Well, you’ll never guess what I’ve just upgraded… Recently I stumbled on Lukasz Fikus’s Lampizator site, where he has an example of modding the Pioneer PD-S703. I have an old Pioneer PD-S801 machine which I replaced a few years ago with a Shanling CD-T80 – a breathtakingly good player for the price. The Pioneer has been doing service in the dining room for background noise. I was intrigued by his enthusiasm for relatively low-end players with his lampizator mods – he’s very critical of the prices of expensive players. I was intrigued, but the amount of work required by him is a bit daunting. I used to build tuners and amplifiers when I was a kid – at school I even built the electronics for a radio telescope (though it never worked ?) but I didn’t really want to take on something that intricate.
Then I found your web site and your solution looked just perfect. I’ve just put two dual opamps into the Pioneer, thrown open the window and let in the fresh air. Acoustic instruments especially are now so much more intimate it’s almost embarrassing! Harpsichords, flutes and acoustic guitars are exceptionally airy. Heavier stuff – King Crimson for example – is less stodgy and has more attack but hasn’t lost any of its weight.