Audiolab 8000 CDE lives again

[FR DRew]

So, the short story is that nearly a decade ago, I purchased an Audiolab 8000 CDE CD player and absolutely loved it.

 

Unfortunately, at the time, Audiolab were sourcing their power trannies from somewhere with quality control issues.  Seems that they tend to go faulty and trip their internal thermal fuse.

 

Death of CD player coincided with implosion of marriage, so what was a very nice player has sat in its box for about 8 years while CD duties went to a budget pioneer DVD player.

 

This last week I finally dived in to Jaycar and purchased some transformers to fit into an outboard case.  Yesterday was the moment of truth when after years, it finally sprang back to life, arguably sounding better than before.

 

Case needs completion and a 5 pin plug and socket, but this evening I'm a happy listener again.

[Guest]

Pics?

[FR DRew]

Pics to come, currently very ugly with 3 trannies screwed to a plank of wood in the open.

 

Seriously not safety approved in its current form.

[FR DRew]

Allegedly, one of the main differences between the 8000 CD and its cheaper variant, the 8000CDE, was that the latter only had a single power toroid, where the first had two separate ones.  Both, reportedly have had transformer reliability issues.

 

Sadly, lower end power toroids with 20-0-20 and 12v supplies are pretty thin on the ground, so I'm running 3 20 watt IE trannys, two tapped at 0-20 and configured to give the 20-0-20 supply and a third to give the 12v feed.