Tweaking my JVC QL-Y5F

[mikeyb]

Hi,

Having recently sold my Gyrodec to pay a huge car repair bill I've ended up with a JVC QL-Y5F as a cheap replacement that was going to be temporary, but to be honest it sounds not too bad at all. I quite like the look of it so it will probably be staying and use any future extra cash to do some tweaking and buy more vinyl.

I was thinking of changing the head shell as it's currently fitted with a generic magnesium cheapie, I use a Goldring 1012GX cartridge at the moment ( leftover from the Gyrodec), I would ultimately like to change the cart at some time so any headshell upgrade would need to take a future cart upgrade into account.

I've been hunting for the original one as it's a JVC PH8 ( weighs 11g ), but I've only seen a couple on eBay from Japan and being honest at £40 or so I wondered if something else sourced from the UK would be better anyway.

So any thoughts on....

A: Replacement headshell

B: Cartridge ( used budget up to about £150 max )

C: Replacement feet as the current ones seem pretty poor and don't seem to isolate the deck very well.

The TT is fitted with the standard arm as it was when new and not knowing anything about mass and all that gobbledyspeak any advice/help would be greatly appreciated.

My musical tastes are classic/prog rock and electronic.

Thanks,

Mike.

[struth]

Good decks those..the y have a servo loop built in. Guess it depends on available weight adjustment as to what you could put on

[mikeyb]

Good decks those..the y have a servo loop built in. Guess it depends on available weight adjustment as to what you could put on
Hi Grant,

Here is a photo of where the weight currently resides so looks like I've plenty to play with.

https://mikeyb.smugmug.com/Other/Odds-and-Sods/i-HtZCsDB/0/1887x2516/IMG_20151010_131032-1887x2516.jpg

I suspect the headshell that's fitted just now isn't 11g, I'll try and weigh it ( why didn't I think of that before [emoji15] )

I can see it needs a good clean too [emoji6]

Mike.

[struth]

Yes weigh it and subtract the cart weight if its in it. Pic is not a showing at moment. I like wood headshells tbh. I find for weight to rigidness along with subple tones they are hard to beat

[mikeyb]

Yes weigh it and subtract the cart weight if its in it. Pic is not a showing at moment. I like wood headshells tbh. I find for weight to rigidness along with subple tones they are hard to beat
Hi Grant,

Thanks I'll give that a go, piccie should be showing now ( I hope lol )

Back soon,

Mike.

[struth]

Yup showing now. Looks as you say to have room to travel. The goldring comes in at 6.3gm

[mikeyb]

Yup showing now. Looks as you say to have room to travel. The goldring comes in at 6.3gm
Hi,

And sum total of cart and headshell right now is 15g so the headshell fitted can only be about 8.5-9g.

Mike.

[struth]

My lovely hs1a yamamoto African Black wood comes in at 10 gm so that would do. Depends where you get them as to price and if japan you may have vat to add etc

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/10/10/e60e86165b0b2f66a3b984911510bead.jpg

[mikeyb]

My lovely hs1a yamamoto African Black wood comes in at 10 gm so that would do. Depends where you get them as to price and if japan you may have vat to add etc

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/10/10/e60e86165b0b2f66a3b984911510bead.jpg
Hi,

I'll have a hunt around.

Thanks,

Mike.

[PaulStewart]

Hi Mike,

I was the UK technical liaison officer for JVC when these decks were developed and launched, so despite it being way back in th day, I should be able to give some advice. Firstly, I would agree with Grant the Yamamoto HS1a is a great match for that arm. If you open the plinth up, there should be quite a lot of scope for adding deadening, try not to increase the mass too much, it dosent need it. The feet I would recommend are either Vibrapods or Rockin Roller feet from Electric Beach. The JVC X2 sounded great in that arm, and during testing I used a Dynavector Ruby Karat, a JVC MC1 and then fairly new, Denon 103 all worked superbly in that arm. Great deck, hope you enjoy it.

[flapland]

I had one of those once and it was a very good deck for the £50 or so I paid for it. It got me back into vinyl with Ortofon 2m red on it although it did come with a knackered JVC X2. I have the body somewhere I might see what it like with a new stylus one day.

Sold it a chap in Bristol I think or even gave it away on the Wam. It was a while ago.

[mikeyb]

Hi Mike,

I was the UK technical liaison officer for JVC when these decks were developed and launched, so despite it being way back in th day, I should be able to give some advice. Firstly, I would agree with Grant the Yamamoto HS1a is a great match for that arm. If you open the plinth up, there should be quite a lot of scope for adding deadening, try not to increase the mass too much, it dosent need it. The feet I would recommend are either Vibrapods or Rockin Roller feet from Electric Beach. The JVC X2 sounded great in that arm, and during testing I used a Dynavector Ruby Karat, a JVC MC1 and then fairly new, Denon 103 all worked superbly in that arm. Great deck, hope you enjoy it.

