I picked up a JVC Quadraphonic TT today at the local thrift for $8. The plastic cover is scratched (stupid bins! :tears:) but the rest of it is mint.

I only grabbed it because it looks very high quality. It has a machined aluminum platter, and a solid aluminum tone arm with counterweight adjustments. It also has a thick real wood veneer base around it.

Anyone know anything about this?

It says "Brushless Servo player" on it and I believe the model is 5250.

I haven't messed with one of their Quad tables, but I have two JVC linear trackers (one direct, one belt). Both are high quality machines. JVCs are often on the list of "sleeper" equipment.

Does it have a cartridge? If so, what is it?

Last but not least...:worthless

http://knightamp.googlepages.com/102_1337.JPG
http://knightamp.googlepages.com/102_1338.JPG

http://knightamp.googlepages.com/102_1339.JPG

It does have a quad cartridge in it.

VERY cool!!!

I’d say that, judging by the thickness of the sides of the base, it’s quite a good one.:thmbsp: It’s not mentioned in the JVC timeline on vinylengine.com, but they do mention the 4VC-5244, and the 5240B, which was a 1971 model, and I’d think it’s from somewhere around that vintage. A Google search of the JVC 5250 reveals that it’s a belt drive, which uses a common 23.6” belt that’s also used on other JVC turntables.

However, from looking at your pictures of it, I can see that the anti-skating is disconnected. See that small, pivoting aluminium bar that’s to the left of the tonearm pivot point, and resting on the top of the turntable base, between the tonearm bearing and the platter? That small arm, which should have a small weight on it, should be behind the little horizontal aluminium bar that’s connected to the tonearm. How do you get it there? Well, make sure the turntable is switched off at the power point (so it doesn't auto return, if it is an auto return model). Then, move the tonearm across towards the centre of the platter, and just past what would be the runout groove of a record, you should be able to move the pivoting bar back behind the horizontal bar. Then move the tonearm back to the tonearm rest, and rest the small bar forward on the horizontal bar. It will then apply a small force towards the outside of the record, known as anti-skating force, to counteract the force which pulls the tonearm in towards the centre of the record, due to the offset angle of the headshell and cartridge at the end of the tonearm. You need anti-skating to make sure the stylus (needle) is in the centre of the groove, and doesn’t wear the inside of the groove more than the outside.

-Don

Not bad for $8 :banana:

Looks like a very nice table! The styling is more conservative than some of JVC's post-quad-era offerings. I wonder if they made it in-house, or if it was farmed out to another company? The resemblance is very strong to tables made for Pioneer, Marantz and other companies.

Cool...

The dustcover may not be original. It doesn't line up with those little round tabs.

Very cool, especially if you wish to set up a CD-4 (JVC's version) quad set-up. Such a system requires VERY low-capacitance wiring that can carry a weak signal up around 45KHz; the "4-channel ready" plate indicates that the tonearm wire (as well as cart and stylus) are up to these demands.

Get yourself a very good quad-decoding receiver (like one of the larger, later Sansui quads), set it to CD-4 decoding, add 4 speakers, and you'll have a quad system! Of course, you can get fancier and go for a Fosgate-Tate decoder and four separate amps (eight if bi-amping), etc... if you wish. [For SQ and QS decoding, you can use a regular cart/stylus, although it still helps to have good tonearm wire. Decoding can be done with any Dolby Prologic II surround amp, too!] Look into Quadbob's Quad Forum for all kinds of info on all things quad.

Or just use the TT for regular stereo and don't bother with quad, although that seems like a bit of a waste to me.

[I think I'm going to dedicate my new (to me) Sansui SR-929 as a quad TT and put a cart on it like yours, since it also has quad-capable wiring. :D]

It is a law of the universe that anybody with some quad equipment must get the missing stuff and have a complete quad system.

:D

Doug

Cool find , I'll bet it will sound pretty good when you get it spining . Don't know about the cart though ? Might be time for a change .

