TRL Marantz Sa-14

SA-14 weak in the bass? You're kidding, right? It thought it had a ton of very deep, slamming bass, a perfect machine for electronic music. I also think the SA-14 is by far a better machine then any of the flagship sony's, being very near analog on both redbook and sacd with a warm, ambiant, rich, liquid and very musical performance that the sterile sony lacks. I think the SA-14 would be an excellend base for modifications, it is very well built, and the tray/transport from Sharp alone has to weigh 5lbs, tons of copper, etc. etc! It could use a bigger powersupply and isolated supplies and MAYBE a little tweaking on the output stages to keep up with the latest and greatest from todays esoteric companies. All IMO, of course.

PS, try placing the SA-14 on a partially inflated small bicycle innertube. It does wonderous things. This machine needs good to great isolation to really shine...

I sold a 6 week old SA-11 because it was WEAK in the bass and was wanting for more dynamics. The highs also seared my ear off. So, it doesn't surprise me that the 14 would sound the same.

Thanks for responding. My good friend owns a SA-14 version 2 and had a Sony SCD-1. He loved his SCD-1 player and finds the SA-14 weak in dynamics. He is using isolation with the player and is thinking of adding the TRL mod.

I just received my TRL Sony 2000 and I like its dynamics and bass authority but sounds thin in the midrange. I was told the burn-in time is approximately 500 hours for everything to pop together. So far I like the TRL player but I can't say it sounds like vinyl yet.

Maybe Jes45 can jump in here.
He has firsthand experience with the TRL 2000 and the TRL modded Marantz SA14. I am not sure which version of the SA14 he has auditioned, I think version 1.
He was extremely impressed and comments from TRL are quite positive on the Marantz SA14 and SA11 units.
Your Sony 2000 is supposed to be a notch better than the TRL Sony 595 which I had. I found the burn in to be all of 500+ hours.
Sound was quite balanced across the spectrum and quite analog like after it settled in. Midrange will come.