Hi Paul,

Thanks for the info and advice, I've already put some plasticine into the plinth to deaden it a bit and that certainly helped. I'll check out the vibrapods and carts mentioned.

I think the Yamamoto headshell looks a definite buy so that will be first on my list of purchases.

Mike.

[walpurgis]

Don't use plasticine. It contains oils that permeate the structure and loosens laminate finishes.

[PaulStewart]

Don't use plasticine. It contains oils that permeate the structure and loosens laminate finishes.

I agree with Geoff, I would use THIS (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Silent-Coat-2mm-10-Sheets-Car-Deadening-Vibration-Sound-Proofing-Damping-Mat-/161282941044) if I were you Mike.

[mikeyb]

Don't use plasticine. It contains oils that permeate the structure and loosens laminate finishes.

DOH!

Ok I'll think about remove it, although most of it is sitting on Dynamat so not actually on the wooden surface.

With the Dynamat sound proofing material I assume I'd be better doing it on every internal surface including the hardboard bottom cover as it seems to be the worst cause of the resonance within the plinth.

I was a bit wary of fitting it to that in case the aluminium surface touched any of the internal board where the switches are. I suppose I could trim it to avoid that area?

Thanks for all your help, I would quote Paul's reply too but unsure how to multi quote on my iPad.

Thanks,

Mike.

[PaulStewart]

Mike if you can replace the hardboard base with a good birch ply treated with dynamat, it will make a big difference. Don't be tempted to use slate or granite, it will not help. In fact to my ears, it sounded worse when we tried it.

[mikeyb]

Mike if you can replace the hardboard base with a good birch ply treated with dynamat, it will make a big difference. Don't be tempted to use slate or granite, it will not help. In fact to my ears, it sounded worse when we tried it.

Hi Paul,

Thanks, another item added to my shopping list, looking at 6mm thickness is that suitable do you think ?

Mike.

[PaulStewart]

Hi Paul,

Thanks, another item added to my shopping list, looking at 6mm thickness is that suitable do you think ?

Mike.

Bang on :)

[mikeyb]

Hi,

well, thanks go to Paul and Geoff who both mentioned removing the plasticine due to oil permeating into the mdf interior and they were right there was slight staining from the plasticine, so it all came out and I dampened the whole of the inside of the plinth with Dynamat. Really need to replace the hardboard bottom cover as it is probably causing the most issues, at the moment is has been covered internally in Dynamat and refitted.

Don't think it makes a lot of difference to be honest, but it can't do any harm. Next part of the plan is either a Denon 103 cart or the Yamamoto HS1a headshell, might be headshell first just because it's the cheaper of the two.

Any ideas on how to remove a dust bug thats been glued to the plinth, looks like some sort of Epoxy has been used to glue the plastic stand onto the veneer plinth, I was going to try heating it with the hairdryer and see if that was enough to melt the glue?

Mike.

[clarkey555]

Hi Mike I have the jvc ql-y3f and as I type I am listening to an island compilation BUMPERS.
The arm is stock
The headshell I managed to source locally an original jvc.
I have an ortofon 2m red cart
An analogue works cork/rubber mat sounds better than the original stock rubber mat.
The biggest improvement is the stock feet been replaced with isofeet.
Really superb deck which has got me buying vinyl again.
Hope you enjoy yours as much mike
Pete

[struth]

Hi,

well, thanks go to Paul and Geoff who both mentioned removing the plasticine due to oil permeating into the mdf interior and they were right there was slight staining from the plasticine, so it all came out and I dampened the whole of the inside of the plinth with Dynamat. Really need to replace the hardboard bottom cover as it is probably causing the most issues, at the moment is has been covered internally in Dynamat and refitted.

Don't think it makes a lot of difference to be honest, but it can't do any harm. Next part of the plan is either a Denon 103 cart or the Yamamoto HS1a headshell, might be headshell first just because it's the cheaper of the two.

Any ideas on how to remove a dust bug thats been glued to the plinth, looks like some sort of Epoxy has been used to glue the plastic stand onto the veneer plinth, I was going to try heating it with the hairdryer and see if that was enough to melt the glue?

Mike.

might be best left alone. Depending on the glue it could do damage getting it off and even if it doesn't it will look bad as they always leave a mark.

[mikeyb]

Hi Mike I have the jvc ql-y3f and as I type I am listening to an island compilation BUMPERS.
The arm is stock
The headshell I managed to source locally an original jvc.
I have an ortofon 2m red cart
An analogue works cork/rubber mat sounds better than the original stock rubber mat.
The biggest improvement is the stock feet been replaced with isofeet.
Really superb deck which has got me buying vinyl again.
Hope you enjoy yours as much mike
Pete
Hi,

Yeah quite pleased with it really, it was an impulse buy to cover the loss of my Gyrodec and to be honest, for the money it's great.

Mike.

[mikeyb]

might be best left alone. Depending on the glue it could do damage getting it off and even if it doesn't it will look bad as they always leave a mark.
Hi Grant,

That was my thought too, I'll just have to live with it I think.

Mike.