Marantz CD-94 MK-1
Gentelmen prefere blondes and generally they hunt the MK2 players from marantz, we try to find out why.


HERE IS THE mk2 STORY

For MK1 story - read on below.













The open kimono time: the guts of MK1 in full glory.






For comparison - almost IDENTICAL product from same year and same factory and same DAC schematics - Philips DAC960.





Both philips and marantz used single piece of non-"s" DAC. And unlike all other TDA1541A they use 220nF for decoupling (the green rows of caps) instead of 100nF.




ANOTHER COMPARISON - the Philips CD960 player IS THE SAME PLAYER, not similar - but the same.




I have done one M94-II and now I bought two more - one MK1 and one MK2.
They all share CDM1 MK1 mechanism.

Overall, CD94MK1 is in my opinion a better player. MK2 was made without any clear concept. It is messy. And dual config in this application makes no sense to me.

I 've got the schematics of CD94, 94-II, Sony 227, Dac960, and Gru 9000, 9009, 8400.
Basically - they are all identical, except SONY is far better design than any of the above players.
From the rest - the CD94 looks best- all makes sense. It is a Philips DAC960 with added drawer and spinner. For single ended systems (RCA) - the 94-1 is a better and much cheaper choice.

Generally, the parts used in this player - all caps - are so good, that nothing needs to be tweaked. Just add lampizator, sit back and enjoy.





















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