Teac mods

Recently a forumite was kind enough to take on a charity case and do some work on my Acoustic Solutions cdp.

Despite a Very modest budget my player arrived back transformed. Trouble is I've managed to save up and bought a TEAC T-1 transport.....

What I need to know now, is there anyone equally adept with TEAC mods?

I've read a little and understand that the T1 can respond well to particular tweaks but I need to find someone familiar with this beast.

Any thoughts?

Bunty

 

What will the teac be using as a dac .....also which model have you got ?

 

Hello there.

The dac is an old QED Digit, I didn't know there were different versions of the T1 !

Bunty

 

Ah.....no your right.

the digit can be modded too ...I'd be tempted to do that first but then I'm always a bit off the wall.

 

Doing lots of reading on the interweb about mods......

deep stuff

Bunty

 

Where to start.......?

After taking some advice from the forum my QED Digit DAC and seperate Positron power supply were sent off to zanash for a look see.

After a few days zanash came to sunny (!) Herts so that we could have a listen to the re worked boxes. While he was here we had a listen to two cd's...more of that later.

I have a confession to make here, due to unforseen circumstances we had to plug the DAC and ps into an AV amp (yuck!) feeding two tall slim aluminium AV speakers (double yuck).

Well there's no point beating about the bush. The differences were immediate and profound. Clear treble, a proper expressive mid range and decent bass. When you factor in the p£$$ poor amp and, frankly, p£44 pot speakers it just makes me more eager to get a decent stereo amp and proper speakers. A big thank you is in order as Pete has once again worked his magic.

I couldn't be happier with the results.

Haven't even touched the TEAC T-1 yet.....

Bunty

p.s. nearly forgot. Pete played a cd, can't remember the name, and we spent a while listening. He then dropped another cd in and I was a bit miffed as I instantly recognised that it was the same cd. I also instantly recognised that it sounded less veiled and muffled. The answer........one of them there lathed discs..........sorry folks, another person who can hear the difference. And on my system too!

 

The cowboy junkies Trinity sessions.....
As you can guess one lathed and one not,

The digit was a bit of a dark horse ...I tried one a few years back and quickly returned it to the dealer [though this was with standard wall wart].

I changed all the psu caps in the positron as the device was dated '92 this really helped lifting and opening up a rather pedestrian sound ....I could not get a fig of 8 plug so had to fit an iec socket to allow a better mains lead to be used.
I was unable to fit my normal sockets ..in that there was space but I could not get contact with any rca plug [ which suggests faulty sockets] so I leaving in the pcb mounted sockets and rewired all the internals with silver from opamp to output. The opamp was swapped for a socketed opa 2227. All the caps on the dac board were replaced with stargets [new black ones] bypassed with wima film caps. The big ones were swapped for pana fc and bypassed with 22uf silmics.

Sound as described at the start was pedestrian and rather nasal with a closed in image that skulked between the speakers ....new sound fast open bright colourful and big [on my system].

Bunty's home system is av ...not my fav ..so I took down a sheng da 703b headphone amp and a set of beyer 911 headphones....I thought the combo worked particularly well ...it certainly showed up every nuance in the music ...but with a very visceral in your head sound, which makes it sound bright but it wasn't overly.

ideas for mods to the teac transport.....now remember this must be done on a strict budget say no more than £50 ...so it no use suggesting a tricord 93 with never ever never conected psu etc

fit an iec socket
Swap rectifier diodes for schottky's
change smoothing caps
damp chassis and case etc
fit a good rca out socket
replace main board small caps and bypass

Any thoughts ?

 

Word of warning with the early teac's, they use single layer poor quality circuit boards, care MUST be taken when re-moving components, you WILL damage the board otherwise.

 

Cheers ....

not certain of the age looked reasonably robust but you can't tell till you start.

can't be worse than my behringer src2496 you only need to get the iron into the same room and the tracks lift.

here's a question WM.....

I picked up some 30cpq150pbf dual schottky in a to- 247 package have you used these ? and is there another matching component to make the other half of the bridge ?

 

Zanash, I stopped using Schottky's a couple of years ago, a 247 package, what application are you using the in?

 

yes I know .....I just wondered if you had come across these types of packages

none yet but I had thought I could use it as the basis of a psu ...seems silly to just use one side of the component four times [in full bridge]

 

I'm afraid its a try it out and see what you feel, I have made full bridges this way, yet prefer 4 signle diodes, you may find it works for you. Diodes can have an dramatic effect (either way) all the way down the power line, which *may* effect your choice of compnents further down the line.
It really is just have a play and see what/how you feel, some believe its *should* better. Me I'm not so sure.

 

Thought so ...but it was worth the asking...cheers

 

Just thought I would bounce this to the top with a question rather than create a new subject.

Does prolonged use/playing improve the sound?

Since zanash worked his magic I have been listening to more and more music and watching less and less tv. As soon as I get in from work on goes the cdp and sometimes it's on all evening. I'm convinced that the great sound he squeezed out of my dac has actually improved since he was here but........I've read enough here to know that my mind may be playing tricks on me.

Is it possible that constant use has improved the sound?

cheers

Bunty

p.s. Guess it's appropriate to thank Pete again !

 

its all those new components bedding in ......great news glad you like how the dac now sounds ....