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JVC QL-?? owners thread

I don't know if Buyee is cheaper, but Zenmarket definitely seems more user-friendly. I've bought from Unisound and although their prices are higher they do a phenomenal job packing and shipping and the tables arrived exactly as pictured (and even better after some cleaning).
 
Bart-Jeroen said:
I have been looking at Buyee and it does scare me a bit. I live in the Netherlands, how would I go from here? Just get an account at Buyee, find what I like and see how much shipping will be? And who is doing the packaging? Is that Buyee or the intial shipper?

I also looked at Reverb > Unisound and that looks a bit easier.
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Buyee isnt the only game in town. There are many handlers.

The biggest hurdle is the shipping cost. There is no way to get an accurate shipping cost before you purchase. Since you have no idea what the dimensions of the box will be.

Buyee clearly packaged all 3 turntables for international shipping. They made their own box and used expanding foam to form fit the TT, which was wrapped up in bubble wrap.

What they didnt do was prepare the TTs properly. They did not secure the platter, remove tone arm weights. or isolate the dust cover from the TT.

They seller of the Y7 did proper prep and secured the platter and tone arm. But buyee did all the rest.

This the Y7 I bought:

https://buyee.jp/item/yahoo/auction/e1077281336

Even with sipping it was far less than Unisound. Its also in way better condition than most of the JVCs I have seen on thier page.

My advice would be to use a payment service like PayPay for buyer protection, and be patient. Then look at all the pictures very closely. Most of the electronics that pop up on Japanese auction sites have come from long term storage. Its clearly evident in the photos. Lots of dust and corrosion.

Be patient. Eventually one will pop up from a personal collection. Like the beautiful Denon I posted earlier.

FYI, the term Junk just means used in Japan. Generally its just old and not taken care of but still functional.
 
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Skypants said:
Buyee isnt the only game in town. There are many handlers.

The biggest hurdle is the shipping cost. There is no way to get an accurate shipping cost before you purchase. Since you have no idea what the dimensions of the box will be.

Buyee clearly packaged all 3 turntables for international shipping. They made their own box and used expanding foam to form fit the TT, which was wrapped up in bubble wrap.

What they didnt do was prepare the TTs properly. They did not secure the platter, remove tone arm weights. or isolate the dust cover from the TT.

They seller of the Y7 did proper prep and secured the platter and tone arm. But buyee did all the rest.

This the Y7 I bought:

https://buyee.jp/item/yahoo/auction/e1077281336

Even with sipping it was far less than Unisound. Its also in way better condition than most of the JVCs I have seen on thier page.

My advice would be to use a payment service like PayPay for buyer protection, and be patient. Then look at all the pictures very closely. Most of the electronics that pop up on Japanese auction sites have come from long term storage. Its clearly evident in the photos. Lots of dust and corrosion.

Be patient. Eventually one will pop up from a personal collection. Like the beautiful Denon I posted earlier.

FYI, the term Junk just means used in Japan. Generally its just old and not taken care of but still functional.
Click to expand...

Thanks a ton!
 
buyee packaging is good, but I have read of several dust covers broken after opening the packages, dust covers if they are rounded like for Pioneer PL 70 or obsidian plinth dust covers like Technics SH 10 B3/B7 or for Technics SP 15 /25 that are obtained by molding today no one is able to replicate them in an identical way; consequently it is a big risk for dust covers of this type.
 
I disagree about the packaging.

They should be boxed up like they are when new. Tonearm weights removed, platter secured or removed, head shell removed, dust cover should be removed and wrapped separately. None of this was done on the two that arrived damaged.

On a side note.

The first thing you want to do is perform some general maintenance. Likely it will be the first service its ever had.

Case in point. My Y3F had nearly zero oil in the spindle bearing. It appears to have leaked out allover the PCB.
 

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QL-Y5F repair value?

I posted elsewhere about my inop QL-Y5F. I just dropped it off at a local, reputable shop. I described what was going on with the turntable and they asked if the tonearm was dragging backward across the album, which it is (among other things) so I assume this is a common failure mode for this model. The tech I spoke with said their typical turnaround time for turntables is 1-2 weeks, whereas amps and preamps can run 6-8 weeks.

