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JVC AX-Z1010TN - Review

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grazie said:
I've really enjoyed reading this entire thread which I've missed, up until now. As a result, I can't help but be on the lookout for some JVC kit too, although like most of us, I've never heard any of their upmarket equipment.

Interestingly, although Pioneer has been mentioned, I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the SA-9800 specifically. I absolutely love it. I'm fortunate enough to have a couple, although one is dead and the other needs attention. I also have a Sony 770ES and prefer the Pioneer. Maybe the Sony needs attention too? The problem with the SA-9800 is that it's a bit of a pig to work on. I got the Sony amp and some Royd Edens after hearing Gromit's impressive system at Scalford last year. I've also got the Teac DAC he used then, although I didn't know that when I bought it.

I would love to be invited to the BBQ bake off, if it goes ahead, although I do live some distance away. I'd be more than happy to bring an SA-9800 and/or my 770ES into the arena.
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I have a 9800 and I'm listening to it now.
Superb amplifier with a stunning phono stage. Love the front controls for adjusting cartridge loading for both impedance and capacitance.
 
pioneer-sa9800.jpg


TBH, I usually much prefer a minimalist design, although when something sounds this good, the flight deck design becomes acceptable. I do like the fluorescent level meters though. Not used the phono stage yet.

I also have the matching TX-9800 tuner (also dead). Now the design, lights and meters on that I really do like. I also know it'll sound fantastic too...when it's working again.

Pioneer.Tx9800.zvukomir.10.jpg
 
The amp design is interesting.
Dual mono for the power amp including two large transformers, and the power supply to the front end on the power amplifier is regulated as with Naim/Exposure, but the output section is unregulated to allow high peak current. All wrapped up in a non switching design like JVC Super-A.
 
Sounds good.

I suspect I would be searching out other amps just for the fun of hearing them BUT, as I have said before, none tick all the boxes the JVC does.

The K2 interface has made me reevaluate my analogue only stance as some tracks on Tidal (Lemolo 'on and off again') are deeply, deeply moving.

Shame I missed all this the first time around......still I did enjoy NAIM so no regrets.
 
Excellent thread. I would love to hear some of these beasts.


Robert said:
The amp design is interesting.
Dual mono for the power amp including two large and well specified transformers, and the power supply to the front end on the power amplifier is regulated as with Naim/Exposure, but the output section is unregulated to allow high peak current. All wrapped up in a non switching design like JVC Super-A.
Click to expand...

IMO one reason many of these amps sound better than British stuff is the 'correct' choice of power transformer. I discovered this by accident whilst subbing one out of a 20WPC Hitachi into one of my DIY amps. The tranform(er)ation was not subtle!
 
Close this thread. Do not let people know about the amps discussed here. Form a syndicate and buy all the JVC Super-A amps in the world and then tell the world how fantastic they are and watch the prices shoot upward to the sky.

Have spent a few hours firstly in mild shock, then with a big smile on my face listening to a 1979 JVC A-X3 'Super-A purchased for buttons (£34). Prior to the JVC I spent over a grand on a Job 225 and a Tidsbury passive pre. I have no wish to listen to that set again as the JVC is more enjoyable.

Thank you flatpopely and others who could see the wood for the trees.
 
I think that this ‘JVC thread’ has been a wake-up call for quite a few people. I can’t help feeling that the British - more than any other group of hi-fi enthusiasts - really missed a trick in not giving the Japanese kit the recognition it deserves. Despite being hugely pleased with the JVC (effectively a new amp - I really can’t see me ever selling it) the thought that the best Japanese stuff never even made it here is an enticing one. I still have a Sansui 907 alpha MRX itch that I think I’ll want to scratch at some point. Sansui tried really hard on that one.
 
I think it's also important to remember that there was a great deal of really average/poor Japanese stuff too. That's not to say that some of the boutique UK stuff wasn't average/poor too, but the current forum enthusiasm for all things old and Japanese does not strike me as being particularly well-informed. Having been through the 70s and 80s, much of the Japanese stuff from then was over-elaborate, feature-laden tat, IME/IMO easily seen off by many of the new breed of small UK producers, eg Naim, NVA, Crimson, Myst, even Quad etc. These people may have produced gear that looked, to be polite, 'homely', but invariably they had a passion for music and great musical reproduction.

The very best Japanese kit never made it here largely because it would have been too expensive (how much would the Exclusive P3 have cost, new?). Nowadays the price hurdle does not seem to exist to the same extent - witness the very pricey TechDas record players.

I'm sure that this JVC amplifier is one of those gems that occasionally escape widespread acclaim, much as my Kenwood KD-990 turntable did. Good luck to everyone enjoying such gems, but please don't pretend that all Japanese gear of the era is worth a look.
 
Not all Japanese gear, no, but when it comes to amplifiers most is definitely worth a look.
I currently have fifteen Japanese vintage amplifiers/receivers from Marantz, Pioneer, JVC, Mitsubishi, Trio and Technics. That plus a couple of dozen more over the past decade.

I haven't found anything poor and I think the reason is simple.
These products emerge from a period where a good solid spec was mandatory for all but a bargain basement product. They all aspired to do the same job.

What you see in comparison with the UK market and some grown products is far greater variability, because the goal of starting from a good spec was in many cases tossed into the weeds. Therefore our home grown products, at all price points, tended to range form superb to appalling.

You have to look pretty hard to find electronics from Japan which are classed as 'tat' IME.

Turntables are a different matter - huge piles of tat with a select few good examples.
The reasons are clear to see - the use of lightweight resonant structures on the lower end kit.

Taff63 said:
I think that this ‘JVC thread’ has been a wake-up call for quite a few people. I can’t help feeling that the British - more than any other group of hi-fi enthusiasts - really missed a trick in not giving the Japanese kit the recognition it deserves. Despite being hugely pleased with the JVC (effectively a new amp - I really can’t see me ever selling it) the thought that the best Japanese stuff never even made it here is an enticing one. I still have a Sansui 907 alpha MRX itch that I think I’ll want to scratch at some point. Sansui tried really hard on that one.
Click to expand...

I started my audio-nut life being weened on Japanese kit. In the late 70s and early 80s there was far less bias against such kit, but that rapidly changed and like many I went with the flow, driven by the press attitudes manly.

More recently it's been rather like going full circle and rediscovering the joys of the early days.
 
It just goes to show how fickle, nay wrong, audiophile opinion can be for these amps to have been so derided in the past.... and now, phoenix like, to be recognised for their true qualities!

If Jap retro continues to be on the rise I'll have to change my mind about refurbing them...
 
Arkless Repairs said:
It just goes to show how fickle, nay wrong, audiophile opinion can be for these amps to have been so derided in the past.... and now, phoenix like, to be recognised for their true qualities!

If Jap retro continues to be on the rise I'll have to change my mind about refurbing them...
Click to expand...

Indeed.

BTW to pick up on a comment you made about putting tone controls in the power amp NFB loop, the AX-2 and AX-4 use a discrete EQ stage outside of the loop, unlike the AX-1 & AX-3 & 5. So if you want to try an AX and that point bothers you, go for the 2 & 4 :)
 
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