Sadly, it is missing the belt and the fuse was blown. I replaced the fuse and it powers up just fine. The speed adjustment works just fine and the motor is very quiet. Know where I can get a belt for it..? Unfortunately, I don't have any quad receivers, or vinyl for that matter. My collection of vinyl is very small anyways, so I don't listen that often. When I do, its through a '57 voice of music OEM'd Zentih cobramatic through a tube pre/ SE amp.

Quad can be fun when you finally get all the proper bits and pieces to decode CD-4 properly. But, all the proper bits and pieces can get expensive and even then decoding CD-4 properly is a finicky task that can test your patience. A quad TT is just one of those pieces you need to do quad.

You seem to have scored a nice TT that is well worth putting some effort into or passing on to someone willing to get it going and appreciate it.
The good news is quad capable TT’s are excellent for Stereo because as Arkay mentioned in Post #9 it has VERY low-capacitance wiring that carries the signal very well. Also a quad capable cart and stylus like yours are usually high quality. You may need a new stylus for yours because it probably is original with a lot of hours on it, so be prepared for that.
I personally would fix it up a bit, use it as a stereo player and enjoy it.
It should sound great with your tube gear if your setup has a phono in.
If not you may have to get some sort of phono amp.

As far as the belt I think ETI 500 mentioned in his post #5 that it uses a common 23.6” belt that’s also used on other JVC turntables. You should be able to get that from any of the TT suppliers recommended in lots of threads, or check eBay.

Know where I can get a belt for it..?

Garage-a-records, http://www.garage-a-records.com/proddetail.php?prod=FRX23.6 is one of the cheapest sources for belts, and they also have a huge range of stylus replacements, headshells, and other turntable parts and accessories. Although I haven't dealt with them, I believe that they are a trustworthy supplier.:thmbsp:

-Don

I ordered my replacement belts from http://www.vintage-electronics.cc/ - great prices, fast shipping.

It is a law of the universe that anybody with some quad equipment must get the missing stuff and have a complete quad system.

:D

Doug

Yes, yes! Or else pass the quad gear on to someone who will complete a quad system. (:D)

:scratch2: ...then again, the more people who have quad systems, the more competition there will be for the limited supply of quad LPs, which will push their prices up. On second thought, that law should not be enforced! :no: :D

Quad can be fun when you finally get all the proper bits and pieces to decode CD-4 properly. But, all the proper bits and pieces can get expensive and even then decoding CD-4 properly is a finicky task that can test your patience. A quad TT is just one of those pieces you need to do quad.

You seem to have scored a nice TT that is well worth putting some effort into or passing on to someone willing to get it going and appreciate it.
The good news is quad capable TT’s are excellent for Stereo because as Arkay mentioned in Post #9 it has VERY low-capacitance wiring that carries the signal very well. Also a quad capable cart and stylus like yours are usually high quality. You may need a new stylus for yours because it probably is original with a lot of hours on it, so be prepared for that.
I personally would fix it up a bit, use it as a stereo player and enjoy it.
It should sound great with your tube gear if your setup has a phono in.
If not you may have to get some sort of phono amp.


Yes, that same high-quality wire will work great with stereo cartridges. I'd strongly recommend that you do NOT use the quad cart for playing ordinary stereo records. That's a bit like using a Ferrari as a taxi; the CD-4 quad cartridges are much harder to find than regular stereo carts.

DO put a regular stereo cartridge on it, and carefully preserve that quad cartridge. Then you --or any future owner of the TT-- can later return it to use as a CD-4 quad player. Of course, this assumes that the cart is still good; most likely the stylus is worn, but as long as the cart itself is still good, it can probably be returned to service, with a new ('shibata') stylus.

