TRL Marantz Sa-14



After speaking to Paul at TRL I am very curious to hear from those who own this unit what improvements do you hear with the player before and after the mod.

The SA-14 sounds weak in the bass and has no dynamics in comparison to some players like the Sony Scd-1 in stock form. Has anyone compared the TRL Sa-14 to the Sony Scd-1?
la45
Jes45(Jack),

Who did you order your SA-11 from? I ordered mine through American Theater Systems. They're supposed to get the new shipment in tomorrow or Monday. I should have it by early to mid next week. Can't wait. I'm going to let mine break in at least 500 hours before I even think about modding it. Who knows? I may like it so much I'll never consider modding it.
Jes45

Regarding the Sa-14TRL what would you say is the central difference over your Sony TRL?
Dracule1: I'm included in an order of 25 players that TRL ordered from Marantz USA about 3 weeks ago. I could get one from another source, but at added expense. This said, i can wait ... I think. Regardless of where I purchase, it will definitely go to TRL for modifications. I've heard the stock versus TRL modified SA-14 ...

La45: The TRL SA-14 just does everything better; Better dynamics (micro and macro), higher resolution, tighter focus, blacker dark area around each instrument, deeper lower bass extension, and deeper and wider soundstage. Don't get me wron, the TRL/Sony 2000 is an incredible player, one that I could be happy with for years. Everything that the TRL 2000 does well, the TRL SA-14 does better. If I hadn't heard the difference, (if I did not hear it for myself), it's likely that I would not be buying a Marantz player. (The TRL 2000 is no disappointment)

But, don't take it from me, ask Oldpet. He has had the pleasure of having a TRL SA-14 in his system for several hundred hours. My friend who is nearby, with the TRL SA-14, brought the player over to try it out in my system for a few hours. We found that the SA-14 likes the Stillpoints/HRS Nimbus combination with the balls upward to the SA-14 bottom cover, at least in my system. We used the single ended outputs with FIM Gold interconnects and FIM Gold power cord. The TRL SA-14 integrated very well into my system. I can only imagine after the cables had sufficient time to relax ...

Soon Jsala and Lkdog will have theirs. I'm sure that they'll be helpful.

Best wishes,
Jack


Jack thanks for the information. I better stay away from hearing the Sa-14 for I am afraid to fall into the pit. Just finished playing "Jacobs tracks" on Proprius label and I am in heaven.

I decided to tweek the isolation on the Sony by adding small amounts of Blue Tack under the tray just to break up any resonances. I also made an isolation base composed of three different layers a polymer material/plexiglass with a special damper in between. Nice improvement in smoothing out the vocals and increasing subtle dynamics that were not there before.

I can start selling my LPs now. I agree this is a very easy player to live with and may I add a downright STEAL for the price of admission.

Guys enjoy your TRL SA-14. Maybe next year I will look for one used.
Would anyone be willing to post internal pictures of the TRL mod SA-11? I think we would all be interested in seeing the inside. Thanks.