Congrats on your new Marantz, Beave! Nothing crazy about ordering a single crown 1541 in my book. Can't wait for the official review, I've never heard a Marantz like that one. If you don't like it I can make monthly payments on it for 24 months.
Philips had a player reviewed back in the day and it’s test bench figures were really bad in the “linear” test, it was off like 3db or something like that which embarrassed the Schiit out of Philips. So the pres commanded them to immediately start individually test each 1541 chip coming off the line and top 4 were marked, the good 1541’s had a capital “A” after 1541, then the next step up was the “S1” 1541, then and here’s where it gets a bit murky, a 1541A “R1”, then the Holy Schiit Grail....1541A with a Single “crown” emblem stenciled on the chip, then their best, the same but with 2 crowns stenciled on the chip. And don’t think those designations didn’t mean anything, I’m listening to a deck right now with an “R1” 1541A chip and it just KILLS! I’m listening to Govt. Mule “ScoMule” right now on this deck and I’ve seen the Mule live, and as good as they sound live this is like their in my living room, and this is a chip that’s theoretically two steps away from their top!!! I cannot convey how damn good this chip sounds right now. Unreal. No Digititus whatsoever! Like listening to a studio master reel to reel and if you think I’m kidding, I’m in auburn Washington, come on over with some good beer and you can hear it for yourself! It’s THAT GOOD! Beave
I purchased a used working CDB482 Magnavox player, which should arrive in about a week. Hoping it will sound as good as my Modi Multibit, which sounds great. They're in different rooms though.
Good morning All! Anyone out there with a deck that has an R1 1541 chip? I’d like to get your thoughts on it. Beave
Have always presumed the difference in sound i was hearing from my players with TDA1541/1543's was simply down variations in the oversampling /Output amps/other components.Never occurred to me that it could be down to differences in the actual chips themsleves.
Well I’ve been Maggying out for months now refurbishing them so I’ve seen the insides and had them in my stereo system of over 15 different models, and sometimes the components are similar sometimes not, but in my experience the dac pedigree is THE factor in the sound quality I hear. But what I’ve also learned, and this is just about the Philips dac’s, is that there IS variation within the chip grades, sometimes good, sometimes incredible, like this deck with the 1541A R1 in it, and this is in a modest deck, it just SMOKES! And the other components are like typical Magnavox, excellent but not over the top like say a Philips 880 would have. So yes, the components make up a huge part of the overall sound, but in my experience the dac chips most definitely have their own sound and it come out loud and clear. And the kicker is this R1 deck sounds like my S1 deck, which is crown level fidelity. THAT surprised the heck out of me........ And I know folks will say I’m f.o.s., but remember this is just MY experience, ymmv as always. Beave
Back in the day, Philips Magnavox made the best sounding CD players. I had a cheap plastic Magnavox CD player that cost less than $100 and it sounded better than any other CD I've owned. If I'm not mistaken, Sony and Philips Magnavox are the developers of the CD. Their circuitry is superior to the other brands at that time.
I would also like to add this...I bought some new Klipsch speakers so I put my older Athena speakers in my bedroom. I hooked them up to an Onkyo integrated amplifier from the 1970's. I played CD's with my tiny, light weight Samsung Bluray player. I wasn't satisfied with the sound so I used my older Magnavox bluray (larger, heavier and more solid) to play my CD's. The sound (soundstage, dynamic range, naturalness, SN ratio, etc.) was far superior than the Samsung.
And that’s exactly what I’m finding out now, while the cd format is dying! I’m totally amazed at these30 year old machines I’m refurbishing and how they just blow away what’s on the market now. My mistake, back in the day when I couldn’t afford anything better, was buying budget Sony and Technics players that don’t hold a candle to the Philips decks with that 1541 chips. But again, at Pacific stereo, I never saw a Philips or Magnavox deck, never, it was only Japanese brands. But now it’s a different story and the FACT that these 30 YEAR OLD DECKS actually work!, let alone sound amazing compared to the delta sigma based players we currently have is astounding. Just think of that, people are paying up to Thousands of dollars for a CD player and these Maggy’s, for literally nothing, blow them away for sheer musicality, again, in my opinion, and just mine. Beave
Damn what a great post! I’m not nearly up to the amount of decks you’ve gone through, but close, and you ARE SPOT ON! sorry for yelling but it’s true. I just got through refurbishing a Maggy 650 tonight with a standard 1541 chip, and it sounds great! Not ONE HINT of anything digital. And I just played a brick walled cd on this thing and believe it or not, there was no digital distortion whatsoever. Really amazing if you ask me. And I’m actually refurbishing these things so I’m getting really intimate with their character. And believe me, they have character. Beave
received my CDB 482, sounds great, even better than my modi multibit (subjectively, as they're on different systems). One issue the unit (I got off ebay) has is the transport makes a clicky sound if the tray is closed without a CD. It came with a CD, and now I always close it with a CD (spare one, don't care if it gets wear on it), to avoid the click noise. I'm guessing the transport is on it's way out, but if I get a few hundred plays out of it, it will be worth the $80 and maybe worth trying to fix, if it eventually does go out.
I think its normal for Philips transports of that age to make a clicking sound with no CD in the tray.I doubt your transport is on the way out. I just turn my player off until i want to play a CD.Its never really been a issue for me.
