Hello everyone. I just bought my first e-bay turntable and I am awaiting its arrival. I sent the seller instructions on how to pack it from the turntable factory and I hope it arrives unscathed. I am a bit worried after lurking in here and reading some horror stories. Anyway, it is a JVC-NIVICO SRP-473E, here is a picture:

http://i16.ebayimg.com/03/i/000/ec/a5/d49f_1.JPG

Does anyone know anything about this model? I have had a hard time finding info on it. I liked its looks (kind of like a dual), it looked as if it were in good shape and the price was right. Most importantly, it has to be much better than the cheap and fairly old radio shack Lab-340 I have.

Hi

nice to have seen it before arrival :)
looks like a nice simple player and a lot as if it would be Chuo Denki-Built

good luck for your shipping, but experience told me >50% of sellers are too ****** to pack well...

Hi

nice to have seen it before arrival :)
looks like a nice simple player and a lot as if it would be Chuo Denki-Built

good luck for your shipping, but experience told me >50% of sellers are too ****** to pack well...

Yeah, like I said I am a bit worried after seeing photos and reading horror stories. But I did send a link with detailed how to instructions and offered the seller a little cash incentive if it arrived in good shape. We'll see. There is a Marantz 6110 about a three hour round trip from where I live, but the person wants 39 for it and it really doesn't look like it is in good shape:

http://i5.ebayimg.com/06/i/000/ec/16/5aea_12.JPG

It says "4-channel ready" which means early to mid- 70s. That alone would suggest high quality, but its appearance is also consistent with that. Just FYI, Nivico = Nippon Victor Company, and JVC = Japan Victor Company. Only similarity to Dual might be the suspension, but Duals back then were changers with straight arms. It's a typical Japanese model with an s-arm similar to and possibly patterened after the Acos Lustre arm.

The "4-channel ready" just referred to the use of low capacitance tonearm wiring, and the fact that it was probably sold with a 4-channel cartridge. Works fine with stereo.

It says "4-channel ready" which means early to mid- 70s. That alone would suggest high quality, but its appearance is also consistent with that. Just FYI, Nivico = Nippon Victor Company, and JVC = Japan Victor Company. Only similarity to Dual might be the suspension, but Duals back then were changers with straight arms. It's a typical Japanese model with an s-arm similar to and possibly patterened after the Acos Lustre arm.

The "4-channel ready" just referred to the use of low capacitance tonearm wiring, and the fact that it was probably sold with a 4-channel cartridge. Works fine with stereo.

Thanks for the info. Let's hope it arrives in one usable piece. By the way, i was thinking of a Grado Black cartridge for this unit.

If you like the Grado sound, that's fine, but also consider an AT95E, 95HE or 95SA from lpgear.

I wouldn't know what the Grado sound is. As I have limited experience with phono cartridges.

Do you have a budget/$$ figure in mind regarding how much you wish to spend on a cart? That will be helpful in terms of recommendations. Nice looking turntable, by the way; hope it arrives in good shape.

I wouldn't know what the Grado sound is. As I have limited experience with phono cartridges.

The Grado sound is good.:D

But Seriously, that's a good option provided you can determine there's not going to be hum, as Grados hum with certain turntables. The Grado sound is warm and lush, and many of us love it - although there are some who don't care for it. Proper setup is very important with any cartridge, but even more so with a Grado.

If it makes you feel any better, I won my Thorens TD125 MKII on ebay and it survived shipping. Granted the dust cover didn't make it, but everything else is fine, and that's saying a lot because it's a big, heavy turntable.

Do you have a budget/$$ figure in mind regarding how much you wish to spend on a cart? That will be helpful in terms of recommendations. Nice looking turntable, by the way; hope it arrives in good shape.

Thanks. I was thinking that the $60 is about all I want to put into it.

The Grado sound is good.:D

But Seriously, that's a good option provided you can determine there's not going to be hum, as Grados hum with certain turntables. The Grado sound is warm and lush, and many of us love it - although there are some who don't care for it. Proper setup is very important with any cartridge, but even more so with a Grado.

If it makes you feel any better, I won my Thorens TD125 MKII on ebay and it survived shipping. Granted the dust cover didn't make it, but everything else is fine, and that's saying a lot because it's a big, heavy turntable.

That's good to know. I have never installed a cartridge so this should be a good learning experience. I assume I will also need some tools.

