As many of you know I have been traveling the world for the past four months and just returned back home about two weeks ago.
While I was still traveling I got an email from a guy in Berlin saying he found an old JVC that his grandma wanted to throw away. I was hoping for maybe an M70 but since I knew I would not return home for another few months, I thought it would end up on eBay anyways...especially since he already quoted the 1500$ eBay listings.
Long story short - once I got back home and got my things sorted I shot him a message asking if he still had the JVC. After all he was in Berlin and checking it out could not hurt. So he actually replied and told me he still had it. Awesome.
Even more awesome was that he sent a photo this time.
My jaw was on the floor. A JVC M90 in my city. Of course i had to check it out.
So without much hope I drove half an hour to this guy's place and saw the unit sitting on the floor.
I began to test it and did some small talk with the owner. Another collector friend was with me as well to keep me from spending ridiculous money on a mediocre M90.
Well, the last thing I expected happened. The tape deck was working. What the fark?! A filthy M90, dirty beyond belief that had been kept in a basement for years is still working on tape.
So I knew i wanted it. The negotiation would be interesting for sure...or would it?
He would not even come up with a price. After a while he finally said something about 300-500€. So I was ready to jump. But my collector friend held me back and after talking a little more the seller said that he just wants to get rid of it...after all he saved it from the dump anyway and had no money in it. So my friend asked if 100€ was okay. The seller said yes. We took the radio, shook hands and left.
At this point I was still dizzy and could not believe what had just happened. An M90 right under my nose for all this time and now it was in my hands.
Here is the first photo I took on my balcony:
It already looked promising but then upon further inspection I found out that the tuner was not working. The needle would not move all the way down the scale and the station was stuck. Damn.
Anyway, I slept very good that night.
Next morning: restoration. Since i had another friend over who is very good with technical stuff, we decided to tackle it right away since that M90 was filthy and was crying for help.
So we took it apart and cleaned everything. When we got to the speakers I was in shock. they were as blue as can be. All the grey stuff was just dust that I wiped off carefully with a damp cloth.
The tuner issue was also an easy fix. A connector was out of place. No biggie. So most of the resto was cleaning, some minor dents in the grills and more cleaning.
We just put it back together and it is a day and night difference now that it is clean.
Here is a comparison side by side pic of the speakers with my other M90:
And here it is in its new glory. Saved from the death row.
While I was still traveling I got an email from a guy in Berlin saying he found an old JVC that his grandma wanted to throw away. I was hoping for maybe an M70 but since I knew I would not return home for another few months, I thought it would end up on eBay anyways...especially since he already quoted the 1500$ eBay listings.
Long story short - once I got back home and got my things sorted I shot him a message asking if he still had the JVC. After all he was in Berlin and checking it out could not hurt. So he actually replied and told me he still had it. Awesome.
Even more awesome was that he sent a photo this time.
My jaw was on the floor. A JVC M90 in my city. Of course i had to check it out.
So without much hope I drove half an hour to this guy's place and saw the unit sitting on the floor.
I began to test it and did some small talk with the owner. Another collector friend was with me as well to keep me from spending ridiculous money on a mediocre M90.
Well, the last thing I expected happened. The tape deck was working. What the fark?! A filthy M90, dirty beyond belief that had been kept in a basement for years is still working on tape.
So I knew i wanted it. The negotiation would be interesting for sure...or would it?
He would not even come up with a price. After a while he finally said something about 300-500€. So I was ready to jump. But my collector friend held me back and after talking a little more the seller said that he just wants to get rid of it...after all he saved it from the dump anyway and had no money in it. So my friend asked if 100€ was okay. The seller said yes. We took the radio, shook hands and left.
At this point I was still dizzy and could not believe what had just happened. An M90 right under my nose for all this time and now it was in my hands.
Here is the first photo I took on my balcony:
It already looked promising but then upon further inspection I found out that the tuner was not working. The needle would not move all the way down the scale and the station was stuck. Damn.
Anyway, I slept very good that night.
Next morning: restoration. Since i had another friend over who is very good with technical stuff, we decided to tackle it right away since that M90 was filthy and was crying for help.
So we took it apart and cleaned everything. When we got to the speakers I was in shock. they were as blue as can be. All the grey stuff was just dust that I wiped off carefully with a damp cloth.
The tuner issue was also an easy fix. A connector was out of place. No biggie. So most of the resto was cleaning, some minor dents in the grills and more cleaning.
We just put it back together and it is a day and night difference now that it is clean.
Here is a comparison side by side pic of the speakers with my other M90:
And here it is in its new glory. Saved from the death row.
Good job, well played sir ! 