Just wanted to follow up -- the CDP-605ESD player I bought is absolutely immaculate! There's not a speck of dust or signs of heavy use. Everything about it looks like it just came out of a retail box. The player is HUGE and HEAVY, I love it, and the sound is just as spectacular as I hoped. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this place and the quality of the units they sell -- the owner emailed me to confirm the sale, was responsive to questions, got it out to me quick even though they're only open a couple of days a week currently (UPS held it for like 4 days before delivering, but that's an issue with UPS locally at the moment). They'll work with you if anything goes wrong, but these are clearly units that either they owned privately or have spent a good deal of effort to refurbish. I haven't bought any "used player" in this kind of pristine condition before, so if you see something you like, go for it! CD * DVD * BluRay
Hello amp guy! The clicking sound is normal so don’t sweat it. A lot of the Maggy’s, even the 650 have a cheap plastic stabilizer disc that sits on top of the cd when it’s loaded. Without a disc it’s looser sitting on the cd spindle and therefore makes some noise while the spindle spins up anD the laser looks for a disc to read. In the Maggy’s I’ve worked on most of theses discs don’t even have any silicon lubricant, only the 650 I just worked on has any grease. So even though it might seem cheap on Philips to do it this way history shows very few failures, and your unit uses the cdm4 transport, a very common and reliable transport that you could easily find in so many $4.99 goodwill units, and easy to pop the whole thing into your machine and you’d be good to go, in extreme cases you’d have to replace a worn loading belt that would cost you a whopping $10. So don’t fret and enjoy that deck. Welcome to Maggy world, you’ll never look back. Beave
Thanks so much for this good info. I am thoroughly enjoying the sound, and on the lookout for another!
Isn’t it absolutely funny that a “plastic” Maggy 30 year old deck, with outdated Ladder bit technology slays something like my Audiolab 8300?!!! And the fact that these “cheap plastic” players mostly still play flawlessly 30 years after they were made, while thousand dollars Marantz players puke regularly. I know, I’ve had many of them. So don’t tell me I’m making things up. Now I’m working on a 650 that obviously needs some cap replacement done. Not looking to mod it at all, just need help on the basics. I’ve looked all over the web and there is too much info on modding it but not a lot of info on just replacement of the caps. Now happy Friday....... Beave
Well hello ya’all! Finally got my new 30 year old baby, Philips CD80: Marantz CD-80 High End CD Player TDA 1541A S1 Single Crown | eBay It took 6 weeks to get her from the Ukraine but I can say it was worth every stress filled day. Without a doubt, this deck is the most musical/analog sounding CD player I’ve had. Elna caps all over the place, cdm1 transport, reads a cd toc in less than 1/2 a second! Playing Taylor Swift “Reputation” cd right now and the heft of the bottom could lift my house off its foundation. And this is a brick walled cd and there is NO DISTORTION, in fact it sounds f’ing amazing. Two thing I’ve learned today with opening this deck up to inspect the innards and then playing it. First is Philips really went ALL OUT in putting The most Premium components into this deck. Thing like a HUGE transformer, and I near huge, like 4” square huge. Elna caps all over the place, and not one is leaking! Second is I know it’s 30 years old but the tweakers on the net that say you HAVE to change all the caps are just plain wrong in my experience. This deck acts and plays like it’s brand new, if any caps were bad this would not be the case! Or the sound would be compromised, and it’s not. So they built this thing to last a long time and not to start breaking down in a few years. So with shipping and taxes I paid $775 for it, plus $40 for a step up transformer, is it worth it? Having it playing right now and seeing the construction and innards of it I’d easily pay $1500 for the same deck, it’s that good and it sounds analog with tons of layering. Not heard on the delta sigma dac decks I’ve had, not even close. Oh, and it weighs 33 POUNDS............... SO I FINALLY GOT MY S1Crown deck. Would I take this over say a Denafrips Terminator? Don’t h ave $5000 to do a comparison but seeing as the Philip chips were Military grade chips, I would have to say that the best the Terminator could do is come close to this Crown dac. So, in that light, along with the cam transport that will probably outlive me, I got an out right bargain. And the thing is Gorgeous! Stay safe and enjoy your gear and your music. Beave
Thank You Dragon! I was really wondering why I spent so much money on a 30 year old deck, now I know. Beave
I have been following this thread since the beginning but I just don't see myself making an effort and hunt down a nice TDA1541a based CD player when I already have an ultra analog tube based CD player. Or should I? Anyone here can compare the two in general terms?
Yes! Ssmith can. He’s had all sorts of dac’s and headphone amps, including tube units in the past year, he’s really an animal in the sense that he’s not afraid of trying out different gear. I’ll let him take it from here if He wants to but when we became friends and he got a Maggy 460 with the famed TDA1541 chip, it literally changed his whole outlook on digital audio. I cannot speak to the tube thing as I have not gone down that road, but my journey through dac land is very visible here, and what I can Honestly say is what I stated a few posts above, that the Philips 16 and 14 bit ladder dac’s Blow Away every delta sigma 1 bit dac’s that I have ever heard. But I’ll let Scott give you his opinion on this, along with his experience with different Dac/tube gear..... Over to you Scott! Beave
