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
La45-
Will give the antistatic sheet a try tonight.
I build computers on the side for fun and have a lot of these sheets laying around in back.
I am always open to tweaks and enhancements that might add an element to the sound.
The best recent ones I have found are the RRL Shine Ola CD cleaner stuff, the QuickSilver Contact enhancer, and plumber's teflon tape wrapped on the tubes of my Hagerman Cornet phono stage.

My system sits on a DIY heavy MDF shelving racks that are mounted on threaded rods, and I am on a basement floor so I have some good things going as far as vibration. Static in the winter is terrible in my house though. Probably better now that we are entering the humid season in the Midwest.

Mfslgoldcd-

I am sure the SA-1 is a wonderful player similar in some ways to the Sony SCD-1 as far as venerable former flagship models. I see they are going for 3-4K$ at this point.

The TRL SA14 investment is quite a bit less, however, and I guess that makes it quite attractive since it also seems to be giving people a reference player level listening experience.
I am quite impressed with this unit as it breaks in now at about 260 hours.
La45: Thanks Cousin for your insight. I'll try your tweak later this week and will get back to you over the weekend. I use anti-static spray on my cables from time to time, which seems to really help, so it makes sense that there may be some magic in your tweak. By the way, how did you come up with the idea? It's a good idea ...

Everyone: On a side note, I got my SA-14 V2 a few days ago and will run it at home for a few days to get a feel for it. I plan on sending it to the TRL crew within a week or two for their wonderful mod. More on that later. (Can't wait for the mod).

Lkdog: So, you have 260 hours on your SA-14. That means you are about half way there. My friend didn't keep close enough tabs on the hours, but I'm guessing that he has around 700 hours on his now. It sure is a nice analog sounding player. I can't wait.
Lkdog-

Just an update. Where you position the sheet makes a difference. Under the TRL 2000es is the best location and I also attached a fine silver wire between the sheet and the player and ran it to a metal weight.

Sonic improvement: "Gypsy Soul" track called "Slash" the heavy guitar since it is recorded close miked has less reverb. As a matter of fact I will have to say due to the tweek this resonance all but elimintate from my speakers.

For those who do not have this disc try "Tiny Island" on Opus 3 label track 4 the first 50 seconds is a small instrument that some of you will recognize. Try the before and after test and you will hear what this tweek does.

Jes45-

Yep you are right Jack. Running a wire from the static enclosure to a ground will probably be more effective than what I made up. It removed feedback from the close miked guitar and removed a compressed bass anomaly from the "Gypsy Soul" disc-new flamenco. Everything sounds more vinyl and has an added character that just simply keeps you drawn to the music. The bass got firmer and gutsier and the top end smoothed out. In this Hobby this type of improvement would cost over $200.

The flamenco disc by the way has Jesse Cook, Al Di Meola, Paco de Lucia, Ottmar Liebert etc. In the wrong system the disc is bright and aggressive but when everything is jelling, its very very good. Nice test disc.

Lou
Lou: I tried to get in touch with my computer tech friend over the weekend, but he was probably out enjoying the sun somewhere. What you're describing sounds like something that should interest us all, even those outside the "TRL Family". I've seen various colors used for anti-static bags, maybe I'll try a few different colors and see if that does, and will try a "grounding strap" of sorts to the baggie, too, to see if there's anything there. Who knows?

Like I said before, this is something that benefits us all, and is an incredibly inexpensive tweak. Thanks Lou!
La45-

Tried a large bag/sheet that came with a mobo, but didn't notice a difference in my setup when placed underneath.
Will try again this evening with a different CD.
You never know about these things! Could have something to do with other variables in a specific setup/rack environment.
Thanks.