Philips CD960

[ozmillsy]

The Philips CD960 will be my first transport hot rodding project.    It has the same transport mechanism (the legendary CDM1), and same internal design as the Marantz CD94. 

The CD960 in stock form,   it's in briliant condition for a 20+ year old player,  belts were just changed by the previous owner.


Ultimately this will be modified for I2S outputs direct into the KillerDAC.   But that is away off, 1 thing at a time.

Step by step mods to this player will come in due course.

Philips reference site for the CD960:
http://www.marantzphilips.nl/index.asp?strPage=Info&strBrand=Philips&strType=Philipscd960

[ozmillsy]

Very nice mate and as you said in excellent condition.  It seems a shame to modify it but as we know it's what has to be done to gety the most out of it! 

Does this mean you'll have a spare single crown chip??? 

Cheers, flemo.

Does this mean you'll have a spare single crown chip??? 

Maybe.   I'm told they're a bugger to get off .

Yes apparantly so, but I have had this conversation with Mario before and it would be worth discussing this with him.

yes philips 960 is a cd94 in disguise. I had one here before i picked up my wadia.

love how the cdm1 works....

i will be running battery powered and regulated power supply for my cd94 another modd to take it futher.i just love my 12v car batteries

i will be running battery powered and regulated power supply for my cd94 another modd to take it futher.i just love my 12v car batteries

I wouldnt mind trying your "less is more" clock upgrade too.   

Great stuff getting that CD960!   The marantz CD94 with clock upgrade, Non oversampling modifcation (removal of the 7220B chip) and I2S connection into a DAC (ie. tda1541a) is very very good.  Say good bye to using digital cables

[Jehuty]

For anyone interested to get one:
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160479642815&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

Cheers,
William

[ozmillsy]

Good pick up this one.   I had to roll the dice and import mine from Germany.     Good to see it's in stock form,  so we can have fun applying our own mod's !!   

[gamve]

Good pick up this one.   I had to roll the dice and import mine from Germany.     Good to see it's in stock form,  so we can have fun applying our own mod's !!   

Missed the last one Mario pointed out. Got this one, cheers for the heads up

[Jehuty]

Good pick up this one.   I had to roll the dice and import mine from Germany.     Good to see it's in stock form,  so we can have fun applying our own mod's !!   

Missed the last one Mario pointed out. Got this one, cheers for the heads up

Great pick up! Almost bought them to use as spare parts for my CD94, but that can always wait 

With a bit of mods and I2S connections it would be even better, that's what happened to my CD94 

[ozmillsy]

Missed the last one Mario pointed out. Got this one, cheers for the heads up

Congrats !!   Good to see someon on the forum get it, they're not that common.

[gamve]

It will be interesting to see how it sounds on it's own against my modified Pioneer PD77.
The pioneer is a freak sounding player. I had it running to an Altmann BYOB DAC and the
internal DAC sounded just as good. I intend to use the phillips as a transport and eventually
go the killerdac route

[crazikid]

very good gamve.. keep us posted on the battle b/w the pioneer and cd960. The KillerDAC excels when feed by a quality transport.

[ozmillsy]

The 960 upgrades have begun !!   

It started last night, over at Stevens,  by swapping over some capacitors on the digital output board - we put in some oscons .......

[ozmillsy]

And tonight,  the famous power supply mod,  bypassing the fuse and other stuff, replacing the 2 pin plug with a 3 pin furutech (chinese clone).   The power button wont work after this mod,  I'll control switching the player off/on at the power source.

If you've never taken a drill and hacksaw to a great condition vintage player before, then you havent lived.  

Here are the pics, taken in the dark and didnt focus that well......

Cleared the way, and put some protective bits of wood in before drilling.


After drilling, hacking and alot of filing,  this is my new hole in the case for the plug.


Re-assemble what I can, and the internal view of the new plug.


Rear view with the plug inserted.


I havent soldered up the cables to the plug yet,  ran out of time tonight before the footy started.   Hope to get to that on the weekend.

[ozmillsy]

BTW, while doing the oscons last night,  we took a good look at the TDA.    This player is soooooo old, that it pre-dates the TDA1541A chips.    It has an original TDA1541  (non A) chip,  with a "300" something batch number.  

Pity to butcher a mint condition really early model,   but,   it's all about doing what we can to improve the sound.  

[kajak12]

your crazy oz but so am i

[crazikid]

love the work!!!

you gotta make it or break it!

[tuyen]

that's awesome work!   loving the photos

damn you guys over there having some fun

keep us posted

[3bm]

Excellent post. I've got a 960 sitting here which is going to be filling spare parts duty. It will certainly be interesting to see what the steps are to modding one of these things up though!

keep up the good work

[ozmillsy]

960 has been soldered up (yesterday), and is running again.  I havent killed it [touch wood].    

It's feeding the KECES dac and sounding pretty good.

This morning I made another mod to the 960.    Isolation feet (sorbothane domes),  I bought a couple of sets of these domes,  1 set suitable for lighter components, and the other for heavier gear (like my subs).

Let me tell you,  this sorbothane stuff makes quite a difference to the 960 on first impressions......

[flemo]

Hi Oz,

Good stuff mate, do you have anymore details or a link re the Isolation feet (sorbothane domes)?

Cheers, Pete.

[ozmillsy]

Bought them from this uk ebayer.....

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260641704657&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT#ht_1436wt_865

[mcb]

Oz,

out of interest, what do they charge for freight.