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When more is more. One of JVC's Best, the QL-Y7.

secondslc

secondslc

mmmmmarantz
Hey Guys,

My fascination with JVC started with a middle of the line Integrated amp and tuner I got at a thrift store. Its build quality and performance blew me away considering how abused it looked and the fact that it used "darlington power pack" drivers. I made a thread about it, and many people came out of the "JVC Fan closet". http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=204813

My brother then came home with an interesting integrated amp, the A-X5. It has some trick circuitry that lets it play Class-A for the most part, with little to no crossover distortion. The sound was laser sharp, clean, and extremely revealing. It was love from then on. I had to have the bigger brother, the A-X9, and I finally came across one a few months ago. http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3359/3214918920_bd20cdda4f_b.jpg . Hooked up to an extremely unforgiving pair of Infinity speakers, the JVC still held its own.

I then found a pair of speakers I never knew Victor/JVC ever made. http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=219087 Back loaded horn cabinets with heavy duty drivers, and again...a complete pleasant surprise.

Where does this lead me? Well...I think I finally found a turntable that matches the performance of the above items. The JVC QL-Y7. It's a direct drive turntable, with a servo operated tonearm, and semi-automatic control.

Most purists go for belt drive with a fully manual tonearm. Remove ALL chances of distortion in the signal path, just pure analog. While the british press ridiculed direct drive turntables, the japanese manufacturers soldiered on, and brought us some gear that kept up with or out performed the purist turntables in most any measurements. The QL-Y7 was one of them.

The direct drive system was the standard in japan for radio broadcast. Very heavy duty, absolute speed, and no motor noise were some hallmarks of this drive system. Denon and some other companies used this drive system in some expensive decks. The servo controlled tonearm is semi automatic, but fully motorized. The goal was to reduce resonance, and keep tracking forces as accurate as possible. Damping, tracking force, and anti skate are all electronically controlled, and adjusted by knobs that take the guesswork out of adjusting. There are two more adjustments that are manual. A knob adjusts the VTA, and there is a traditional counterweight installed to get the tonearm to balance at zero. The plinth is mirror gloss, rosewood veneered, and acoustically deadened enough to contribute to its 30+pound weight.

The result? Well...its wonderful! I am swapping between a Shure M95ED and a Grado silver, and its real cool to have a table that reveals the character of each cartridge. I still prefer my Beogram 8000's cartridge, but that cartridge cost me more than the whole JVC! And while i'm still a linear tracker kind of guy, the gadgetry in this "traditional" JVC is a great compromise for a geek like me. I can swap cartridges, and put less wear on the beogram. Plus I can fit in, with a non B&O turntable ;)

Does anybody else have experience with this turntable? I'd love to get more opinions. Does anybody have magazine reviews? From what I have read, this table tested at the top or near the top in magazine reviews.

Some shots...
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Very nice decks.

I'm fond of those and Denon's space machine drives, and Sony's efforts too.

This JVC used an interesting magnet on top of magnet bearing setup- pretty nifty.

The Denons were very close in the basics of design principle, and JVC had some hand in the Denon's design.

Denon added a magnetic strip band on the platters to keep even more accurate speed than a typical quartz lock DD setup- Sony adopted that as well, and called it the "X-Tal" system. The Denons and Sonys have great speed accuracy due to this- but at the risk of developing issues if that magnetic strip on the platter gets ruined/demagnetized/excessively scratched. The JVC does not, I believe, have that strip- instead uses a type of +/- dual servo with quartz to lock in speed. Also an excellent solution.


The arms I've found are a PIA though- I don't like the Sony Biotracer arms or the Denon arms of similar design- they can prove unreliable and wonky with age, and extremely difficult to repair- they are full of computer controlled servos.

They sound fantastic however, using electronics to combat all sorts of tone arm misbehavior- a real work of science.

But to me, it's over-complicated with the electronics, and as they age are prone to hiccups and will prove to be difficult to maintain and repair- if at all repairable.


The American bases of these JVCs are typically smaller in size than the Japanese and European issued versions- though this one you own looks pretty robust.

Unlike the Denon "space ship" plinths- which I find poorly constructed, blase wooden boxes, the JVCs "space ships" used a multi-layer sandwich style plinth on their European and Japanese tables. Some of the American tables got it too. A much better plinth design.

Sony's answer for a plinth was a poly-resin and plastic mixture called, if I recall correctly, SBMC, which stands for "something-something" Molded Compound.

I find this to be an excellent plinth- very quiet and non-resonant- and a reason I favor the Sonys along with Denons and JVCs.

Kenwood also used a similar compound, but added granite dust to the mixture. This was initially offered only on their nicest tables. Excellent and quiet, dense plinths.


