I have an Alpha Dac and sold my Delta for a CEC TL-2X.
Shunyata King Cobra V-1's are being used on the CEC and modded Alpha via an Orchid balanced cable with fabulous results, and I tried most of all the top power cords I could. The CEC TL-2X is among the top tier of transports and certainly outperforms my previous Delta trans in all areas. |
I have a Parasound belt driven transport and am using it with an AudioPrism Super Natural 9.5 with really good results. Actually, I just got the transport back from Modwright earlier today. The sound is *phenomenal*. Danny Boy knows his craft...
The problem with them BMI cords is their exxxagerated soundstage and mid bass slam. I would not use them at all for a transport. CEC based transports need low gauge, low resistance power cords that will help their not so beefy power supplies. Lak and I have experimented in his system and mine with many many power cords, including the BMI's (he has a CEC 5100 transport) and the VenHaus Flavor 4 w/gold Wattgates and my Jena Labs cryo'ed Tice PC3 w/ Highwire Wirewrap tuning device turned out to be the winners, the cryo'ed Tice being a close second. The CEC's respond favorably to switching from a Flavor 4 w/ regular Wattgates vs gold plated. The gold Wattgates smoothen glare and edginess, opening soundstage. I haven't tried the Shunyata's but maybe in the near future I will have a chance...
I strongly recommend you have the IEC terminal on your transport replaced for a high quality, audio grade one. I had VenHaus ship Dan Wright a Furutech Rhodium plated IEC to install in my transport. For only $30, that's going to be THE best bang for the buck at improving the beef and noise floor in your TL-2. No soldering is needed.
With psychic power and primal intensity, |
You've probably got an impedance mismatch between the output of the transport & the input of the DAC. Just because two components have matching jacks doesn't mean that they are going to have matching impedances. It is what is on the inside that counts electrically.
As such, the coaxial in & out of each component might be a better match than the xlr's. Since neither jacks are probably exactly what they claim to be ( 110 ohms for xlr or 75 ohms for rca ), you'll probably have to experiment a bit with what interconnect works best with these components. As mentioned in a few of my other posts, interconnects act as impedance transformers between components and are kind of a hit or miss deal whereas what works best as a speaker cable is pretty much set in stone. Finding an interconnect that allows the output of the transport to "load up" efficiently while also presenting a suitable feedpoint impedance into the DAC will provide the best sonics. This is due to increased power transfer / reduced vswr / lower jitter / reduced ringing.
As far as CEC goes, they've literally built MILLIONS of RF transceivers in the past under various brand names. Electrically, their RF based circuits were always stable and very long lasting. Having said that, they were never quite up to what some of their competition had to offer in terms of power tranfer / impedance matching. Given that the digital signal out of a transport is an RF based signal, your problems ( that could be impedance based ) wouldn't surprise me.
As far as power cords go, that's a whole different ballgame. I would not doubt that Psychic's / Larry's observations pertaining to VH Audio's Flavour 4 working well is true. It is a high capacitance / low inductance design, which is what one wants in a power cord. While i like this cable electrically, it is a bit rigid for use with a transport. If you're going to use this or any other semi-rigid cable with a component of this nature, i would try to find a way to keep the cable itself from transfering mechanical energy back into the component. The physical coupling to the chassis of the component makes such a cord a prime candidate to feed air-borne vibrations into the transport. When it comes to transports, a highly flexible mechanically damped power cord is very desirable.
One more thing. The CAL Delta is somewhat high in jitter from what i can remember. It is not a bad transport, but i would expect the CEC, when properly set up with a DAC of the quality that you have, to be a better performer. It's just a matter of working out the bugs. This can be frustrating but also quite educational. Sean
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I was very let down when my friend & I compared the Delta with the TL-2x and the Delta was the clear winner. I know no other Transport that I researched so much that I wanted more than this one. So you have given me direction & hope as where I was ready to sell the TL-2x and not know where to go from there.
Thanks 4x8man,you allowed me to realize the TL-2x has great potential with the right cord combos.
Thanks Psychicanimal.V H Audio was one company I was getting ready to look at. the VH flavor 4 with gold plugs looks good.The F R plated IEC sounds really good and I could have someone local install it.
Thanks Sean,A flexible cord with the Flavor 4s characteristics would be ideal.Also I will try some different digital rca cables & find what sounds best. Maybe a handful from the Cable Company. |
I can assure you that a Flavor 4 w/ Gold Wattgates plus installing the Furutech Rhodium plated IEC will surpass your expectations.
