This is topic The ideal CP50 in forum Film Handlers' Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.


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Posted by Jeff Else (Member # 4063) on 01-31-2009, 03:09 PM:
 
In addition to a new power supply and cat 280T cards, what cards would a fully upgraded CP50 contain? (for analogue four track playback only)
 

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Posted by Marin Zorica (Member # 1716) on 01-31-2009, 03:40 PM:
 
The two second important things:

CAT108C newer preamp, and
CAT150 E or F newer decoder card, also exchanging CAT64 to 64B would be fine too.....well than you have got completely new unit
 

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Posted by Sam D. Chavez (Member # 1841) on 01-31-2009, 10:42 PM:
 
Cat No. 517 VCA and output card for low distortion audio.

Cat. No. 113C control card.

Now you are up to a $4,000 processor that only has resale value of $200.
 

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Posted by Christos Mitsakis (Member # 143) on 02-01-2009, 05:06 AM:
 


A Fully Upgraded CP50: Cat108-4(spare), Cat108C, Cat22 (x2), Cat109C, Cat560, Cat150E, Cat64B (x3), Cat517, Cat113C, Cat114C.
It is paired with a SRA5 (underneath).

I put the Cat64Bs only for the sake of taking the photo. When I used the unit (even with the older64s) it produced excellent sonic results that beated even "cheap" CP65s. Its in storage now but I still love it.

quote: Sam D. Chavez

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Now you are up to a $4,000 processor that only has resale value of $200.

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Sam, you're absolutely right, but in this case I got mine as you see it (except SR and new cat64s) for under $500.

For those who want to upgrade, with patience and a litle luck cat560, 517 and 150E cards appear at e-bay in bargain prices. And from now on (I beleieve) this will be a continuous practice with lower prices as time passes. But again for the same reason, low priced CP55s, and as time comes CP65s will be a common phenomenon that you can't resist, instead of upgrading a good old CP50.

Christos
 

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Posted by Sam D. Chavez (Member # 1841) on 02-01-2009, 10:31 AM:
 
I was kidding of course. It's a perfectly good processor and it's a tribute to Dolby Labs they/we built all upgrades to be backward compatible.

I was at Dolby when we decided not to support the CP50 for SR.D. It was simply too complex and expensive to be attractive at list price.

I've sold a number of used modified CP50's for use in Drive In's which are staging a bit of a comeback in the US.

Value lasts
 

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Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 02-01-2009, 01:13 PM:
 
A bit of trivia...the Dolby Cat 441 is the Surround/Subwoofer card for the CP65. The Cat 443 is the control/logic card for the CP65. The CP65 retained the Cat 242 from the CP55 but there was no Cat 442 for the CP65. Instead, the Cat 442 was assigned to the never built (except, maybe, as a prototype) to allow the CP50 to interface with the DA10. Early DA10 installation manuals will depict the Cat 442.

We did support the CP50 into the digital era and made our own equivalent of the Cat 442...the 506T. The problem arose for us that we had a particular customer that HAD been upgrading all along so they wanted an incremental solution, not a complete change out of processor (CP50 to CP65). Also, upgrades, even if they same nothing more than a few bucks were deemed to be savings rather than throwing fresh money at an older system. The last incarnation of it was pretty slick...it allowed three 6-channel inputs, provided a hearing impaired output, could be configured to work with Cat 117s, 517s, 160s, and 560s. The other thing we through in there was it could tell when Cat 280s were installed...if it sensed them, it would raise the analog level by 3dB to properly match and to ensure digital to analog level similarity.

One thing we learned from all of that was that when using the Cat 517/560 combination...you will get a phase inversion! The Cat 517 sends an inverted version of the surrounds to the Cat 560 for "EQ"...when it comes back to the 517, it continues on and is restored to proper phase...however, the Rs channel never comes to the Cat 517 and thus retains the inverted phase when playing optical. The later versions of the 506T dealt with that too.

