JVC QL-?? owners thread

[Final_Baton]

There's actually a beautiful QL-5 for sale here locally, but the seller wants $1,300, which to me seem astronomical even if serviced and in excellent condition. Thats the way it goes with anything even remotely high end around here -- they're so scarce (I blame the thrifty midwestern dutch) that when anything even moderately low-mid or mid comes up, the prices are astronomical and someone is willing to pay it.

If you're willing to roll the dice some, you could try importing from Japan. You save a lot of money that way. That's how I personally got to afford one of those QL decks.

There is the domestic auction route and that's where the cheapest ones can be found. But you gotta make sure that the proxy service will pack it safely before bidding. And there's some challenges in regard to setting this all up, but with a little patience anybody can do it.

And then there's the big international auction site we all know. You save less than via japan domestic sites auctions but you can still save a lot in my experience by buying decks from Japan on there. I have not bought from him so I don't guarantee anything, but seller Unisound on there deals pretty much only in turntables so they must have lots of experience shipping them, and they have a rating of satisfaction of 100%. so I'd tend to trust them but AGAIN : I'm not guaranteeing anything here. Right now they have QL-Y3's, QL-Y5's, QL-Y44F's you name it. And all between 4 and 5 bills, with free shipping. (I won't write the prices in too much detail so as to not violate the forum rules, but go check them out). They also offer ''30 day free return'' FWIW, you'd have to go read the terms of exactly what they mean by that (but there's Paypal and auction site's protection in worst case scenario). Not calculated in there are custom fees, I don't know how it is in the US but here it was a $25 fee I got on the QL-Y44F.

But for sure, you're always kinda rolling the dice when getting a TT shipped. But hey : I wouldn't have been able to afford one full stop if I hadn't imported, so... there you go. 4 or 5 bills on there, versus say 7-8 bills locally? That is certainly tempting. But most on here will tell you to only by locally and pickup yourself. And that's not bad advice.

 

[totem]

FYI The TT-101 drive/motor weighs in at 22 lbs. In the JDM market it was widely sold separately to be mated
with a custom plinth and tonearm of your choice.

 

[BillWojo]

If you purchase from Japan just look at the pictures very closely. Remember that Japan is an island in the middle of the sea and salt air can cause a lot of corrosion if it wasn't in a protected atmosphere.
I have looked at a few tonearms and a number of them have some sort of corrosion on them. So just be careful.

BillWojo

 

[seely]

If you're willing to roll the dice some, you could try importing from Japan. You save a lot of money that way. That's how I personally got to afford one of those QL decks.

Thanks for the recommendation... I took a look and there's some starting around $400-450, but unfortunately that's still a bit out of my price range. I've been seeing some QL-F and A series in the ~$200 range which is more where I need to be right now. Though, part of me wonders if that's a noticeable upgrade from my low-end, belt drive Yamaha P350. Thankfully I have nothing but time to pour over specs and research TT's right now.

 

[Final_Baton]

Thanks for the recommendation... I took a look and there's some starting around $400-450, but unfortunately that's still a bit out of my price range. I've been seeing some QL-F and A series in the ~$200 range which is more where I need to be right now. Though, part of me wonders if that's a noticeable upgrade from my low-end, belt drive Yamaha P350. Thankfully I have nothing but time to pour over specs and research TT's right now.

Fair enough! but know that I was able to get my deck for $400 CAD (so $285 USD) total from a japanese domestic auction.

 

[seely]

Fair enough! but know that I was able to get my deck for $400 CAD (so $285 USD) total from a japanese domestic auction.

I might have to look into that route more carefully, I was looking at large auction site prices

 

[brunomarcs]

I shop on yahoo japan or Buyee japan I think it’s called. There are a ton of these Victor decks on there but keep in mind there 100 volt. Your looking at less than 200 US for one plus shipping. And it will probably be damaged in shipping. A GT-2000 I bought was broken in shipping, the dust cover was cracked and a sensor was ripped from the plinth. I got a complete refund on full purchase price and the shipping and I was gonna re veneer anyhow, so I have a free deck. Just have to buy a lid which I’ve done.

 

[Final_Baton]

So far I've only tried one combination of proxy and international shipping service and got good results : proxy called ''FromJapan'' and for international shipping I chose DHL. So far so good for me, I ordered a couple fragile electronic gadgets and one TT using this combo. All arrived as advertised. Maybe I'm lucky.

FromJapan didn't want to remove the platter and put it at the bottom of the box or separate box like I asked, actually they said they wouldn't take any suggestion and would pack it according to their standard (which when you think about it, could save them trouble from buyers who don't know their stuff and ask for poor packing methods, and item getting damaged because of that). They did something else and it actually wasn't too bad (could have been way worse) : they secured the platter down with several, tightly put large strips of medical tape, which grips extremely hard yet leaves no residu nor damage on the plinth. Same for securing the arm, in addition to creating an envelope of bubblewrap around it. Then they stuffed some bubblewarap around the arm and platter to make a filled ''cube''-like shape out of the TT and then they wrapped that HEAVILY in bubblewrap again, then put some stiff white styrofoam blocks around all corners(or was it sides?) and put that inside a box and then again in another box. almost overkill packaging. Honestly : the box could have been upside down for a portion of the trip, that it wouldn't have mattered.

DHL didn't wreck it, it arrived as seen in the add. The tonearm hadn't moved an iota and neither did the platter. no nicks to the plinth, nothing.

Now will ALL my futur purchases arrive in perfect condition? That I do not know. But so far I had great service.

 

[desertrat748]

Thanks for the recommendation... I took a look and there's some starting around $400-450, but unfortunately that's still a bit out of my price range. I've been seeing some QL-F and A series in the ~$200 range which is more where I need to be right now. Though, part of me wonders if that's a noticeable upgrade from my low-end, belt drive Yamaha P350. Thankfully I have nothing but time to pour over specs and research TT's right now.

