Shanling Equipment - some simple Modifications.... - Thorsten

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Shanling Equipment - some simple Modifications....

Hi Folks,
It may be known (or not) that I now (since spring this year) Service and modify Shanling Equipment commercially (hence no more ETM reviews from me, the "Freakzoid Tweekaloid" may make a few more appearances though).
As part of this commercial activity I recently developed a set of rather extreme mods for Shanling Amp's and Players (currently the CD T-100 & SCD T-200 and the SP-80 Monoblocks ONLY) under the 3D Sonics Label as well as some mods that are applied at the factory to all UK models (branded as 3D Acoustics by Shanling). The 3D Acoustics by Shanling items are being phased as I write and currently cover CD T-100, SCD T-200, STP-80 Integrated Amp and SP-80 Monoblocks.
While working on the various mods I made a number of observations that should allow Owners of the items I have covered some simple modifications that are all reversible and give marked improvements in performance. I will set them out in the following message.
Please note that there is no support from me for these modifications, I may answer questions pertaining to them or not answer as time allows. Also, be aware that applying these mods voids your warranty. Remember all these Players and Amplifiers contain lethal voltages, so disconnect the unit from the mains before opening and allow at least 10 minutes for the powersupplies to discharge. Further, if you are the kind of person that has two left hands with all thumbs, have difficulties with basic technical descriptions etc, please find a competent technician to apply these mods for you.
If you screw up your Player/Amp or get yourself killed it's YOUR FAULT, not mine! Okay?

