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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
lkdog
417 posts
 
Jay-

Thanks for the input on power cords. Would you mind listing the brands?
How did they compare to the TRL power cord you have?
Am interested in what power cords people use and like with the TRL SA14.
I am using a Ven Haus Audio power cord made for digital.It is one of the older Flavor 2 cords.
clio09
3,360 posts
 
Jsala,

What brands of cable did you try? I'm using CRL Silver on my TRL modded transport, but am curious as to what others are experinecing with other brands.
la45 OP
242 posts
 

Hello again,

I wondered if anyone has any impression of the Marantz SA-11 before and after the TRL mod? After so much anticipation I was hoping there was some info. I love the looks of this player but will not sacrifice the Sony 2000es TRL if it does not respresent a quantum leap in performance.

Any suggestions are welcome. I am shying away from the SA-14 for now due to the age of the player.
lkdog
417 posts
 
La45-

There are some SA11's on order to be modded by TRL.
They would be able to give you a before/after analysis.
As for needing a "quantum" leap from the Sony 2000 ES to upgrade, that is probably hard to do for any machine as you know. I guess it depends on how you define quantum.
I think Jack had the TRL SONY 2000 ES. Maybe he could comment on the difference between that and the TRL SA14.
The TRL SA14 is certainly better than the TRL 595 I had, but the 595 has many of the same positive qualities.

I understand your concern about the SA14 as a unit that is no longer in production.
jsala
99 posts
 
Hi all,

Here are the power cords that I tried with the TRL SA14:

- Most tube-like sound: Bolder Cable Nitro
- Most SS-like sound: Cable Research Lab (CRL) Silver series
- Best of both worlds: Ven Haus AirSine

Please refer to my descriptions of the sound above. I was quite surprised by how different the power cords were. I was also surprised how the Nitro sounded when paired with the TRL SA14 since in the past with other components the Nitro had great extension and a balanced presentation. It just shows how different components interact differently with different power cords.

Jack, thanks for the input. I am tempted to send the SA14 back to TRL. My thinking was to give them a bit of time to see if they further refine/finalize the mod, since the shipping bills really add up. I'll reach out to Brian. I hope he has fully recovered.
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