Any of the even QL series are going to sound very similar. They are well built except in my opinion, the plinth and isolation. You will get excellent speed control, especially with their quartz lock drives. (I’m pretty sure that jvc were the first one with quartz lock)? Diminishing returns in my opinion beyond the mid level models. I will say that I have managed to get some nice performance from any of the models that came out from 1978 until 1982-83.

Don’t rush it. I’m betting that you can find something that you like in the 80-150 range and maybe 35-50 for shipping if you search online.
Half the fun is the quest and then getting it all set up. What do you have for carts?

 

[seely]

Any of the even QL series are going to sound very similar. They are well built except in my opinion, the plinth and isolation. You will get excellent speed control, especially with their quartz lock drives. (I’m pretty sure that jvc were the first one with quartz lock)? Diminishing returns in my opinion beyond the mid level models. I will say that I have managed to get some nice performance from any of the models that came out from 1978 until 1982-83.

Don’t rush it. I’m betting that you can find something that you like in the 80-150 range and maybe 35-50 for shipping if you search online.
Half the fun is the quest and then getting it all set up. What do you have for carts?

Looking at specs, that's kind of what I figured. Seems to be comparable motor/specs in a different chassis. For cartridges right now I've got an AT71 and an AT95, with a nude elliptical on the way for the 95. Neither cart is probably the best choice for my current Yamaha but the 95 does sound pretty darn good, regardless. I've got a couple sites I'm keeping an eye on for a QL series. The A5 would look especially nice with my receiver.

 

[Final_Baton]

I thought I was crazy about jvc being different and holding speed better than other manufacturers. I happen to have a vendors catalog, or model reference guide, for the entire QL line. Came with my QL-A7 purchase that was in excellent shape. Only the counter weight was sagging.

I never bothered to read it but now with this thread I’m curious about the QL performance.

According to the reference manual speed for the JVC Super Servo frequency generator w jvc quartz tables are at least 100 more accurate than conventional dd tables. It goes on about it. I’ll post some pics of the guide. I also got the ql a7 owners manual and the 1981 Shure hyper elliptical cart advertising brochure. Seems to be from AFC Audio 4818 McKnight Rd. Pittsburgh PA.

It's pretty cool to read them explain that tech. I think it's reasonable to say that they must have had the upperhand in Quartz Lock stability against the competition for the first few years, since they developped the tech. Their manuals mention ''double QL'' and I don't know what it is, but it could be part of their high performance with QL speed stability.

 

[brunomarcs]

So 2 QLy 44f’s sold for 67 and 58 bucks. These were in perfect condition. A TT-71 in a plinth with a nice victor arm sold for 29.00 bucks, yep. A QL-A70 in mint condition sold for 332.00. These are just a few of them.

 

[Final_Baton]

^^^^^^^^^^^^
Just checked, there's so much stuff under ''Victor QL''. Wow, the QL-5 and QL-(A)7 have the rosewood finish on japanese models!

 

[desertrat748]

Hope everyone knows that JVC stands for Victor Company of Japan. Hence you will find them as Victor. I’m not sure when they started using JVC?

My question to those who buy from Japan, isn’t shipping really expensive? I’m seeing prices up to 200 for shipping.

Also, Japan is at 100 volts AC. You have to buy a converter with a Japanese only table.

 

[Final_Baton]

Yes, Japan Victor Company 2 divisions, but the money all going to the same wallet. While only the JVC division operated in NA, both divisions operated in Japan and wonder if there was a switch at some point from Victor to JVC, or if the 2 operated at the same time over there.

Shipping is expensive but even despite that, you can save a substantial ammount. For example, for my table it cost me $200 CAD (so $140 USD) in shipping and fees in total. And I won the table at $175 CAD. Add the $25 customs fee, and it cost me $400 total. And potentially, you can win an auction at an even lower price. Compare that to Ebay price ($650 CAD at minimum) and local price ($700 - 800 CAD but probably the latter, and you have to find one too which is really rare. availability is a big point) and that's very worthy savings and route. There's potential to save even more, but to me $250 is a very substantial amount, and huge saving.

As for step down converter : I bought a $25 CAD Powerbright VC-100J and it works great.

 

[BillWojo]

This kind of custom build is usually done using the TT-81 or TT-101 motor drive units but I found someone that used a TT-71 motor drive unit.

Here is another one.

And how about one using slate for a plinth.

Now, to find a nice clean TT-71 motor drive unit..........

BillWojo

 

[brunomarcs]

All the talk of these jvc’s has rekindled my interest so I just won a TT-81 unit but didn’t reach the buyout price so I don’t know if I really own it yet, haven’t been sent an invoice! It’s been refurbished and I assume it’ll cost 125 for shipping.

 

[brunomarcs]

Btw Bill, that slate plinth you’ve pictured is over the top and now I have to one. That’s on a wall shelf.

 

[BillWojo]

Yea, it has a nice elegance to it. I hope you get that TT-81 motor drive unit, that was a screaming deal!
I've thought about contacting local granite countertop fabrication shops about having a plinth built. They use water jets and CNC routers, it would be no big deal to have them machine a plinth out of a large kitchen sink remnant. They might have slate to. Right now they would probably love some work.

BillWojo

 

[BillWojo]

Did you notice that he used a stock tonearm on that slate plinth table? It probably started as a QL-7. Don't discount the UA-5045 that came on the QL-7 or the UA-7045 that came on the higher versions. Did you see my post with the pictures about the UA-5045? Do a little research, they are better than some of the popular after market units and reasonably priced.
I would have the plinth cut for an arm board for easy tonearm swap's.

BillWojo