A black hole went into my Marantz SA-10!


I always use a Herbies black hole II CD disc damper. It somehow got lost inside the transport. The tray is shallow as is, so it didn't take much for it to get knocked, and in it went! So I freaked out. I looked inside behind the tray with a bright LED flashlight. I didn't see it. Everything works. Tray goes in and out without any snagging. No skipping. I'm not not very mechanical and have no idea which screws to loosen and don't want to mess with it. It happened about 30 hours of listening ago. I use the Herbies black hole CD disc damper for 6 years. When I had my Sony 5400 ES it did make a difference and was repeatable. My GF agreed. I never did the AB comparison on the Marantz. Maybe the transport on it is not tweakable since they built it themselves. I know Steve Nugent here is a big believer in some kind of damping. Anyway its playing.
128x128blueranger
Nonoise. How many 6x6 pieces of damping material did you put in your Marantz SA-15s2b??? Info says 60 percent coverage.
Optimally the transport mechanism itself should be damped as well as the tray. In addition, the transformer, if there is one, should be isolated from the rest of the electronics. And the entire CD player should be isolated from very low frequency vibration. I am a big fan of Marigo VTS dots for CD tray and chassis, etc., small but effective. Cork works well in many cases. I’m not a big fan of that blue EAR stuff in any form. As Acoustic Revive cautions, refrain from over-dumping.
I concur with GK. For its price point, I cannot imagine that the SA-10 would require additional damping.
@blueranger , it wasn't I who use the damping material. I believe it was @tom6897 . Maybe he can chime in after reading this.

All the best,
Nonoise