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Jvc score

Vintagegeek

Vintagegeek

Well-Known Member
This last week I picked up a complete JVC stereo, JA-S31 amp, JT-V31 tuner, JL-A20 TT, KD-V120 cassette player and a set of RTR E-S10 speakers. I just cleaned the amp and deoxit the pots. Kinda surprised at how good it sounds. Interesting is the is using Darlington power packs in the output stage. Good seperation and sound stage. I am currently powering my system with a Onkyo A 7090 amp but this little fella sounds good.
 

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The darlington power packs are what make this jvc sound good it is also good at 40wpc @ 8ohms jvc gets little love but they made some great stuff. imho the darlington power packs sound far better than the stk variant atleast to me. They also have greater short circuit protection and greater reliability it seems. replaced far more stk chips in my time than the darlington compliments.
 
Nice! Post a pic of the complete system when you can.

Agree, JVC does not get the respect it deserves, especially the older gear.

I'm in the middle of restoring a M7050 power amp that's got some issues I'm trying to figure out. Hopefully it's not to complicated for my limited electronic skills.

Good luck with your system.

Glenn
 
A photo I took Friday of the Darlington power packs in my JVC JR-S201 receiver. 35 w/ch/8; somewhat more into 4 ohms. (1978--1982 or thereabouts.)

Perhaps the same devices, with a different front-end and power supply. If you look close, you may see the Brown Goo of Death which seems to indicate the two main power-supply caps (6800uF, 50V) are leaking. Surgery soon, but not instantly.

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indeed they are.
Aiwa C series power amps use the same packs, and they sound terrific.

Cant complain about darlington packs :)
 
I also think you will find the arms that JVC used on those tables to be much better than expected.
 
Shurkey, I had that same receiver but did not pay attention to the output section when I cleaned it. It did have the cap issue you described as I caught that. The amp cleaned up nicely and the offset was spot on. I got this stuff from the original owner and they were well taken care of. Contemplating selling my Onkyo stuff and using the jvc tuner and amp. The TT has an AT cartridge on it and it looks pretty nice I am thinking it is an older 120. I was lucky too that I got a set of Pioneer SE-505 headphones too!
 

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Great looking system! The only thing you née now is a matching EQ. There's plenty on fleabay.

Great to get stuff from original owners.

Glenn
 
Nice. I am a big fan of JVC TTs.....the jla20 is is great table,have myself as well as a qlf4. Both rock solid. You won't be dissapointed
 
The amp is a pleasant surprise, I am driving a set of the pioneer Andrew jones floor speakers and really happy with the stage and seperation. The tt needs a belt and I have a QL 5 already so it will be going at some point.
 
The "brown goo of death " may just be glue used during assy.
ofc replacing P.S. electrolytic Caps on vintage gear is usually a good idea .
 
frankxbe said:
The "brown goo of death " may just be glue used during assy.
ofc replacing P.S. electrolytic Caps on vintage gear is usually a good idea .
Click to expand...
I have three of these JVC receivers--a '201, a '401, and my original-from-1979, a '501.

The '201 and the '401 both have areas near capacitors that appear to my untrained eye to be leaking Brown Goo of Death. I haven't pulled the top off the '501 recently.

The '401 has the same crap around some single-transistor heat sinks, where there's no capacitor to leak in that area. So I'm not entirely surprised that this could be some kind of assembly glue. OTOH, in SOME of these areas, the parts bathing in the Brown Goo of Death are actively corroding.

I'll say this: IF (big IF) the power supply caps have leaked and are now toast...I sure can't tell by the way the receiver works. It just seems to have limitless power; especially for a 35-watt design; and the same for the '401 although the power switch should be cleaned on that one.

The '501 has been "flakey" for years. I'll have to dick with it for real, someday. Not any time soon, though.
 
Schurkey said:
I have three of these JVC receivers--a '201, a '401, and my original-from-1979, a '501.

The '201 and the '401 both have areas near capacitors that appear to my untrained eye to be leaking Brown Goo of Death. I haven't pulled the top off the '501 recently.

The '401 has the same crap around some single-transistor heat sinks, where there's no capacitor to leak in that area. So I'm not entirely surprised that this could be some kind of assembly glue. OTOH, in SOME of these areas, the parts bathing in the Brown Goo of Death are actively corroding.

I'll say this: IF (big IF) the power supply caps have leaked and are now toast...I sure can't tell by the way the receiver works. It just seems to have limitless power; especially for a 35-watt design; and the same for the '401 although the power switch should be cleaned on that one.

The '501 has been "flakey" for years. I'll have to dick with it for real, someday. Not any time soon, though.
Click to expand...

The brown goo is in all my JVC pieces as well. I'm currently restoring a PL10 pre amp and M7050 amp. In the pre amp I decided to replace several caps that seemed to have more goo than usual. There was also some minor corrosion on some diode wires. Cleaned it all up, the pre works great. The amp has some issues I'm trying to work out. The caps in this look good, with small amounts of the brown glue, I wouldn't consider it goo.
 
GD70 said:
The brown goo is in all my JVC pieces as well. I'm currently restoring a PL10 pre amp and M7050 amp. In the pre amp I decided to replace several caps that seemed to have more goo than usual. There was also some minor corrosion on some diode wires. Cleaned it all up, the pre works great. The amp has some issues I'm trying to work out. The caps in this look good, with small amounts of the brown glue, I wouldn't consider it goo.
Click to expand...
That's good to know. I'm seeing the brown glue--if that's what it is--on parts that simply can't leak electrolyte. And as I said...the thing works great. It doesn't act "wounded".

There's a guy parting-out a '401; one of the pieces he's selling is the circuit board that has the Goo/glue on my unit. His unit also has the Goo/glue, in mostly the same places, to judge from the small photos posted on eBay.

I think I'm feeling more relaxed about this now.
 
Schurkey said:
That's good to know. I'm seeing the brown glue--if that's what it is--on parts that simply can't leak electrolyte. And as I said...the thing works great. It doesn't act "wounded".

There's a guy parting-out a '401; one of the pieces he's selling is the circuit board that has the Goo/glue on my unit. His unit also has the Goo/glue, in mostly the same places, to judge from the small photos posted on eBay.

I think I'm feeling more relaxed about this now.
Click to expand...

Parts are hard to come by with these old units. If I were you, I'd grab that board, and any other extra parts.

It's very difficult to get PC boards for my M7050 amp and if any became available, I'd grab them in a heart beat.

Good luck with your reciever!
 
These guys are built with mostly discrete components; if a capacitor or transistor takes a dump, I can stuff in a capacitor or transistor.

The seller is in Canada; while the price of his circuit boards isn't excessive, the shipping probably will be.

You have reminded me that I had a second '201; it was damaged in a fire but several parts are stored under a work-bench in my basement. Haven't thought about them in years. Might have to take a look and see what stuff I saved from that receiver. I know I have the Darlington power packs and the heat sink.
 
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