You can use the Flavor 4 if you make sure that the cord is not positioned in a way that will transfer vibrations to the transport. A few strips of mortite clay around at and near the power cord's IEC should help. The TL-2's chassis is so massive there should not be a problem. |
Psychicanimal,
What mods did you get from Modwright and how much did they cost total? I have a Parasound Belt Drive as well and have been annoyed by it's lack of PRAT. It's like a beat behind on rock recordings with fast bass lines. Did the mods improve this?
Michael |
You might want to check the AC polarity on the CEC and Parasound transports as did a few mods on these units a few years ago and found they had hooked up line to neutral and vise versa.......This easy to measure and fix and is likely the problem with PRAT.... |
Uncle Bob is here! So, it could be a case of reversed polarity...Danny Boy didn't mention anything on my unit.
Crespo, the mod is more than a level 1 but less than a level 2, depending on what options you want. I had the Furutech IEC installed, plus the door position switch (you should do that before it fails), the belt replaced and one of the new slipstream Bybees in the digital out, along with better signal wire and a Cardas RCA out (Dan's idea). Is it worth it? YES!
Parasound is good with parts. Two belts and the switch was somethig like $18. |
Hey Psychic,
I went to the Modwright website and didn't see any pricing for Parasound/CEC transport mods. What would a level 1/2/3 pricing be for the CEC?
Michael |
Mcrespo71, my CEC TL-2x never sounded behind the beat--to the contrary, it was always on top of the beat.. Not quite as much PRAT foot-tapping as my Rega turntable, but then it probably isn't running 1% fast ;)
Lihifiguy: hang in there, the CEC TL-2X is a wonderful transport. I used one for about a year with my now departed dCS Delius, and it was a fantastic match. I had great luck with my MIT digital cables, AVT1 and the older model (can't recall the name). This combo was absolutely fantastic. Perhaps try the RCA outs (I never used the balanced) as Sean suggested. |
Ndjedinak,I may need to try the digital rcas. I have an MIT reference balanced cable.It worked great with my Cal gear as they are perfectly matched.The Cal Delta has more presence with the MIT cable matched to the ECD-1.The TL-2 has more detail with the same cable & dac.According to an audio friend who has keen sense of listening and can always point things out, the TL-2x sounds as if it is veiled compared to the Cal Delta.
As Pyschicanimal recommended I did get a VH Flavor 4 power cord with gold Wattgate connectors.Waiting for it to fully burn in.I will be ordering some burn im adapters & burn some power cords with my fridge.
I passed on the VH IEC connector as it would take hacking the back of my TL-2x to make it fit as well as it would hurt resale.On the other hand the VH IEC looks identical to the one on the back of my new Electrocompaniet ECD-1 DAC. |
Hifi, I'm glad you got the Flavor 4. It will be a great match. I have been using the VenHaus Pulsar digital cable for the past ten days (Sean cooked it for 30 days) and I am surprised at what it can do. It is an unbelievably quiet and pretty neutral sounding cable. VenHaus did a great job with this design.
Crespo, you are asking the wrong guy for pricing. You know who to ask... |
I was a stand to get the best sound I could out of my recently purchased used CEC TL-2x transport.Initially I was considering selling it as I first was not able to get the best sound it was reputed to have in my particular system.
My Cal Delta had an edge and still is not far off after all of my upgrades.They must have played around with this one at Cal or who had it before me had a mod done.
First of all I tried some Mapleshade Siltech. This contact enhancer is recognized by some credible audio gurus to have great benefits. In my system a major transformation, equal to a well chosen component upgrade.
Second of all I purchased a VH Audio Flavor 4 power cord. Yet not fully broken in, added detail & a more natural analoge sound when plugged into my TL 2x.
Thirdly, I switched my MIT Reference balanced cable that had served me well for the last 3 years with a used Synergestic Resolution Digital cable recommended by Steve from the Cable Company.Added detail,added smoothness and a tad more natural(analoge)sound.
Finally I bought a used Audio Magic Stealth which is the last stretch of my current budget. Compared to my PS Audio P-300 with the Multi-wave II that I recently installed there was another revelation in sonic appreciation.
The A M had a bit more detail & an improved isolation of instruments.The P-300 had a slightly fuller sound.Fairly close, the A M Stealth has the edge according to my audio buddy and my evaluation. We will give a final listen in a few days.
Thanks to all that made the difference that raised an already satisfying system to the next level. |
Mapleshade SilClear not Siltech. (NT) |
I used to own CEC transport, it performs very well
with Kimber powercord, forgot the model, digital
I used the Kimber D60,I feel the CEC are on the
dark side. |
