advertisement


JVC AX-Z1010TN - Review (part II)

Can I go back to talking about the phonostage on the Z1010TN?

I've been trying to establish just how good it really is as I know of at lest one 1010 owner who sold his Avondale TPR4 powered Prefix in favor of the JVC...

I've been comparing my TPR4 powered SuPrefix and JLTi Minimax against the JVC and my conclusion after some months was that the Prefix had more space/PRaT but didn't have a very low noise floor. The Minimax was more 'organic', but lacked that last tiny bit of pace /slam, again noise floor was not THAT low. The JVC was right in the middle except for it's stupidly low (almost non existant) noise floor. It's a VERY good allround phonostage.

However... a Prefix needs weeks and weeks to sound it's best (I don't know why but they do). After leaving mine on for a week it was better than the JVC and now that it's been plugged in for 5 weeks it trounces it in every respect, a Prefix with the right psu really is a fantastic phono, but back to back testing one is not easy. It's hard to believe how much it has changed over a month. Just nuts
 
Also, to Stuart F.

Go and read this thread from the beginning, there are a number of posts relating to the Europe spec transformer. It can be set to 220 or 240 volts, you may need to move the necessary jumpers.

Back to phono stages...
 
I've read the thread fully already. I asked a number of questions in Post #814 but I think there are a number of Christmas Hangovers out there. I'll open mine up tomorrow uo take a look at the transformer settings. A copy of the service manual would be helpful if anyone has a copy? Anybody got the remote working with a universal?

Dan, have you matched your cartridge loading on the JVC phono stage? and left it on 5 weeks to give it a fair shootout with the prefix?
 
Stuart Frazer said:
Dan, have you matched your cartridge loading on the JVC phono stage? and left it on 5 weeks to give it a fair shootout with the prefix?
Click to expand...

Fair point, loading is 100Ohm on the JVC and 200 on the Prefix, leaving the JVC on for weeks doesnt seem to do anything. I did leave it on for 2 weeks after I got it, but now I switch it off when not in use.
TBH a good reason to get rid of a prefix is that they do need to be left on all the time, it's not nonsense. The improvement is obvious
 
My comments on the 5 weeks were tongue-in-cheek, but I'm sure you realised. I'm sure flatpoley adjusted the loading a on his JVC stage. It's got to be worth a go?
 
How much is a step down transformer for one of the Canadian versions of these? Given how much I like a 70s Trio amp I bought last year I'm rather interested.
 
Is everyone ditching their 'Made in Britain' hi-fi now then? Strange thing is the big Jap companies had years of research and a huge amount of investment, why were they practically ignored by audiofiles? May'be with good reason, I don't know, I've only ever owned Brit amps! Arcam, Nad (were they Brit?) and Naim.
 
Mikeandvan said:
Is everyone ditching their 'Made in Britain' hi-fi now then? Strange thing is the big Jap companies had years of research and a huge amount of investment, why were they practically ignored by audiofiles? May'be with good reason, I don't know, I've only ever owned Brit amps! Arcam, Nad (were they Brit?) and Naim.
Click to expand...

Hasn't Britain ditched 'Made In Britain', for the most part?
 
Mikeandvan said:
Is everyone ditching their 'Made in Britain' hi-fi now then? Strange thing is the big Jap companies had years of research and a huge amount of investment, why were they practically ignored by audiofiles? May'be with good reason, I don't know, I've only ever owned Brit amps! Arcam, Nad (were they Brit?) and Naim.
Click to expand...

You can largely blame the dominance of the UK audio press which for many years was extremely political and routinely slagged Japanese hi-fi.

That's in audiophile circles.......

Out in the general population the audio press had no such clout, and Japanese hi-fi quite rightly sold by the tanker-load for many years.
 
Why did it end? Why are people happy with listening to music on such bad platforms these days? May'be because the current state of music is so dismal they're not bothered?
 
Mikeandvan said:
Why did it end? Why are people happy with listening to music on such bad platforms these days? May'be because the current state of music is so dismal they're not bothered?
Click to expand...


I was in a shop recently and had one of those moments where your subconscious notices some nice music, looking up to see where it was coming from.. Nothing special at all really – some fairly low end old 70’s separates kit playing from cassette with the speakers screwed to the wall. What struck me at that moment was quite how much better and more natural it sounded than what I’m used to hearing (from contemporary music systems) in shops.

We had some friends around recently and had the second system on in the background playing internet radio. One friend, who is very into his music (but has some sort of mid-range “lifestyle” music setup at home) remarked on how good it sounded. I told him “it’s not bad but the other stereo we have is much better”, so we went for a listen on the main hifi in the living room. Put on an LP of Sketches of Spain and he was quite shocked – “it sounds like a real trumpet!!!”….well yeah - it’s supposed to!

