JVC JA-S44, a restore, and some respect for good design.

[secondslc]

This is a story about an unassuming amp and tuner that I picked up some time ago at a local thrift store. Its what got me to give JVC a second look and buy their mightly a-x9

I really liked the looks of the integrated amp with its meters. Looked serious enough, was heavy, and had a DC badge on it. I was going to use it in my garage as it looked kinda filthy.


And then I opened her up.


I vacuumed it up as best as I could and powered it up. No static in the controls, and everything was working perfectly. I decided it was worth cleaning up some more and got the faceplate very presentable. Thats when I admired the quality of materials. Thick aluminum faceplate, steel chassis, metal knobs, and quality feeling switches. Cleaned up nice


Then I started listening to it on some KLH 23s in my basement, and it sent the sansui out to garage duty. VERY controlled bass and big sound. This surprised me since KLHs are power hogs, but this JVC controlled them nicely and sounded pretty darn natural. The graphics equalizer made big changes in the sound, but leaving everything flat sounded best.

So after a few months of use, the left channel started cutting in and out. I knew it was a dirty pot, so I put it off till I could replace the unit and do a full cleanup and re-cap.

And a full clean up I did.


Thats the whole thing sans chassis. I decided to really get in there and get rid of all that nasty dust. The unit was amazingly easy to get all apart, and well thought out. Alps switches and pots were used throughout, as well as good quality Elna boards and caps. Then I looked at the amp section and was shocked to find "darlington power packs".


There is nothing wrong with them as long as the circuitry is properly implemented. I think this integrated is one of the better units using the darlington packs. They're rated at 50wpc. JVC rated this unit at 45 wpc, so it was a good match.

I then proceeded to work on the unit. I washed all the boards with proper cleaners, re-capped everything, and completely cleaned the chassis. How does it look? I'll post pics as soon as my camera charges up again. I got this shot in however.


How does it sound?
Its not giving up much to its bigger brother the a-x9, build quality is similar too. This is NOT meant to bad mouth the 9 as its an amazing unit, its just that this integrated is definitely from the same family.

In conclusion...give JVC a look, you'll be glad you did.

[Tower Boss]

Wow what an excellent job! I've always liked JVC components, as I've had more current A/V Receivers off and on over the years. I still have an HR-S9800U and HR-S5800U (1988) S-VHS decks that have never failed me.

Your right about that A-X9 being a nice unit, love the looks and is a sleeper to most, very high quality.

Thanks again for the post.

Regards,
TB

[legal eagle]

Well done.

[thefragger]

Wow! What proper cleaner did you use to get those results?

Very nice job


Philip.

[Rome]

Very nice job!
Indeed JVC has some very nice & well built audio equip. A lot of their stuff slips under the radar & does not get the respect they deserve. I give the R-S33 receiver & QL-A5 TT props whenever I can.

The A-X series integrated amps are very nice.

Rome

[melofelo]

that's a great resto job i've become a fan of jvc ever since trying a couple of their eq's from roughly the same era..and i was impressed with the later AX-2 amp from a few years later..very decent sound quality and that eq is much more useful than just bass and treble controls

[Jailtime]

You did some fine work on that amp. And I think that's the biggest heatsink I've ever seen on any 45WPC component, good stuff. I've got an R-S11 receiver (yard sale find) that I might recap, it's well laid out like your amp. Be a good easy project before I rebuild 3 Marantz receivers!

[secondslc]

I had to rip apart my digital camera to get it working again, sorry for the delay in pics.


Sitting next to its big brother.

Its amazing to see how many parts were shared, a compliment to the s44 as the a-x9 has HIGH quality parts


I think it turned out clean


and its still playing sweet sweet music.

A real nice match to the 17s I have...amazing since I never expected it.


I used a flux/board cleaner made my GC electronics

http://www.gcelectronics.com/order/c...ay.asp?CatID=3

[ic-racer]

Nice!

[Inspiribomb]

Looks really good, Giuseppe! You do some very nice work, I was very pleased with how my Toshiba gear turned out that you refurbished.

[doucanoe]

Holy cow G! I hardly recognize it from the first pic's.

Nice job

RC

[mhardy6647]

[secondslc]

Originally Posted by mhardy6647

Musical model...i like how they put it.


Thanks for the pic!!!

[kretinus]

Love it, but then I'm a sucker for anything with big analog power meters.

[Speakerbox]

oh garsh, that's nice lookin....good job!