The Marantz CD6003 costing £300 it is pitched
in the fierce budget sector of the market where pennies rather than pounds
count. Marantz have done an excellent job and made every penny count! The
CD6003 has a healthy list of ingredients including; an audio grade linear power
supply, HDAM-SA2 circuitry, CS4398 DAC, and 6 regulated power supplies. This
together with is top flight finish and build is exemplary at this price point. The
players sound is also second to none, staying firmly ahead as a leader in the
entry level market
Described as having immense musicality,
superb dynamics and detail; the CD6003 gets the fundamentals right, and as such
is an excellent player for modifications. Considering Marantz’s previous entry
level players, the CD6003 would surely have been set for a ‘KI’ upgrade if
Marantz had not dropped the KI badge for their lower priced players.
As per the fate of previous Marantz players
the 6003 was destined for Audiocom upgrades. The formula to boost the players
performance includes upgrades to power supplies, regulation, removing jitter,
reducing system microphony, and improving the analogue stage. The modifications
adopt our usual ‘level’ approach with two options to cater for budget and
desired performance.
The general approach with Marantz players is
to invest as much as possible in to the analogue power supplies and audio
stages. This makes perfect sense since it is these areas that stamp there seal
of quality on the sound. With production budget used as wisely as possible
there are still several areas which don’t get a look-in, digital power
supplies, regulation, are all general purpose parts, and the all important master
clock is lacking in the ‘low jitter’ department. Our upgrades for the CD6003
start with the analogue and digital power supplies, we replace the silicon
diodes with IR HexFRED type; these are the best diodes for low noise and
excellent sound quality. The general purpose Elna capacitors are upgraded to
Panasonic FC, a very low ESR capacitor with superior tonal qualities. The
voltage regulator bypass capacitors for all digital & analogue circuits are
upgraded to Rubycon ZA/ZL type, the ZA/ZL series have an ideal impedance curve
for this application and ensure lowest noise across a wide frequency range. Next
up, the master clock is upgraded to Superclock 4, an ultra-low jitter clock with
stellar sonic performance that gives a major boost to all aspects of sound
quality. Turning our attention to the audio board, we improve decoupling to the
CS4398 DAC and replace bulk electroytics with low impedance / ESR types to keep
noise at bay. The finishing touches are made with a sheet of Sontech SFRT-AL,
this product is designed specifically for reducing noise for audio products. Sontech
SFRT-AL converts vibration energy into heat. By dampening the propagating waves
through the transport structure disc read accuracy is improved placing less
work on the servo control of the CD player.
To be updated...
Marantz CD6003
Level-1 Upgrade
4x IR
HexFRED diode for analogue power supply.
4x IR HexFRED diode for digital power supply
2x Panasonic FC capacitors for digital power supply.
3x Rubycon ZA/ZL regulation bypass capacitors.
Superclock 4 master clock
3x Rubycon ZA DAC decoupling capacitors.
2x Sanyo OS-CON DAC decoupling capacitors.
Sontech SFRT-AL resonance control.
Marantz CD6003 Level-2 Upgrade
4x IR HexFRED diode for analogue power supply
4x IR HexFRED diode for digital power supply
7x Rubycon ZA/ZL capacitors for DSP decoupling.
2x Panasonic FC capacitors for digital power supply.
3x Rubycon ZA/ZL regulation bypass capacitors.
Superclock 4 master clock
1x Super-regulator 3 for DAC +5V supply.
1x Super-regulator 3 for DAC +3.3V supply.
3x Rubycon ZA DAC decoupling capacitors.
2x Sanyo OS-CON DAC decoupling capacitors.
Sontech SFRT-AL resonance control.