In my experience, JVC tables are quite nice. They seemed to get and did not build to some low price point. It seems to have a cartridge on it. When it gets there, just get a new stylus for that cartridge. You can get them from Garage-A-Records, Turntableneedles or LPGear (all .com), or if it's the right cartridge, maybe even Parts Express for even cheaper. Point is to keep your original headshell and cartridge in tact and running while you try something else.

You can drop by VinylEngine.com and see if they have the owners manual and maybe the service manual? If not, we'll walk you through what we can. Do a search here for the Grado hum database and see if your TT has been mentioned? If it survives the shipping, I'd order an extra headshell off the 'Bay. One of the black or silver generics will work fine for your first attempt and a set-up. It'll be like $12 to your door.

Then let us know how it arrived and what you found out and we'll help with the cartridge bit :)

Some information from a 1973-74 JVC/NIVICO flyer, only in german.

SRP 473E
Vierkanal Plattenspieler Ein Präzizionsgerät mit Riemenantrieb,
2 Geschwindigkeiten, automat. Tonarmlift und glatter Spurlage; das bedeutet sauberster Kontakt Rille/Nadel bei niedrigem Auflagedruck. Einwandfreier Gleichlauf durch Riemenantrieb mit 4-poligem Synchronmotor; 12" Drehteller aus Aluguß. Ein Modell für Quadro¬phonie! Mit Tonabnehmer für Vierkanal-Abtastung; Signalkabel mit sehr niedriger Eigenimpedanz. Zum Abspielen der neu-entwickelten Quadro-Platten sind zusätzlich ein CD -4 Demodulator sowie eine Spezialnadel erforderlich.

Geschwindigkeiten 33 1/3 & 45 Upm
Signal/Rauschverhältnis Besser als 50 dB
Kanaltrennung Besser als 25 dB bei 1 kHz
Tonarm Universaltonarm
Tonabnehmer Magnetsystem
Ausgangsspannung 3 mV
Nadel Diamant
Stromversorgung 100-240 V, umschaltbar 50/60 Hz
Abmessungen 18,4 x 46 x 37 cm (H x B x T)
Gewicht 10 kg

Michael-Otto

Bluntly put, what is the total amount of money you're paying the seller -- including the "incentive" -- to ship it to you?

Fred

Since we are talking about ebay TTs, here's my experience:
I have bought 4 TTs in total from ebay and 3 of them have arrived so far.
These three are all Revox, 791, 790 and 795.
I gave instructions on how to pack them and all three arrived in one piece in general. The first one suffered a loss, where the motor's rotor wasn't secured and shipping caused it to hit on the motor PCB and break it. Luckily, nothing else was broken.

The other two arrived intact, so until now, my statistics are 2.5 out of 3. Fortunatelly nothing broke that could not be fixed.

Agreed, shipping TTs is risky unless they are packed very well and that then becomes costly as correct packing adds to the weight.

My last one, B-790, came from USA, for a total of $120 shipping costs via USPS. Exceptionally well packed, the unit was advertized as "not the minty TT you might be looking for". I bought it because I could repaint it and polish the dust cover, and the price was right, even after the $120 for shipping.

Before looking up TTs on ebay, I first check the seller's history in selling them and check the comments from recent buyers. And if I can communicate beforehand and make sure they understand the shipping instructions, only then would I consider a purchase.

I know most will be thinking that garage sales and thrift stores should be my first option, but I don't have these here and I can't get any decent machines in thrift stores.

Yeah, like I said I am a bit worried after seeing photos and reading horror stories. But I did send a link with detailed how to instructions and offered the seller a little cash incentive if it arrived in good shape. We'll see. There is a Marantz 6110 about a three hour round trip from where I live, but the person wants 39 for it and it really doesn't look like it is in good shape:

http://i5.ebayimg.com/06/i/000/ec/16/5aea_12.JPG

It's just dirty, from the looks of it. You'd be amazed at how filthy some of my gems were when I first got them.

Here's my fitty cent:

I've purchased 6 turntables on Ebay. 4 arrived just fine...coincidentally, all Pioneers. My beloved Technics SL-1401 arrived with a damaged dust cover because the guy who packed it was a complete and total shit-for-brains and a liar to boot. I'm very lucky that the dust cover was the only casualty. And a Dual something or other that I bought arrived in a neat little pile of plastic pieces.

In the end, unless it's really something odd, rare or desireable that you're after, turntables are best purchased in person. That Marantz in the pic likely needs only some time and elbow grease to be a good looking performer. And the price is reasonable enough.