The evaluation fee is a reasonable $50, which can be applied to the repair. I wanted to get an idea of what the AK collective feels is a practical repair value limit. This way, I can give a go/no-go when the verdict comes in. I know the short answer is “it depends”. Notionally, I’m thinking half of its replacement cost. For what it’s worth, I’ve seen a couple of them on Ebay and Reverb for $400 & $500.

Feedback appreciated.
 
NW1 said:
QL-Y5F repair value?

I posted elsewhere about my inop QL-Y5F. I just dropped it off at a local, reputable shop. I described what was going on with the turntable and they asked if the tonearm was dragging backward across the album, which it is (among other things) so I assume this is a common failure mode for this model. The tech I spoke with said their typical turnaround time for turntables is 1-2 weeks, whereas amps and preamps can run 6-8 weeks.

The evaluation fee is a reasonable $50, which can be applied to the repair. I wanted to get an idea of what the AK collective feels is a practical repair value limit. This way, I can give a go/no-go when the verdict comes in. I know the short answer is “it depends”. Notionally, I’m thinking half of its replacement cost. For what it’s worth, I’ve seen a couple of them on Ebay and Reverb for $400 & $500.

Feedback appreciated.
Click to expand...

I recently spent around 200 (including new cart and stylus) on my QL-A5 but was lucky to not have to do any re-capping or replacing hard to come by parts. So say 100 without man hours for some repairs that required little to no parts. Your QL-Y5F, depending how much you spent on the initial purchase, would make me spend around 300 euro's but it has to be perfect after that and I would do it for using it myself and not for reselling and hoping for a profit.

Hope this helps.

Beautiful table by the way.
 
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Skypants said:
Buyee isnt the only game in town. There are many handlers.

The biggest hurdle is the shipping cost. There is no way to get an accurate shipping cost before you purchase. Since you have no idea what the dimensions of the box will be.

Buyee clearly packaged all 3 turntables for international shipping. They made their own box and used expanding foam to form fit the TT, which was wrapped up in bubble wrap.

What they didnt do was prepare the TTs properly. They did not secure the platter, remove tone arm weights. or isolate the dust cover from the TT.

They seller of the Y7 did proper prep and secured the platter and tone arm. But buyee did all the rest.

This the Y7 I bought:

https://buyee.jp/item/yahoo/auction/e1077281336

Even with sipping it was far less than Unisound. Its also in way better condition than most of the JVCs I have seen on thier page.

My advice would be to use a payment service like PayPay for buyer protection, and be patient. Then look at all the pictures very closely. Most of the electronics that pop up on Japanese auction sites have come from long term storage. Its clearly evident in the photos. Lots of dust and corrosion.

Be patient. Eventually one will pop up from a personal collection. Like the beautiful Denon I posted earlier.

FYI, the term Junk just means used in Japan. Generally its just old and not taken care of but still functional.
Click to expand...

Any idea on average shipping at least or what you spent?

I was poking around there after seeing this and some things were selling for really cheap, not JVC but some Technics stuff, but still. If I looked at the shipper the seller said they would use it was around a hundredish dollars for a particular table. If I did the calculator that buyee says to use shipping could be as much as or even over $200. thats a big difference and would affect how far I would be willing to bid on a table.
 
Bart-Jeroen said:
I recently spent around 200 (including new cart and stylus) on my QL-A5 but was lucky to not have to do any re-capping or replacing hard to come by parts. So say 100 without man hours for some repairs that required little to no parts. Your QL-Y5F, depending how much you spent on the initial purchase, would make me spend around 300 euro's but it has to be perfect after that and I would do it for using it myself and not for reselling and hoping for a profit.
Click to expand...

You brought up a couple of salient points. First, this was my fathers turntable (though back in the day, I probably put >95% of the 100-ish hours it has on it) so that tips the scale in my favor regarding purchase price. I also just bought a Schiit Mani 2 preamp (in anticipation of using the Azden HOMC cartridge, which turned out to have a missing stylus) and an Audio-Technica AT-VM95ML/H Headshell/Cartridge Combo. Therefore, I'm already invested form the perspective of having those two pieces of hardware.
 
loki993 said:
Any idea on average shipping at least or what you spent?

I was poking around there after seeing this and some things were selling for really cheap, not JVC but some Technics stuff, but still. If I looked at the shipper the seller said they would use it was around a hundredish dollars for a particular table. If I did the calculator that buyee says to use shipping could be as much as or even over $200. thats a big difference and would affect how far I would be willing to bid on a table.
Click to expand...

