Who Is SACDmods?
Matt Anker
I started modifying SACD players in early 2002 with the Sony SCD-CE775. My only
previous experience was tweaking a Carver TL-3100 CD player, circa 1989, with LC
Audio parts and various capacitor changes. At the time, I was still in high
school while taking electrical engineering technician courses at a local
technical college (Muskingum Area Technical College, now Zane State University).
At the Midwest AudioFest in Lima, OH (May '02), I took a modified CE775 with me
and met up with Kevin Haskins of DIY Cable, who had just become the US dealer
for LC Audio parts only a few months earlier. I demoed the modified SACD player
on his system (he had not yet installed any LC Audio parts himself) at the show.
After a couple of hours I met up with a gentleman from New York who had the same
player and he said that it seemed to be definitely smoother than he remembered
his. We had a lengthy conversation and exchanged email addresses. He ended up
having me modify his machine within a few weeks after the show. I also did one
for a local acquaintance that same week. After doing two machines I decided to
advertise a bit because I saw that this was making me decent money. I already
had a website called "Matthew Anker's Electrostatic Loudspeaker Page" which I
published a year earlier on a DIY hybrid ESL project. I had another person who
was at the show contact me for a modification. By that time I was starting to
get really interested in doing modifications regularly. I noted that Gary Galo
was doing some very objective reviews of digital components in AudioXpress, so I
contacted Ed Dell and made arrangements for a review. I sent off two players,
one stock and one modified. Since then, things have taken off nicely and I'm
currently working on over 10 models from Sony, Philips, and Denon. Thus
SACDmods was born.
Before I started this
business, I took about a year of EET courses in Tech college, but most of my
education had been by experimentation with some help from my father who is a
self taught tech and tweaker.
Currently, I am in my final year of Electrical Engineering at The Ohio State
University in Columbus. Among things I have done: I have competed in a robot competition
during my freshmen year in the Fundamentals of Engineering for Honors program
which is a comprehensive engineering education culminated by a major design
project. The photograph of the robot is the final, pre-competition,
version. The sketches are the final design without the
control servos or linkages. The robot project involved a 4 person team.
For the most part, I designed the robot, and built all of it. I took pride
in building my machine with mostly externally sourced parts (those not available
from the college of engineering), and had an extremely strong sheet aluminum
chassis while everyone else was fooling around with erector sets. The
robot performed well in testing, but was hindered in competition by weak motors
where any potential speed had to be traded for hill climbing torque. My
dynamic belt tensioning system [DTS], consisting of a spring loaded tensioner
operating in an arch, won a "Most Innovative" design award from competition
sponsor Procter & Gamble consisting of a $250 scholarship for each member of the
team, which was equivalent to winning the competition. I have also
participated in an undergraduate research project aiming to put a remotely
activated landing system in a Cessna 152, but that didn't get past the research
stage due to insurance reasons and an ill prepared tenured professor.
My hobbies include working on old cars, specifically my 1970
Mercedes-Benz 280SEL sedan. So far, I have painted the car and rebuilt the
engine. I've been driving it for three years, and there's not much
remaining that could go wrong on it. This was the project for Summer '05:
Also, I'm a licensed private pilot with an instrument rating; I fly a Piper Cherokee
140 off of a grass strip, "Hilltop" 2OA6, near Cambridge. Flying is
probably my favorite past time, over listening to music, etc. I spend as
much time in the air as I can. I'm also very much into bicycling, and am a
member of the OSU Cycling Team and an officer in the Cycling Club.
Work experience includes working for River Consulting
for Kellogg/Worthington Foods. I spent the Summer of 2006 as an engineering intern
in a factory that makes vegetarian meat products. I've managed design
projects worth approximately $10,000.
Shown below is a design project for a 2.0GHz 3rd Order High
Pass filter designed and built Autumn of 2007:
Also here is a 2.4 GHz microwave amplifier with a 16 dB power
gain designed and fabricated Winter of 2008.
My current senior design project involves building a solar
powered, pilot controlled, runway lighting system for the TI Analog University
design contest. Proposal PowerPoint presentation:
Senior Design
Project
Finally, I have accepted an employment offer with Cessna
Aircraft Company of Wichita, KS, as an electrical systems designer beginning in
June or July of 2008.
