Hi Anthuan, Yes in effect. The two motors and two lasers are prone to dying at this age. I spent quite a bit of time discussing this with Richard Kern, and that is becoming a larger part of his business with these units. He is actually now running ads for replacing motors. I suggested I try only replacing the motors, but he said at five years the lasers are just as prone to problems. these are the only parts that wear at this rate. Theoretical the capacitors at ten years will begin to lose there capacity, where the Blackgate should last 50 years. In my mind, extending my player five more years was logical. I have not seen great breakthroughs in cd playback since the introduction of your player. I suggest the manufacturers are still waiting out the format war. Given the last two year's amount of high end SACD machines being introduced, and the lack of very high end DVD-A machines, I think they have decided. The next five years (IMO) we'll see some major improvements in digital playback. When your ready to sell your Sony, you should have a nice selection of players to choose from.
Superclock from all I've read is the most improvement for the money. I have no way to verify this in that my original (five years ago) mod's included Blackgate capacitors and Vishey resistors on both the audio and power boards. I also has the op-amps and power regulators replaced. This last month I had the additional mods made, so my reference is clouded within all the other mods.
I have read quite a bit from people who have done one mod at a time on their SCD-1/777ES. My conclusions are what I suggested. I would certainly verify my findings with Richard, www.audiomod.com
There have been a lot of people who responded to this thread who clearly have no knowledge of these players. I suggest the stock unit still betters 80% of the players available today, and I'm discussing redbook playback here. The superclock and op-amps will bring you within the top 10%. The remaining modifications (about $3500 total) will each improve the performance, but I do not here you asking for the EMM Meitner performance level. With these mod's you can sit back, enjoy the music knowing you are bettering most players (many much more expensive) and continue building your SACD library.
Despite the often written obituary for SACD, it is stronger than ever, and they are finally getting around to re-mastering to DSD some of the music we have been asking for.
Good luck and feel free to email me if you need specifics.
jd