Glad you scored such a nice table- it's a keeper- and keep me in mind if you run across any more, especially of the lower models- as I'd like to mate it with a different arm.


Cheers,

Paul
 
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thedelihaus said:
They sound fantastic however, using electronics to combat all sorts of tone arm misbehavior- a real work of science.

But to me, it's over-complicated with the electronics, and as they age are prone to hiccups and will prove to be difficult to maintain and repair- if at all repairable.


The American bases of these JVCs are typically smaller in size than the Japanese and European issued versions- though this one you own looks pretty robust.

Unlike the Denon "space ship" plinths- which I find poorly constructed, blase wooden boxes, the JVCs "space ships" used a multi-layer sandwich style plinth on their European and Japanese tables. Some of the American tables got it too. A much better plinth design.

Cheers,
Paul
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No issues with this deck so far. However, I feel as if re-capping the unit will extend its lifespan, its the least I can do to make sure the impossible to replace electronics dont fry.

I believe the plinth on this particular model is directly from the Japanese tables, and is multi layered. It is definitely solid.

The drive system did indeed use a "push-pull" servo system that would counteract any forces on the platter with opposing forces.

It all works right now, and pretty flawlessly at that. The Q damping does wonders for some badly warped records. Watching the tonearm bounce up and down while the song sounds perfect is a thing of beauty.
 
I dunno about "most purists" - we've never been able to find much in the way of sonic artifacts from DD tales. The debate goes on, but it seems the consensus is that well designed in either format will do just fine. Something like the Yamaha GT-2000 should dispel the DD myth, pretty much for ever :)

Anyway, I have the Y5F and it's a very nice TT. Yours is a bit further up the food chain, but they all sound very nice. No need for JVC owners to hang their heads. It sure ain't an ION :)
 
BrocLuno said:
I dunno about "most purists" - we've never been able to find much in the way of sonic artifacts from DD tales. The debate goes on, but it seems the consensus is that well designed in either format will do just fine. Something like the Yamaha GT-2000 should dispel the DD myth, pretty much for ever :)

Anyway, I have the Y5F and it's a very nice TT. Yours is a bit further up the food chain, but they all sound very nice. No need for JVC owners to hang their heads. It sure ain't an ION :)
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I wish i could get my hands on some of the "ultra" japanese DD tables. This is as close as my budget allows.
 
secondslc said:
I wish i could get my hands on some of the "ultra" japanese DD tables. This is as close as my budget allows.
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That's one helluva table! I love my QL-L2, but the big Sony booted it into my bedroom system.

I know what you mean about the "ultra" Japanese tables. I'd love to find a L-07D and a PS-X9.
 
No question that JVC built some excellent turntables.

I scored a QL-A7 at a yard sale for five bucks a couple years ago. In perfect working condition. This model has a high quality "J" tonearm and very heavy plinth finished in black. It's manual start with auto lift/shut off at end of play.

The QL-A7 is my dedicated Mono turntable and is in fine company with my Technics SP-15 & KAB Technics SL-1200MK5.

Gotta love those direct drive Japanese turntables. :music:
 
I have a QL-A7 that I bought new in 1988
 

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Beautiful unit, I love JVC stuff too. I recently passed on an A-X77 for $190 (didn't have the cash), kicking myself ever since
 
JVC’s are sleepers. Excellent find! You’ll have years of reliable service. The electronic arm is surefooted and amazing. It’s my first line of defense against a severely warped record.

Decades ago, my friends would insult it because it was gimmicky high tech and unreliable Japanese junk, it wasn’t pure. I liked it anyway. One guy tried to break it by repeatedly pushing the power switch for an hour and trying to wear out the brake. Now, out of habit, I keep it hidden under a soft cover. Nobody would admit how quiet it was. I think they’d be surprised to see it today.

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Have you seen the anti-resonance ring screwed into the bottom of the massive platter? Rap your knuckle on it to hear how dead it sounds. Add the thick mat and it’s quiet.

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How about the guts? This is before and after I added a little butyl rubber damping but not much as it is packed with thick walls. Today, they could probably put all the electronics on one chip.

It has a long tonearm making it a big turntable so it doesn’t fit in my rack. But she’s too sweet to hide.
 
hakaplan said:
Yes, that's all well and good, but the Marantz headshell is a disappointment. :D
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:D

Unfortunately, the one that came with it was a generic unit, id LOVE to get a JVC branded one.

But for some reason, i saw it fitting.... and my PM-94 sounds better with that headshell in the system :stupid:

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Or maybe i got better synergy with that headshell as the JVC was sticking out like a sore thumb :yes:
 
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