z-680s and Z-5500s are not Pro-level or even audiophile-level speakers... Even Kilpsch Pro-Media speakers aren't considered to be that great by audiophiles...
 
Also, soundcard mods were mentioned! Are there any mods for ASUS Xonar DGX soundcard (besides UNi drivers)???
 
Jun 2, 2014 at 4:49 PM Post #40 of 544
"Why do all that instead of buying better speakers?" Not much to gain with good speakers hooked up on a poor amplifier, the current speakers are not the main bottleneck for the system. The Z5500 still have little competition on the market today from the price point, the modified for the 40-70€ extra have non at all.
 
I think you can change an OpAmp and the 2 caps belong to it for the front channel on the ASUS Xonar DGX + install a better clock, nothing else really. Try to look around on Head-Fi.
 
Jun 3, 2014 at 1:38 AM Post #41 of 544
  Why do all that instead of buying better speakers? Is a cheap way of creating a drastic sound quality improvement? AFAIK, Z-680s and Z-5500s are not Pro-level or even audiophile-level speakers... Even Kilpsch Pro-Media speakers aren't considered to be that great by audiophiles...
 
Also, soundcard mods were mentioned! Are there any mods for ASUS Xonar DGX soundcard (besides UNi drivers)???

Because i already bought a new better satellite speakers from Yamaha! 
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 And they really do make drastic improvement, but now i just want to get most of the system. I know that, i probably could buy separate receiver second hand for the money, but this is more fun to mod, and see the maximum of this set! 
smile.gif

 
Jun 6, 2014 at 7:30 AM Post #43 of 544
Hi there... i am new to this forum and modding electronic equipment. i bought a z5500 from ebay (broken) and fixed the d-sub connector to make it work again.
 
At the minute i have one full z5500 system (all working except center speaker) and another sub box with the amplifier (which i got from my brother)... the sub driver is missing as he blew it up driving the sub from an external amp... which beforehand he blew the plate amp up for the sub... just the sub was not working so he removed the board and tried swapping a tda7294 for another one and forgot to put the mica sheets back in... alot of smoke later and it went into storage which i now have... so i have two projects here... an upgrade for the full system... and a fix for the blown amp. so lets get started...
 
the full (main) system i have all works fine except the center (i messaged you @ramachandra about front left... but i swapped an op-amp out of the broken system to see what would happen... the front left works fine but now there is no sounds/just popping from the center speaker) anyway i have 5 X opa1612aid on the way to fix that... all other parts from my main system will be transfered to the blow amp when they arrive.
 
the second blown amp is just about fully stripped down apart from smd's alll the tda7294's are out... i have 10 of them on there way. i am also about to purchase 16xelna silmic ii 47uf 50v & 16xelna silmic ii 22uf 50v which will go in my main system... so the old caps will then go to the blown system... if the blown system will come back to life then i wil upgrade it aswell (eventually). and the old r4580i out of my full system will go into the blown amp... i will add two tda's and one op-amp at a time to the blown board and power on and test as i go... i know i will need another op-amp (because my center doesn't work) but this will have to wait as i want to get my full system upgraded first and slowly fix the blown board. the blown board has some smd resistors missing 3 x 81A but i will just use 1/4w metal films to get it running and the replace with smd after i know it works... i also have a few bad/broken tracks on the blown board which are for the tda's most of which are broken don't go anywhere anyway... some of the ones that do (2 of) i can fix quite easily... there is another problem though... when i had it turned on testing it with only one op-amp in... and only two tda's in to check the center... on one of the op-amps tracks it was arcing to the board... i had removed the op-amp from this position and i could see small blue flashes so the only thing i could do was to lift that pad from the board... now it is lifted i cannot put it back down without it arcing... is there something i can do with that? if there is not some kind of insulation i can put under the pad then the only thing i can think of is to rip the track up which goes to an smd cap and solder a wire stright from op-amp to cap... or i might try your cap mod to remove op-amps as that would get round it aswell.
 
at the minute i have all WIMA cap's on the underside of the board 250v+ and i have replaced all 1/8w carbon resistors with 1/4 metal film and replaced the v-regs resistors and 1/2w with same wattage but metal film. i have replaced 220nf on the preamp board with 630v axial caps and one on the underside of the board (green cap) with a 630v axial but i had to go through the top of the board and solder on the underside... its no problem i just used some epoxy on the cap to hold it.
 
i will keep you posted on how my modding goes... the control pod will be the last thing that i do... but i might change the op-amps in the control soon(ish) aswell (those opa1612aid's start really totting up when you need many of them... the cheapest i found on ebay was £3.50+£3.00 P&P i have bought 5 so far. i will be getting the nichicon KA 4700uf 25v for a direct size replacement for the 4700uf pod cap... and i will be using nichicon 10000uf 50v for the main filter caps... as i dont really want to mod the board in the same way you have done just to get big caps in... plus it cheaper and i have a few other mods on at the min aswell... a graphic equalizer to mod and another graphic i need to fix... so cost cutting is essential for me at the minute.
 
