Monday, May 17, 2010

Audiolab 8000DAC (###Updated###)

The British made Audiolab 8000DAC is well loved for it's warm and natural sound.

DAC and CDM playing CD recorded with EQ
According to various documentation on the net, the Philips TDA1547 is the heart of the unit - not able to see the actual chip as hidden by the Audiolab cover on the motherboard (see below).

Decided to recapped the unit a while back (before creating this blog) as it was taking atleast an hour to warm up and sound decent. Volume before the recapping was very low as well - really sounded tired.

Took the opportunity to do some part replacements along the way as the unit had a treble and bass roll-off when I was listening to it using my Accuphase and Meridians (later on those).

Anyway, the pix below is the resultant of my efforts.

I am using the 8000DAC with the 8000CDM (black tray), 8000T and 8000A (all true Brits). Such 8000A's were the last of the true Audiolabs with "F" in the S/N (aka before sold to TagMcLaren).

From top
From bottom

And I added a few heatsinks to the power regulators to reduce heat levels as well. In addition, two silver mica's were added as by-pass to the non-EC capacitors.

View the blog for my Audiolab 8000A at http://myoldvintagehifi.blogspot.com/2010/09/audiolab-8000a-serial-number-with-f.html to see and hear how the units perform together.


3Nov2012

Recapped the EC in the PLL control section of the DAC located at the bottom LHS of the unit - 4*100uf 35V and a 47uF 16V, as the power supply filter to the LM317 could be better. Now working fine again.

6 comments:

  1. Hi WCK,
    My 8000DAC failed yesterday, the mute lamp showed via coax link, optical link worked for about 5 mins then muted. Is this the DAC or the CDM?
    Any assistance/advice gratefully received!

    ReplyDelete
  2. You will need to perform step-by-step elimination to determine possible source of the problem e.g use a different CDP with the 8000DAC, and, vice-versa. Then sent the faulty component for servicing.

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  3. Had a visitor who was a musician. When he listen to the Meridian 201/204/557 using my 8000DAC&CDM as source, he remarked that this is what I hear when I am playing the instrument!!!

    Made my day!!!!

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  4. Hi! I'mm using the same DAC as your and it's undergoing some servicing, namely to recap some of the electrolytics. may i know what type of EC you used in the PLL section of the DAC? there are also some smaller ECs 1uf50v at the input section, what can i replace these with? thanks.

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  5. In use since 2012. Time for change with something newer, probably RME ADI2 DAC FS. Working good with Luxman 505f.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And my "enriched" DAC8000 unit still turn heads (or rather ears) of my visitors!

      Another unit, the Marantz CDA94 still turn heads (or rather ears!). An old friend visited when I had it playing in the hall and he was mesmerized by it. He wanted to buy a CDA94 for himself - his hifi set could be the bank mortgage deposit of my apartment!!!

      So think I will be keeping these vintage units a while longer ...

      Delete