GRUNDIG CD 9000

Built circa 1987. Lampized on dec 29th 2006 and revisited in april 2007. 5 units done so far.

DAC: TDA1541A, mechanism Philips CDM2, Oversampling: NOS

This is a very interesting player.
After I was totally amazed by the superb built and sound quality of the top Grundig CD 9009, when I found this poorer cousin - I had to try it so I bought it.
Straight from the box it looks georgous. It is slim, sleek, elegant, with sexy side cheeks made of veneered particleboards and very eleganly laid out face plate.
(CD-903 is almost the same, but CD-905 looks the same and it is a JVC inside. Beware !)

Inside there is a mixed bag - on one hand they use the best mix of elements but without any impressive gimmicks like copper chassis, three layer floor, double S dacs, etc.
The mechanism is a very good Philips CDM-2 with Grundig Fine Arts drawer taken from CDM-1mk2. Overall very good mechanism indeed. It opens and closes very very fast and reads every CD immediately. These CDM-2-s do break often, but then again - they are easy to find inside 20 Euro players like Philips CD150. Usually - it is enough to clean the lens, adjust focus - and it works again.


All parts are Philips and the DAC - most important part - is the Philips gem (my favourite) TDA1541A. Sometimes it is A, rarely not A, but never the S unfortunately). So far so good. There is little space for lampization but just enough.
The oversampling chip and filter ios the Philips SAA7220P/A or sometimes /B.  Both are worth bypassing in NOS mode.
For those using this player as transport - the pin 14 of this chip has SP/DIF readily available.

I opted for internal visible single ended lampization.
The easy aspect is that the PCB is already upside down - easy to solder. But removing it - to reach the electrolytic caps - requires a tricky job of removing the radiator that dissipates heat from voltage regulator chips.

Inside the Grundic CD9000

I was only a little worried by the internal execution of this player - it is a little messy, totally opposite of the elegant job of CD-9009 or not to mention the Copland 289 - the champion of build quality and execution.

Just look at these ribbons - not very Teutonic. Olufsen would have never done that !



Anyway, the great DAC is what matters so I took my soldering rig.

Lampizator meets Grundig

First I removed the original cheap op-amps for I/U conversion and I put in the BB OPA 2604 s
A year later of course I would have never used op-amp but the resistive conversion. Which I eventually did.

Next - I found a space for the Lampizator transformer - under the drawer sliding rails.



Next I drilled the 23 mm holes in the top cover and installed tube sockets with Lampizator's SRPP active schematics on the pins.




I wired everything and I took the signal from leg 1 of respective op-amps. Unfortunately this player is too simple to invest in Sowter transformers in order to get rid of this firts half of an op-amp entirely. But of course anyone inclined is more than welcome to add 130 GBP to the overall cost and take the sound quality to the next level.


The famous WHITE laser module under the drawer.




Drawer is very good - like in CDM1 MK2 machines.



This is servo controller for laser. Note two pots like in every Philips player (the blue rectangles with a hole in the middle)
These controll laser head focus height and beam power.
Better do not turn them because adjustment is tricky. I already mastered it.





The PCB is golden-colored, which means that on the component side - all surface is a ground plane. Very convenient for tweakers and modders. Same PCB as in Philips CD304MK2. And in Marantz CD40, CD60, CD50, etc. And in Philips 630. And Grundig 8100.

Lampizator visible

I tried three tube types: 6N6P, 6N1P, and then the magical 6N2P which is by far the best for this player, that's the one which stayed !

R k cathode is 200 Ohms, and I-anode is 1 mA.



I decided to stick tubes out and add plexi plate to make it sexier.






The resulting sound is very nice - it has all qualities of the TDA1541A-S1 chip without the finest refinement of the costly cousin.
It is very rhytmical and musical and I recommend it to everyone looking for a base for lampization in the 100 Euro range.




NOW one year later - knowing more - I did the better mod.

TDA1541A in passive R conversion I/U

I did the I/U conversion by means of 80 Ohm resistor from a DAC.
This cleans the sound quite a bit.
Then I changed the SMD capacitors that de-couple the DAC for larger but better 220nF (0,22uF) / 63 V MKT capacitors. That is 17 caps under the PCB. Another big step. A little leter I discovered that it is better toADD the new caps across the SMD not substitute. In paralell they are more effective. And larger too.


SMD replaced with orange MKT caps.  But this PCB photo is from Philips player, not Grundig.

NOS of the Grundig CD9000 with Lampizator