Assuming the cart is good and if you don't want the hassles of setting up a CD-4 system, you could also opt to sell the quad cartridge to a quad-head, for some cash to set against any new stereo cartridge you may be buying. You could still use the stereo cartridge on that table to play all SQ records, which are much more common than CD-4 records, anyway. [QS records are so rare as to be not-worth-mentioning! LOL]

Anyway, congratulations on getting the fuse AND belt sorted out. Seems like you are very close to getting this thing back in service! :thmbsp:

Garage-a-records, http://www.garage-a-records.com/proddetail.php?prod=FRX23.6 is one of the cheapest sources for belts, and they also have a huge range of stylus replacements, headshells, and other turntable parts and accessories. Although I haven't dealt with them, I believe that they are a trustworthy supplier.:thmbsp:

-Don
I purchased an AT cartridge from them...fast delivery and really great customer service. Had a question and called the customer service number and the lady was extremely helpful and knowledgeable. I'll be going back again soon to get another cartridge. Great experience!

Son, you done good!!!
I love 70's turntables. After all, it was the goolden age of vinyl.
JVC was one of the proponents of CD-4 sound, they invented it.
It was a difficult system to demonstrate properly and because of it
sales were low. It was expensive too but all the best engineeering
went into it. Have fun with your JVC!

Let me chime in here with a suggestion to compliment Jim_M's thoughts. Yes by all means go ahead and fix the TT up as Jim suggested. But keep the stylus and cart in Quad specs. The tonearm, as Arkay pointed out, is already Quad ready. That will get you into quality sound and allow you some time to locate a Quad receiver or amp but yet still enjoying good stereo sound. You could then contemplate which speakers to acquire and most importantly the ones that show up frequently in pairs. It would be a slow build, but doing Quad is still possible.

I also have the JVC 5250 just got it this week for $20. bucks. Somebody mentioned that it is recommended to get the whole quad set up unfortunately I don't have enough dough to buy the whole quad so I just bought the TT.:banana:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3398/3232975712_64d28371ec_b.jpg
heres a link for the rest of the quad. Very nice people to deal with.http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=206658

There is nothing wrong with building up a quad system over time, one component at a time. I did it, and am still doing it (two+ years later!) via upgrading. Since most quad gear is long out of production, it takes time to find and acquire the pieces, anyway. It also takes time to hunt down enough quad LPs to make the system worthwhile.

But a good quad turntable is an excellent start, since it is one of the harder pieces to find/get... and the CD-4 cartridge, even harder!

But a good quad turntable is an excellent start, since it is one of the harder pieces to find/get... and the CD-4 cartridge, even harder!

I'm actually watching one on ebay:Dhttp://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=180323877636
I'm planning on changing the cartridge with regular stereo so I might not bid on this one but if the price is right why not.

Wow on the price of that CD-4 cart! I am not quite sure what to do with the thing now as it might be more valuable to someone else than to me, but I would like to get a belt and get it running soon before I decide to sell it. I would hope that I could get my investment back if I did decide to sell it to someone looking to complete a quad system. There was a JVC receiver there also that I am sure went with the system, but it was a cheap JR-100 and I already had a Technics in my cart. I passed on the JVC, it wasn't that great looking either, and only a mere 15 watts/ channel.


EDIT: I just noticed that my cart says Victor on it, not JVC. Does that JVC cart just have a plastic cover over it?

Are you talking bout the headshell? I haven't remove the cartridge yet but looking at it it looks like it is screwd to the headshellWow on the price of that CD-4 cart! I am not quite sure what to do with the thing now as it might be more valuable to someone else than to me, but I would like to get a belt and get it running soon before I decide to sell it. I would hope that I could get my investment back if I did decide to sell it to someone looking to complete a quad system. There was a JVC receiver there also that I am sure went with the system, but it was a cheap JR-100 and I already had a Technics in my cart. I passed on the JVC, it wasn't that great looking either, and only a mere 15 watts/ channel.


EDIT: I just noticed that my cart says Victor on it, not JVC. Does that JVC cart just have a plastic cover over it?

http://www.lpgear.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=TB

i've had good luck with them.