Cambridge Audio D500SE CD player

Trelja: Its mike again, I would of course be interested in how this inner tube works. That is if you try it, don't know what my wife would say about that one, she already thinks I'm nuts.

Trelja, I thought I'd chime in my two cents worth. I'm not sure to what degree my experience with my Cambridge cd4se is relevant to your d500se, but it might be. The sound improved noticeably on my player when I installed it on top of a sand box isolation platform and then put a one gallon baggie with three lbs. of sand on the top (transport side.) Also, a REALLY big improvement was manifest after reversing the plug polarity. After checking the chassis voltage with a multimeter I found it lower with the plug polarity reversed. Bass definition and clarity were especially improved. Keep us posted, Will.

Photon46's damping with sand on top of the CDP is also a good idea if you try the innertube support; you've isolated the unit from vibrations coming from its support, the bag on top mass damps the chasis vibrations. I'd hate to see what this all would look like if you did them all at once! Looking forward to hearing your results.

Just was no comparison against the BDR cones and sand bags - much more focus with none of the harshness the other tweaks brought out on my Alpha 8SE.

Thanks to everyone for all the suggestions. Lots to think about, and try. I can relate to the feelings of those around us thinking we are nuts. One thing I noticed last night was a really high noise floor with the player in place. Almost a hum, but not as loud as that. It basically happens when the interconnects are plugged in to both my amp and the CD player. Originally started playing with RFI blockers, as I blamed the Home Grown Audio cables(moving them around heightens or deadens the volume). But, I soon realized that any interconnect gave me the same result(and I do have a fair number of cables to try). After almost pulling my hair out trying to find the cause, it turned out to be the power cord(I looked at every cord - speaker, IC, PC in my system...) I was using on the player. It is not shielded. Didn't have this problem with my old player, with its captive power cord. When I tried a Coincident power cord, the noise floor dropped a great deal. I guess it has a fair amount of shielding, although I am not certain of its construction(don't really want to be cutting open expensive power cords...). My father will give me a braided shield to slip over the silver power cord. In theory(famous last words), that should help. I also want him to install a 4 outlet receptacle box(he is an electrician/technician/electrical engineer - worked his way up the ranks with increasing experience and education), to which he refused. Instead, he went and got one of those cheap, horrific things that let you turn a 2 outlet receptacle(plugs into the outlet) into a 6 outlet job. Uuggghhhh! Said he didn't want to go in the wall. Funny about those not really involved in our hobby - they refuse to pander to a lot of this stuff. Would be even funnier if I attempted it myself.