A Look Back In Time . . .
Within this section of the website, I will be posting some interesting little memories from the early days and or where perhaps realise at what point in time some of the ideas, interests or experimentation may have begun.
While digging around in some boxes today (3rd October 2021), I have had a tin which was wrapped with wire sitting under the work bench...
The penny just dropped and realise what I was upto back in 1991 as a 16 year old kid (yep giving the age away ;-) )
As memory comes back, back in 1990, I was presented a circuit on a Tesla coil by a serviceman by the name of Tom Parker, whom at the time was working for Pioneer. I used to drop through asking for the old laser pickups from CD player.
One day when I visited, Tom had spoken about the desire to build a Tesla Coil, and I remember clearly where he took the time to draw out the circuit and tell me how it worked.
In September of 1991, I purchased the September issue of Radio Electronics magazine as it featured an article on building a Solid State Tesla coil written by Duane Bylund.
I am now 100% certain that after reading about this, I wanted to start winding a coil.
I recall having dismantled an old transformer to get at the bobbin of wire, well lo and behold, my very first winding project.
Back then, there was no JavaTC software to model a coil, I had very little knowledge on the parameters and even more so the use of the form materials, wire sizes, and winding parameters (such as number of turns, winding heights, aspect ratios and frequency). Interestingly, the cardboard formula tin has foil lining, metal end and rims, all which would prevent operation of a coil.
Some 30 years later, I finally built a working Tesla Coil... Read about the journey of my 30mm Tesla Coil Project.
Some 34 years have passed since the journey began in my studies of lasers and optics. My theoretical studies began in early 1990, however my very first experience with a physical laser was when my uncle had given me his old CD player which at the time had problems with skipping and other niggles, The unit was a Marantz CD44.
I remember the fact I was in awe of the Laser Pickup at the time, but the value of that pickup would not come to realise until I began to rewrite my website back in 2020, (30 years later), I come to find out that the Philips CDM-1 Laser Pickup is perhaps one of the best pickups ever made, today can fetch over $700 just for the pickup alone, and players that had the CDM-1 also now are commanding decent values.
At the time, unfortunately I did not have any of my own photos to be able to complete a photo essay, as such, I only briefly cover the topic as text.
4 years having now passed, my interests again peaked on trying to track down a Marantz CD44, when in Late September 2024 I came across two working units, naturally I invested in both.
The Marantz CD44 was released in Australia in late 1984, at the time, marketed as a low-cost CD Player. I believe the CD44(A) was specifically designed for the Australian Market. All the units made In Belgium.
Internally the Marantz CD44 is a Philips CD104, with a different front Bezel and buttons and the Marantz Branding. (At the time, Marantz was owned by Philips). There was also a number of variants (and branding) where the Philips CD104 internals appeared.
The CD104/CD44 features x2 TDA1540 Digital-to-Analogue Converters (DACs) which are 14-Bit DACs and use 4-times oversampling and digital filtering to emulate that of a 16-Bit DAC. However, it seems this older technology is now sought-after by audiophiles.
These units in particular are very solidly built, virtually all is metal (aside from the front Bezel and buttons), very heavy, weighing in at 7kg and measuring 320mm (W) x 310mm (D) x 199 (H).
In recent years, vintage CD players using the CDM-1 Laser and 14-Bit DACs in particular are being collected and modifications made to return the player to pure 14-Bit by removing the oversampling circuit (SAA7030) known as a 'NOS' modification and in some cases further modifications to improve digital signal timing (jitter) and upgrade the Operational Amplifiers in the final (Analogue) stage.
The main reasons for these modifications, can be likened to the return to valve amplifiers, Vinyl (LPs), and film in photography, analogue medium presents a warmth and charm that is lost in modern digital mediums.
It is said that in particular CD players with the CMD-1 and 14-Bit DACs with the NOS modification, improves on the audio to match even the most expensive payers.
I will not cover the modifications, as there is a great deal of information and resources that cover the modifications to a Philips CD104 and similar units on the web and various forums.
Philips CDM-1 Laser Pick-up (Front)
Philips CDM-1 Laser Pick-up (Back)
TDA1540D Ceramic DACs
- Flavio Spedalieri -
Written: 4th October 2021
Updated: 11th October 2024
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