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Vintage Asylum Classic gear from yesteryear; vintage audio standing the test of time. |
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In Reply to: Vintage Magnavox CD Player posted by AudioSoul on May 9, 2010 at 10:20:33:
These are general comments, so I may be wrong on some counts. But, older Magnavox players were made by Philips in Belgium. For a number of years, the famous TDA1541 (later, the slightly better TDA1541A) was the DAC chip of choice. Many of us still feel this could be the best DAC ever made. The earliest units used the 1540 (in pairs as it was a mono chip). They sound pretty good, but not on par with the 1541. A few of the cheaper units used the 1543. While it may not be quite as resolving, that chip also has some advantages (less analog circuitry required). You can still find NOS 1541's in a couple of very high end units (AMR comes to mind) and a few DIY products. The 1543 also appears in some more interesting niche market DACs (from Chinese firms to Peter Daniels Audio Sector products).
All of these chips are very popular run non-oversampling. Searching "NOS DAC" or "NOS 1541" should give you plenty of info. It is very easy to convert the players from their stock oversampling to NOS, and in my opinion, well worth it. The mod is also reversible. You can easily spend a few hundred bucks on a NOS 1541 DAC, or you can buy an old Magnavox (or Philips or Marantz) player for $20-40 bucks), convert it and have all that fanciness for a very low price. When I mess with these players I also tend to disconnect the circuits that aren't useful to me (the disc memory functions, headphone amps, etc) and remove the muting transistors (yucky things to have in the signal path).
Though not specific to the old Magnavox units, old transports are also nice as they are mechanically much quieter than new DVD transports. The Philips units (here mostly CDM2 AND CDM4) are great. Sony probably had the best, though. The downsides are that the plastic tray gears wear out and they aren't as happy with CDRs.
I posted a link with a list of Magnavox model numbers and DAC's, so you can get some idea. You can also find Magnavoxs that use Philips player model numbers, so check that area of the list too. I have recently owned a FD2040 and CDB472. I'm now listening to a Magnavox CDB650. The 2040 is the only player I've owned with 1540's. I was surprised to find that I the 650 sounds better than the 472. I expected the 472 (mine, despite what the list says, had a latter 'A' version of the chip) to have an edge as it is more minimalist, but perhaps the better parts quality of the 650 is shining through. I'm positive the 650 is the model number you were thinking of, btw.
When I picked up my first 1541 based unit (a Philips CDP 650) and modded it to NOS, I promptly sold my Philips SACD player. The SACD player was tonally better (more harmonically fleshed out) and a little more spacious. But, the 1541 DACs are much more musically right. I suspect that when I have the time to get the analog stage in this Magnavox 650 up to par, it will beat many newer players on all counts. Watch craigslist. These old players are everywhere!
Paul
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Follow Ups
- Many Model #'s, all Philips 1541 DAC's - Paul J. 08:27:48 05/12/10 (3)
- RE: Many Model #'s, all Philips 1541 DAC's - Crazy Dave 11:28:04 05/13/10 (2)
- Drawings - Paul J. 06:39:39 05/14/10 (1)
- RE: Drawings - Crazy Dave 14:37:07 05/14/10 (0)
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