[buschfsu]

ok i made the 12v wall wart with the floppy cable and switched out the cat5 with a siemens cat 6 so....whats next? any good suggestions for the next mod?

 

[buschfsu]

ian did changing the caps make enough difference to make it worth the effort. ( i did notice a difference with the battery power and cat 6 cable). I'd like to get the best sound i can out of this thing. (maybe clock it to an external clock but those are pricey)
thanks
jason

 

[lan]

Hi,

I was on vacation so I didn't see your previous message in May.

Changing the caps does make a difference. The interesting thing about this unit is you can use different caps for the different outputs. This will allow you to really try out how they sound. You can start with a "cheap" cap like Panasonic FC but I it's not silky smooth enough for my tastes.

>>>maybe clock it to an external clock but those are pricey

I wouldn't go there yet. You may get a bit more spacial information but the caps will make the sound just less harsh and give you lower level resolution which is higher priority.

 

[raffells]

Hi,As a new member I am really pleased to have found this site and these pages..........I am a long long time modder of everything and anything (40 years with bad eyesight now to prove it)..

I had been looking at My 1820m for a while as I only bought it to use it for transferring vinyl to DVDA..compared with my vinyl system which is all vishay/schottky/black gates standards etc It was a bit of a let down...

I have now been inspired by you guys to have a go....Its going to take me a few days to get my head around some of the things already written...ie terminology but in general , has this question been covered before on these forums..and is there a simple quide to mods for these cards already done ...I have done a few searches.....
..I am quite happy to go with any of the mods Ive read about so far,,,power supply,cat lead ,black gates...(are the N and Nxs that much better than my standards Ive been using for almost 10 years?...).

I had only originally decided to mod the input caps for balanced inputs 1...but realized this wasnt going to make that much difference...any suggestions would be very gratefully received.I dont use the system for playback....


As I am in the middle of modding my Denon 3910 at the same time (as going on holiday) this may be an elongated set of visits to the forum..
Many thanks in advance from a happy new member...Dave

 

[lan]

Hello and welcome Dave.

Quote:

Originally Posted by raffells compared with my vinyl system which is all vishay/schottky/black gates standards etc It was a bit of a let down... is there a simple quide to mods for these cards already done are the N and Nxs that much better than my standards Ive been using for almost 10 years?... I had only originally decided to mod the input caps for balanced inputs 1...but realized this wasnt going to make that much difference...any suggestions would be very gratefully received.I dont use the system for playback

I find most digital systems sound lacking in some way. I wouldn't be surprised if you liked your vinyl system more.

There isn't a guide to mods since not many people own them let alone change things.

I've never used standards much. I've just tried N, NX, FK, and PKs. Ns and NXs have a soft sound and more detail.

I dont even have that input board plugged in so I don't have any experience with that. You could always try enhancing the ADC section in addition to the other things mentioned. Perhaps use better bypass caps for the chips. I have my board in storage so I can't really take a look at it now.

 

[raffells]

Yes I had been testing standards BG and the later N and I found that same difference.in the short term...More important seems the run in times..the N seems to take forever..I also found that the N left for a few weeks unused tended to revert to its original sonics..but was quicker to regain its sonic high quality.....Eventually I came to the opinion that well run in black gates(I am talking several years) sound very little different..but this applies to most caps anyway....The only other question is on this Cat lead(6) Now I have partially understood what is happening on this whole assembly....The quality of the lead and length may be more than significant...Has anyone found a particular brand of cat 6 (or length) that is benficial............Also ...as I am a vishay lover....has any tried swapping out resisters on this board.....or the 1212...Dave

 

[buschfsu]

Has anyone seen a pic of the PCI board with the caps labelled? I could start changing caps but i have no idea where the caps are that would make a difference.

thanks

 

[raffells]

http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showt...light=emu+1212 has a very detailed set of reports on modifying this and the 1212 board,,,
,also details of what voltages are being used plus a mini circuit diagram on the power regulation , all of which is excellent...I should only comment that someone used Oscon and didnt like the sound...That doesnt suprise me in the least..I hate them even on digital circuitry...;;;,,,,It would appear that the bottom 7 large caps in this picture are the ones to go for...1010 p1 ps ..as a newbie on this forum I hope this is allowed...,,Dave

 

[buschfsu]

i am using this to mix and monitor music so i am looking for caps that will be fairly neutral (as opposed to an audiophile system that is looking to sound sweetened in certain freq ranges). any recommendaitons on caps based on that requirement?
thanks

 

[sgrossklass]

Quote:

Originally Posted by buschfsu i am using this to mix and monitor music so i am looking for caps that will be fairly neutral (as opposed to an audiophile system that is looking to sound sweetened in certain freq ranges). any recommendaitons on caps based on that requirement?

IMHO the most critical caps are coupling caps, particularly when there's very little DC over them. (Electrolytics are fairly nonlinear under these conditions, they need some biasing.) If you measure only minimal DC offsets like in the single-digit mV range (as opposed to >1 V), it should be fairly safe to eliminate the cap entirely. At the outputs you may want to have coupling caps for safety reasons, these should be types that operate (comparatively) well under no-bias conditions. (You may want to play with some back-to-back configs as suggested by the old Jung/Marsh article.) I'd stick to these mods for a start.

 

[buschfsu]

GREAT THAT HELPS.

where can i find the old jung marsh article?

 

[raffells]

http://www.capacitors.com/picking_ca...rs/pickcap.htm

meanwhile I have just started on my mods as suggested by others (cat leads power supply and caps )and I should add that attention to the resisters seem to have been overlooked in comments..as well as diode replacement.......Dave

 

[crazyfrenchman27]

How do you think the 1820 compares to the headroom micro dac?

-Matt

 

[raffells]

Following advice picked up on this forum I ve upgraded the Cat5 lead (small diff?) and gave up on trying to swap out the 4 x 470mf caps on the Input board as the replacements would be too large and foul the main board underneath...So sadly I thought I would just do the advised swaps to blackgates ,,,
C29 10mf/16 C41 100/6.3 C63 10/mf16 C85 100/6.3
C80 100/6.3 C76 47/6.3 c64 47/6.3 and c92/115 both 100/16v........the 6.3 Ive used N or Nx and 16v standards.....WOW

was I in for a shock.....even with all my previous good few yrs history at modding...and knackered eyesight/.....
I havent even got around to adding a seperate 12v supply and I am delighted....Ive also yet to remove the output caps which WILL make a difference......this is just playing back stuff I recorded using the old grainey splashy bright original electronics....Am I looking forward to new recordings when Its run in....Tone detail depth and seperation are the first things that come to mind....
So Many thanks to the guys who did all the brainwork.....looking at the b reakout board I am sure there are a few caps on this which may even improve things slightly...Noise ??...So if anyone out there knows what each of those electrolytics is doing ?....please let me know...I feel as though I need to do something to just give it a treat....I am now less likely to swap out resisters to vishays...my normal but what seems expensive fallback..Thanks again guys....and Ive still got running in time to go.....Dave

 

[subharmonic]

Ok lads - here's a software question relating to the 1820m.
I currently use a set of SA5000 sony cans to do some monitoring (and mixing) with the 1820m, but the problem I have is that the SA5000 are so bright I could be doing with an EQ to dial in a wee bit of low end. Problem is, I don't want this eq'd signal to be sent to the main outs on the 1820m - just the headphone outs. Is there a way of doing this? My main outs are to a set of Tanny Ellipse - I don't want them recieveing a screwed around with signal.
Anyway of achieving this as I suggested?