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Best Buy or Good Value in a Transport CD

I've been using a Cal Delta / Cal Alpha transport DAC for a number of years and have been very happy. Well, the Delta transport needs repair and I'm was wondering if I should consider anything other thant having my Delta repaired or purchasing another Delta. There are many used Delta's here on Audiogon for sale. My budget is $500. I don't want to invest in too much since I hope that this will be a short term fix with the newer generation upsampling CD players and SACD. Bottom line is, for around $500 used, is there anything better out there?
islandflyfisher
danner
202 posts
 
I replaced the laser transport mech in my Delta and had it modified by Dan Wright at ModWright. Total cost including shipping was about 500. Couldn't be happier.
islandflyfisher OP
94 posts
 
Dekay,

Thanks for your feedback. It appears to me that the motor that spins the CD is starting to go. It has a hard time engaging and once it gets going, I dies in the middle of playing. It may play for as long as an entire CD but as little as 30 secs. In most cases it stops after 10 to 15 minutes. I've always used a green plastic disk that I would place on top of the CD to sweeten the sound and it seems that by continuing to do so makes the transport shut down sooner. I've used this green disk for years and never had a problem. I think that by adding the extra weight taxes the motor more resulting in shutdown. By eliminating the disk, I seem to get a few more minutes of play.
phild
603 posts
 
I *think* the guy at Great Northern Sound was once a tech or desinger for CAL. He does mods, and he could probably fix your transport. I would bet that a mod from him would sound better than a stck unit in that price range, but I have no idea what he'd charge. I use a Ric Schultz (from EVS) modded Sony CDP as a transport and it blew away anything I ever owned (CDPs from Denon, Rega, Revox, Studer, and a Pioneer DV-05). It was originally a $300-ish Sony player, so the mods made a huge difference.
owens
4 posts
 
I had a Cal Delta which quit reading the CD. It had been a Great Northern Sound mod which GREATLY improved it. I picked up a Ah Njoe Toeb for my transport and it works well, but not quite the Cal Delta-Mod. If you find anyone who works on them I would appreciate knwing. Peace, jim owens owens@lynchburg.edu
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