Steve
 

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Posted by Jeff Else (Member # 4063) on 02-01-2009, 11:54 PM:
 
AND its so much prettier than its successors
 

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Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 02-02-2009, 06:35 AM:
 
There is a certain elegance to the CP50, for sure. If you really want to wow your neighbors...light the Dolby-Level meters on the Cat 109. I wouldn't do it with a running CP50 as its power supply needs every available electron to work with the audio. However, the solder tabs on the meter are for its light...I forget its voltage...it is either 12 or 24V.

Steve
 

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Posted by Jeff Else (Member # 4063) on 02-02-2009, 02:44 PM:
 
oooh good idea... Okay, so I've read some things about the power supply issues but I would like some clarification... If i put upgraded cards in the CP50, including SR cards, will the original power supply be able to handle it? are there any basic modifications that can be done short of replacing the whole power supply?
 

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Posted by Tony Bandiera Jr (Member # 2365) on 02-02-2009, 02:55 PM:
 
Jeff, no , you WILL have to replace the original CAT 114 with a CAT 114C, the original power supply will puke on the upgraded cards and may cause damage to the cards. I may have an extra 114c, PM me when you can.

But what you really want is this:



This is my home screening room CP-65. And no, it is not for sale, ever.
 

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Posted by John Walsh (Member # 168) on 02-02-2009, 04:19 PM:
 
I had to laugh when I saw this topic, because on Sunday I went to a theater with a CP50 that -only- had the preamp and the power supply. Otherwise, it was a empty chassis.
 

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Posted by Jeff Else (Member # 4063) on 02-02-2009, 09:55 PM:
 
Could I use a PS1B to power it?
 

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Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 02-02-2009, 10:04 PM:
 
Or you can do what I did and put a high grade switching power supply in it. The noise and power supply headroom results are much better than with even the latter 114C. There was a post with photos posted by me several years ago.

Mark
 

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Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 02-03-2009, 06:45 AM:
 
I'm on the same page as Sam; unless it is already mostly upgraded, it is best to replace with something newer with a warranty, cheaper, too.

I do have several still in use, with SR, they are still reliable and still sound very good. Louis
 

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Posted by Tony Bandiera Jr (Member # 2365) on 02-03-2009, 01:37 PM:
 

quote: Mark Gulbrandsen

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Or you can do what I did and put a high grade switching power supply in it. The noise and power supply headroom results are much better than with even the latter 114C. There was a post with photos posted by me several years ago.

Mark

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Search for the post titled "Good CP-50 Power Supply" dated 2-17-2002 for that info.. Although I didn't see any photos linked to it, it did give a part number for that power supply.

Edited to add: The picture is in the fifth post on a thread titled "The ultimate Budget 35mm Stereo Setup"
 

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Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 02-03-2009, 05:21 PM:
 
BTW...Tony...odd as it may sound...an upgraded CP50...presumming the power supply is up to the job...is actually quieter and cleaner than your CP65. The 517's have better VCAs and outputs than the Cat 242.

Steve
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 02-03-2009, 06:44 PM:
 
Well, the CP50 CAN be modified to run SRD. Back around the mid 90s I was running a custom modified CP50 in my screening room where I put a cat117 in the cat108 spare slot and did some backplane changes to create split surrounds with subwoofer. It worked like a charm and as others have noted, it was dead quite and sounded fantastic. The only reason I changed it out was to put in a CP200.
 

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Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 02-03-2009, 07:41 PM:
 
I still like the CP-100 the best of the bunch...these things just keep tickin. I just picked a couple up... My back is killing me!

Mark
 

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Posted by Tony Bandiera Jr (Member # 2365) on 02-05-2009, 02:48 PM:
 

quote: Steve Guttag

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BTW...Tony...odd as it may sound...an upgraded CP50...presumming the power supply is up to the job...is actually quieter and cleaner than your CP65. The 517's have better VCAs and outputs than the Cat 242.

Steve

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