@ramachandra i see you have some modded boards on ebay... i assume you took those boards from the actual heatsink (plate) which leads me to my next question... the blown board i have has got the heatsink plate but i dont have the bars to secure the tda7294's and i dont have the mica sheets or the screws for the bars... do you have any of these items spare that you are willing to sell? please PM me about that if you want to sell them... thanks.
 
i will check in after each new mod i do to the full system and progress on the blown board
 
EDIT:
 
If someone here has one of these with a control pod... the next time you open it up could you check to see how hot the +18 & -18 volt regulators are? i was showing my amp to someone and turned it on with the pre-amp board out and it grounded the d-sub connector and would not play sound... it popped a resistor on 79m18a went from 36R to 30R ... i have replaced the resistor and everything works again... but these two voltage regulators seem to be running hot... as in after it has been turned on for about 1 min you cannot keep your finger on them for longer than 5-10secs (its becomes uncomfortably hot not instant blister hot) i was just wondering if any one elses ran this hot? if not i have a couple of these v-regs i can throw in but i wanted to be sure there was a problem there before i change anything... any info anyone can give would be appreciated... these v-regs are near the two 10000uf filter caps... Cheers
 
Jun 6, 2014 at 2:16 PM Post #44 of 544
Hi again,


Ramachandra, here little update to my mod, and some more questions for you :smile: So far i replaced caps on the pre-amp with wima MKS2, and 22uF 50V Panasonic FM, because easy to find and i get them super cheap and immediately, and give them a try. After MKS2 i noticed, that the sound become somewhat soft, with better mids, but the lows lost some of the punch, and i am not very sure if i like it more. Adding the Panasonics, made the picture even more softer, warmer, somewhat more audiophile. The bass is kicking  really soft, but lost the definition, and some power, and sound like damped. I like it more open raw sounding, like it is from the guital cube in front of me. So the two caps are not going very well for my taste. Now, what to change? Like the softness of Panasonic caps, don't wanna lose that. Is the replacing of MKS2 will correct the problem? And with what caps? I saw your mods with axial caps. What type, brand and specs are you used, and can you please tell me what is the sound signature with them? I want to be as close as possible to studio reference sound, so need a very detailed low range, my mid-highs are quite good now. Also, can you tell me for what position  47uF and 22uF are used in whole system? I want to experiment with some other options, till my Elna's and Nicnikon came.


 


 
 
Jun 6, 2014 at 5:11 PM Post #45 of 544
@andro6600 there is (by my counting on the board next to me) 10 X 47uf 35v caps are for the op-amps r4580i (there will be 2 caps for every 1 op-amp and there is 5 op-amps) ... there is also 2 X 47uf 50v which are for the +18 & -18 voltage regulators. these voltage regulators also have 1 X 1uf 50v each (so that is a total of 2 caps for 2 regulators)... there are a total of 13 X 22uf 50v one of them is sat just in front of the two big main filter caps... the other 12 are place all along the edges of the board with the tda7294 amplifiers that have the metal bars attaching them to the heatsink... these 12 caps are for the tda7294's ... there is also 1 X 10uf 50v that is in the corner of the board near the filter caps you will see two diodes side-by-side in the corner of the board... this is the only one that is different... it is sat like the rest of the 22uf caps but this one is different and it is a 10uf 50v.
 
i purchased wima caps for the underside of the board... except one which i used an axial polypropylene through the top and soldered on the underside... the rest i have bent over and epoxied in place. on the pre-amp board i have used 630v 224j axial polypropylene caps i changed all 7 on the pre-amp board... and changed the resistor on there for higher wattage and tighter tolerance metal film resistors... just waiting for the silmic ii's and the opa1612's to arrive and i will turn it back on and have a proper listen :) keep us posted on your modding
 
Cheers
 

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