$150-250 for the 3 TT's I bought. Fedex 2 day air was their cheapest option.

Its nearly impossible to get an accurate quote for shipping until you have won the auction.
 
NW1 said:
QL-Y5F repair value?

I posted elsewhere about my inop QL-Y5F. I just dropped it off at a local, reputable shop. I described what was going on with the turntable and they asked if the tonearm was dragging backward across the album, which it is (among other things) so I assume this is a common failure mode for this model. The tech I spoke with said their typical turnaround time for turntables is 1-2 weeks, whereas amps and preamps can run 6-8 weeks.

The evaluation fee is a reasonable $50, which can be applied to the repair. I wanted to get an idea of what the AK collective feels is a practical repair value limit. This way, I can give a go/no-go when the verdict comes in. I know the short answer is “it depends”. Notionally, I’m thinking half of its replacement cost. For what it’s worth, I’ve seen a couple of them on Ebay and Reverb for $400 & $500.

Feedback appreciated.
Click to expand...

Is there any sentimental value?

What could you purchase, for more or less what you would spend to fix it, and have something of similar quality and sound?

It will likely be a simple solution, cleaning, capacitors, ect. If its not, there are no expensive parts available to replace what broke. You would have to get another working Y5F and use yours for parts.
 
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NW1 said:
You brought up a couple of salient points. First, this was my fathers turntable (though back in the day, I probably put >95% of the 100-ish hours it has on it) so that tips the scale in my favor regarding purchase price. I also just bought a Schiit Mani 2 preamp (in anticipation of using the Azden HOMC cartridge, which turned out to have a missing stylus) and an Audio-Technica AT-VM95ML/H Headshell/Cartridge Combo. Therefore, I'm already invested form the perspective of having those two pieces of hardware.
Click to expand...

The headshell that came with the AT combo may not work. On my A5 I was not able to get the cartridge back far enough to get the overhang sorted. I didn't mind because I like the orginal JVC headshell way more.
 
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I like the QL Y5F design and finish enough to also purchase this Hitachi HT 500, not sure if they borrowed or used any components from JVC though Hitach, I believe, was a large enough company to do in house design and assembly on their turntables. It is a nice full auto although I can manually lower the tonearm as well.

The Hitachi is from the early to mid 1980's, looks like they decided to give it that JVC look.



DSCN6865.jpg DSCN6867.jpg
 
i generally find Buyee's Air Delivery shipping very reasonable compared to the alternatives. It's usually shipped via FedEx or UPS in a couple days. Of course, being international shipping, it will never be cheap for a large item. $150-$400 is typical.

I have had a good number of successful purchases through Buyee, and a few that were unfortunately damaged.

I find that the biggest danger when shipping turntables is that some sellers, even ones who do an otherwise excellent packing job, tend to leave the dust cover connected to the hinges on the plinth. This means that if the box receives less-than-gentle treatment in transit, the back of the dust cover has a high likelihood of completely breaking off, potentially causing plinth damage. Some sellers will place the platter on top of the dust cover, which makes this scenario even more likely.

Buyee refunded me half the purchase price when this happened, which I considered fair, as the damage was only cosmetic. In another case, when part of the plinth actually cracked, they refunded me the full cost.

I don't know that I would recommend filing PayPal claims if what they pay isn't to your satisfaction. They could potentially block you from bidding if it causes them any issues. There is always some inherent risk in buying through a proxy shipper, especially if you are relying on the original seller's packing job.

Some Japanese sellers also have the unfortunate habit of leaving the platter in place and taping it down, which may or may not result in bearing damage, depending on the turntable and the treatment it receives in transit.
 
Can't say that I blame you - Not many of the QL YxF series around were I live so settled on the Hitachi though I admit it is very well thought out.I believe it has some sort of carbon arm, not much information to be had on them. The major players were showcasing their latest designs in tonearms and motors near the end of that " golden era " and we all benefitted from it fortunately. I honestly do not understand why anyone would purchase a 1,000.00 or even more new turntable when an exceptional vintage DD could be had. The only downside would be age related issues though usually they are not too difficult to address.
 
I just picked up a one owner QL Y5F with original users manual and a ADC XLM II. The thing is damn near mint. I've always lusted after these JVC QL tables. Can't wait to get it home and spin some vinyl. Is there anything to watch out for when getting it up and running?
 
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