That’s one of the things I find odd about hifi – it’s seen as somewhat eccentric to pursue accurate music reproduction and yet logic would suggest that if the overall goal of audio equipment is to reproduce the sound of a given recording accurately, then the devices that don’t do that well should be seen as the eccentric, not the ones that do.
 
I think for a long while we've had convenience at the expense of sound quality. Finally, it seems to me the quality is starting to come back a little. Some of the better ipod dock, bluetooth speaker type things actually do a decent job! I'm not just talking about my Little British Monitors - things like the B&W Zeplin, Naim Muso, Sonos all sound fairly decent. I tried some £280 bluetooth speakers and they were not bad at all. I'm not saying any of this is 'hi-fi' to satisfy an audiophile but compare to similarly priced stuff from 20-30years ago and it is far better. It is of course unfair to compare with second hand higher-end kit like the JVC amps in this thread.

Rob, you have a lot of old hi-fi mags - Accounting for inflation £500 is worth about £180 in 1985. What could you get for that? Cassette, amp and speakers?
 
Looks like I may be one of the few to fall off the JVC victory train.

After buying an AX-Z911 for a decent price and having it in the system for a few weeks, I did some experimenting yesterday and confirmed my suspicion that the amp section simply isn't up to the task of driving my Shahinian Obelisks.

To clarify, it isn't really as bad as that; it drove them, never really complained or shut down or anything. But it doesn't have the iron grip my McCormack DNA1 has. It came down to the difference between kick drums that sounded like kick drums, vs. kick drums that felt like kick drums. Last night I swapped in a Rotel RB-980BX amp (great amp!) and it too brought more impact and energy than the JVC.

In short, I love the form and look of the JVC, love the phono section and built-in DAC. I think the preamp portion is very very good. Sadly, though, my elderly Obelisks have shown yet another nice amplifier the door.

Maybe I should think about different speakers, or at least getting mine updated by Shahinian. I understand that the update makes them more forgiving.

Of course, this relates to the 911, not the 1010. Perhaps the amp portion of the 1010 is different, beefier. I couldn't say. All I know is the 911 didn't work for me, and I'm a little bit bummed out. Not sure what I'm going to do with it. It's a bit much to just keep it hanging around on the possibility I might use it in a second system. Sell it on or give it to one of my daughters I suppose.
 
kasperhauser said:
Sadly, though, my elderly Obelisks have shown yet another nice amplifier the door.

Maybe I should think about different speakers, or at least getting mine updated by Shahinian. I understand that the update makes them more forgiving.
Click to expand...

I have not tried my 1010 with Obb 1's but it has no problems with Obb 2's. Having had the earlier iteration of the Obb, it was a demanding speaker so my guess is that its your Obb 1's which are just too much for the JVC. I am not sure an upgrade is cost effective, you maybe better thinking about looking for newer Obbs?
 
This takes me back to the early 70s when I bought a Nikko Trm 30 down Edgeware Road for 15 notes brand new. It blew away Clive Sinclairs offerings I'd previously tried.

30 Watts per channel Japanese qualidee!
 
kasperhauser said:
Looks like I may be one of the few to fall off the JVC victory train.

After buying an AX-Z911 for a decent price and having it in the system for a few weeks, I did some experimenting yesterday and confirmed my suspicion that the amp section simply isn't up to the task of driving my Shahinian Obelisks.

To clarify, it isn't really as bad as that; it drove them, never really complained or shut down or anything. But it doesn't have the iron grip my McCormack DNA1 has. It came down to the difference between kick drums that sounded like kick drums, vs. kick drums that felt like kick drums. Last night I swapped in a Rotel RB-980BX amp (great amp!) and it too brought more impact and energy than the JVC.

In short, I love the form and look of the JVC, love the phono section and built-in DAC. I think the preamp portion is very very good. Sadly, though, my elderly Obelisks have shown yet another nice amplifier the door.

Maybe I should think about different speakers, or at least getting mine updated by Shahinian. I understand that the update makes them more forgiving.

Of course, this relates to the 911, not the 1010. Perhaps the amp portion of the 1010 is different, beefier. I couldn't say. All I know is the 911 didn't work for me, and I'm a little bit bummed out. Not sure what I'm going to do with it. It's a bit much to just keep it hanging around on the possibility I might use it in a second system. Sell it on or give it to one of my daughters I suppose.
Click to expand...

I don't think it was actually said that the AX-Z911 was any good at driving Obelisks, have a google for pics of the inside of it compared to the 1010TN. The 1010 has a completely different power supply with a much bigger transformer and a totally different phono stage (that's the board up against the side wall). Even the main amplifier board is not the same. The only thing they have in common is that the outside casings look similar. Just buy a 1010TN directly from Canada for £700 odd quid, worked for me.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


advertisement


Back
Top