I did a Marvin Gaye conversion, but I believe the one I released used Tad's files from the CD4-50. I didn't do Jackson 5, but I did do a Supremes. But Cai had also done one of that as well.
When I started working with the CD400, I didn't have a marantz calibration record, I have the fisher one with CD4 on side 1 including calibration sounds, and SQ on side 2. So I was relying on some comments on threads and guesswork to calibrate. I had been turning the knob clockwise until the test tone stabilizes on a tone. With the test tone, you can get a stable tone on either end of the dial, with it breaking up between the two in the middle. When reading the instructions on the marantz record, it says to start with the dial all the way clockwise, it will be distorted, and turn it back until there is no distortion. So....I was completely at the wrong end of the dial with that knob.
However....it seems that for most cases, if a system is stable, it will make for a stable playback that is less noisy, but dulls the high end a bit. Which may have worked in my favor.
Perhaps it's a marantz version of the holy grail. From going back over threads, it seems QB's gripe with the CD400 was it let too much noise through. And I believe part of his calibration for the "holy grail" demod was making it not pass through as much noise. I suppose some of us stumble on ways to calibrate things wrong for more desired results. Although, I think my mistake made some records break up at some loud spots in a way. Which wasn't much of an issue for Japan CD4 records, as those tend to be mastered more quiet, which contributes to them being easier to demodulate.
Anyways....here's hoping that software demodulation continues to improve, making all of this unnecessary.
When I started working with the CD400, I didn't have a marantz calibration record, I have the fisher one with CD4 on side 1 including calibration sounds, and SQ on side 2. So I was relying on some comments on threads and guesswork to calibrate. I had been turning the knob clockwise until the test tone stabilizes on a tone. With the test tone, you can get a stable tone on either end of the dial, with it breaking up between the two in the middle. When reading the instructions on the marantz record, it says to start with the dial all the way clockwise, it will be distorted, and turn it back until there is no distortion. So....I was completely at the wrong end of the dial with that knob.
However....it seems that for most cases, if a system is stable, it will make for a stable playback that is less noisy, but dulls the high end a bit. Which may have worked in my favor.
Perhaps it's a marantz version of the holy grail. From going back over threads, it seems QB's gripe with the CD400 was it let too much noise through. And I believe part of his calibration for the "holy grail" demod was making it not pass through as much noise. I suppose some of us stumble on ways to calibrate things wrong for more desired results. Although, I think my mistake made some records break up at some loud spots in a way. Which wasn't much of an issue for Japan CD4 records, as those tend to be mastered more quiet, which contributes to them being easier to demodulate.
Anyways....here's hoping that software demodulation continues to improve, making all of this unnecessary.