Upgrades to Cal Audio Delta Transport

Delta is a great unit. But, remember it is an orphan so if it breaks and you need a part you may be SOL. They are inexpensive enough that you might buy one and then keep an eye out for a second one to cannibalize as required. Nice small footprint. The companion Cal Audio DACs, Sigma and Alpha, are also excellent units and have tubed outputs.

I purchased a Delta a few months ago and was wondering the same thing. I read through all of the archives at Audio Asylum pertaining to this transport and could find no information about modding it. I believe others have also asked the same question with no responses.

If you're looking for a second one to keep as a spare, I'll be selling mine. I have tried several other transports recently and am currently trying to decide between a CEC and a Vecteur.

The Delta benefits from upgrading it's power supply,output pulse transformers and applying damping to the drive and chassis. It already has very low jitter, so no clock updates ae required.

Best thing to do is upgrade your digital wire and see what happens and use better tubes in the CAL Alpha DAC. Make sure the DAC is isolated from vibration also. These are inexpense options to try first. Borrow some digital cables from your local dealer or buddies. Next, sell the Alpha for a late model Audio Logic DAC 34 that has the upgraded 24/96 chip set in it. You can find them for around $1000 or less. It simply outperforms the CAL and the designer is available for upgrades.

Rcprince did a review of the 34 to the current model here on Agon so you can take his opinioins to the bank.

Happy Listening.

I own(ed) all the above; Cal Delta / Alpha, current; CEC / Audio Logic 34.
Steve Huntley is great with the Cal stuff.
I sent my Delta & Alpha to him a few years back for a damping mod, worked great.
The Cal is VERY good for the $$.

Just last week I put a Delta in the trash. For the last few years I have had a Alpha/Delta and the Delta had given me problems. The transpost drawl when opened would close before I could get the disc off the tray. The darn thing would not do it all the time but very month or so it would have a bad few days. I think it was Haunted! A few weeks ago I sold the Alpha so the Delta was just sitting on floor. I didn't think anyone would want or need a broken 1993 transport from a company thats out of business. Plus, it gave me great pleasure to drop it in the trash.

"Just last week I put a Delta in the trash."

Vegasears- what foolish thing to do. All you had to do was
clean off the dried up grease on the transport drawl rails,
put on some fresh grease and it would have run for another ten years.

Jdombrow- if you're in the market for a new transport, take a look at the Stello(aprilmusic.com).

I know this is a very old thread, but wanted to add to it, so the info would be here for others to find:

I too, had the same problem with my CAL Delta Transport, that when the Drawer was opened, the Drawer would immediately close back up.

I tried some suggestions, as some mentioned a possible bad Belt, ordered a Belt from ApprovedAudio, no fix, pulled the Faceplate off, cleaned all the contacts, no fix, then tried something that a person advised, that the Micro Switches for the Drawer commonly have Silver Contacts, that they could be oxidized, and try a lit of DeOxIt on them.

They were a bit hard to access, hidden behind the Drawer Face, but once I got to them with some disassembly, and sprayed some DeOxIt on them, that cured the problem pronto, and 2-1/2-3 years later this bought in 1997 Transport is still working flawlessly ever since.
Mark