CD T-100 Player
===============
There is not much that can be done without a soldering iron, but the two main changes don't need one.
Change the output Buffer valves (you need only change the lefthand side valves - the righthand side ones are for the headphone output) to nice New Old Stock (NOS) Types.
But before you even do this, for Pete's sake change the Op-Amp's. They are socketed and thus are very easily changed. You need Dual Op-Amp's with +/-15V rated supply lines. I know some people use Op-Amp's with +/-13V rated supplies in the Shanling players sucessfully, but you do take a gamble. Here a picture of the are of the main PCB where the Op-Amp's are located:
From testing myself I found I liked best OPA627 on (brown dog) adapters in the two outer positions (where the OPA2604 are stock complement) and LM6172 in the middle (where NE5532 is stock). The LM6172 needs a small local decoupling capacitor (LOW INDUCTANCE TYPE!!!) soldered between pin 4 & pin 8 on top of the Op-Amp. You can get suitable Op-Amp's and pre-mounted adapters from many sources, search around.
The outer positions use actually only one halve of the original Dual OPA2604 Op-Amp, if you use the Brown Dog adapters the halves used correspond to the upper chip. So you can save some money not fitting a redundant OPA627 to the lower position.
Another warning, if you have someone fit a new master clock to the CD T-100 make sure they are aware that the player uses 3.3V logic and applies the clock correctly. I have had several T-100's modified with commercial clocks which fed the 3.3V logic decoder chip with a 5V clock output. While not doing any permanent damage the the player, the player would fail to start correctly on occasion, making a chattering noise and the jitter with the "clock upgrade" in place was MILES worse than without.
SCD T-200 Player
================
There is not much that can be done without a soldering iron, but the main changes don't need one.
Change the output Buffer valves (you need only change the lefthand side valves - the righthand side ones are for the headphone output) to nice New Old Stock (NOS) Types.
But before you even do this, for Pete's sake change the OPA2604 Op-Amp's out. The OPA627 is used as stock in the current/voltage conversion position but is then followed by 1/2 of an OP2604. They are socketed and thus are very easily changed.
You need Dual Op-Amp's with +/-15V rated supply lines. I know some people use Op-Amp's with +/-13V rated supplies in the Shanling players sucessfully, but you do take a gamble. You can get suitable Op-Amp's and pre-mounted adapters from many sources, search around.
From testing myself I found I liked best OPA627 on (brown dog) adapters.
The OPA2604 positions use actually only one halve of the original Dual OPA2604 Op-Amp, if you use the Brown Dog adapters the halves used correspond to the upper chip for one channel and the lower chip in the other. I am off hand not certain which is which, I will check my notes on that. Hence you can save some money not fitting a redundant OPA627 to the unused position.
On the older SCD T-200 you can also bypass the Volume control (Warning, THIS DOES NOT WORK FOR THE SCD T-200C) if you like for the valve buffered output. A jumper connects the valve buffer to the small PCB containing Op-Amp's and DAC. This plugs normally into a socket marked "To Tube Amp" (or something to that effect), unplug the connection and plug it into the empty socket besides the main output which marked "front out". This takes the signal to the Valve buffer from before the Volume control and output coupling electrolytic capacitors. As said, this only works on the old Stainless steel version with the Sony chipset, which incidentally also sounds better.
Another warning, if you have someone fit a new master clock to the SCD T-200 make sure they are aware that the player uses 3.3V logic and applies the clock correctly. Also make sure they change the correct clock, there are several which may mislead.
SP-80 Monoblock Amplifiers
==========================
The first thing to do on these amplifiers is to correctly bias them. The factory ships them with "fixed bias" applied based on -44V gridvoltage, not accounting for individual output Valves variations and also operating rather close to Class B.
To set the bias correctly you are best off using something like the BiasKing (www.biasking.com or www.realhi-fi.com in the UK). I suggest setting first the bias conrols (behind the output valves, use a typhical small electricians "phasetester" scredriver) fuly clockwise. This will cut off the current through the valve. The bias the valves following the instructions found with your Bias Meter to around 30mA.
Secondly, the SP-80 contains an on-board solid state peramp section. If you feel that this section is redundant to your needs a very significant increase in sound quality can be attained bypassing this section. The SP-80 is sensitive enough that any passive controller will work fine.
To bypass the solid state preamp section remove the bottom plate and find the two socketed line level connections as shown below:
Simply remove the plug from the socket on the side and remove the jumper from the top (preamp) PCB to the main PCB below:
You then need to re-route the cable from the input socket to the main PCB to the socket previously occupied by the jumper. This can be done in my experience without removing the preamp PCB, but takes some dexterity and a pair of needlenoose pliers.
That done you now have a Tube Monoblock Poweramp without Volume control, so remember to set the volume lower than previously on your preamp, the SP-80 starts with the Volume control at -40db which is around 26db BELOW unity gain, in other words the input signal is attenuated by 40db by the solid state preamp.
If you do feel you need the volume conrol function, you can with a little ingenuity you can easily bypass the completely redundant Op-Amp's in the circuit. Simply remove the Op-Amp's and use a suitable piece of wire to link in the Op-Amp socket marked U16 Pin 1 to Pin 3 and Pin 5 to Pin 7. For the socket marked U13 you nedd to link Pin 2 to Pin 3 and Pin 6 to Pin 7.
STP-80 Integrated Amplifier
===========================
The first thing to do on these amplifiers is to correctly bias them. The factory ships them with "fixed bias" applied based on -44V gridvoltage, not accounting for individual output Valves variations and also operating rather close to Class B.
To set the bias correctly you are best off using something like the BiasKing (www.biasking.com or www.realhi-fi.com in the UK). I suggest setting first the bias conrols (behind the output valves, use a typhical small electricians "phasetester" scredriver) fuly clockwise. This will cut off the current through the valve. The bias the valves following the instructions found with your Bias Meter to around 20mA. The lower current is needed as the STP-80 design is a bit tight regarding thermal management, you can set the current higher but at your own risk, the Amp may end up running too hot.
The STP 80 has a Solid State Preamp essentially identical to that of the SP-80. It cannot really be bypassed as easily, but with a little ingenuity you can easily bypass the completely redundant Op-Amp's in the circuit. Simply remove the Op-Amp's and use a suitable piece of wire to link in each Op-Amp socket Pin 1 to Pin 3 and Pin 5 to Pin 7.
Not much else can be done on this Amp, but even this small change can work a lot of improvement.
A warning about what one might consider a designflaw on the Shanling Amplifiers. They use Volume control chips operating on +/-5V supply lines which CANNOT handle more than 2V RMS input levels. If you use them with a source having a higher than usual (2V RMS at maximum signal) output level the peaks will be cliepped. The 3D Acoustics by Shanling versions specify therefore a +/-15V supply and a 15V version of the Volume control chip. If you do not feel up to the challenge of such a modification but have problems with a source clipping the input, you can get commercial attenuator inserts for RCA Cables or if you can solder a little adding a suitable resistive divider into your interconnect will solve the problem.
Anyway, so far a few "quick & easy mods". What is done for the 3D Acoustics by Shanling items sold in the UK is notably past what is discussed here and you may forgive me if I do not provide full details of what we get changed. The 3D Acoustics modifications (effectively comprehensive re-builds) are an entierly different kettle of fish again.
Anyway, have fun with the inprovements the above will allow you to gain.
Ciao T

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Topic - Shanling Equipment - some simple Modifications.... - Thorsten 11:33:09 11/03/04 (0)

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