Personal grail ticked off the wanted list..

[Beosystem10]

I'm grinning stupidly as I sit here. Only this time, it's not because of the voices , this time, it's because I finally found a really - and I mean REALLY - good PC-5. It needs the inevitable refoaming to its speakers, or I may fit a pair of suitable alternatives, but the main reason that I landed this one was that its seller had no handle for it but I did! Yes, I bought a spares box for my much-loved PC-11 last year and its handle fits the PC-5 too. Problem solved. In spite of the speakers' need for fresh suspension, it sounds pretty darned fine as it is, the deck plays at precisely the right speed, is stable, the music search works 100% perfectly as does every other knob, switch and dial on the thing.
So I have a refoaming kit of the correct type on its way but I may also try some Fostex drivers that are a match and have a good rep in the world of such things.
I haven't been inside it yet and have no need to touch it as the play and fast wind are strong, the music search works quickly in both directions and the speed is utterly stable. This thing doesn't even have any crackly sliders for goodness sake!
So shortly, I'll be posting a for sale ad on here for a couple of boxes that can go the journey now I have the object of my JVC-related lust. But meanwhile, I've more to do on a member's M70, a script to pick up at the pharmacy and a bathroom whose ceiling steadfastly refuses to paint itself so this is all for now..

(Pictures will open at a much bigger resolution when clicked, just in case you need to see that door cling and these blinking LED meters):

Jobs to do as & when but with no great urgency:
De-yellowify - and possibly paint the end fittings of - that handle so that it looks as bright and metallic as the rest of the thing.
Detail it. It's super clean as received but will look new eventually, with little effort on my part.
Refoam the speakers but also compare these to a pair of Fostex drivers that I plan to try in it as they're a match for impedance, sensitivity and physical size, were cheap and look good.
Fit some D cells and take it to the next beach party I go to, this may happen long before any of those other things in the list above!

 

[JVC Floyd]

awesome box!.
i really want one of these some day .

I also have the pc 11 and the pc 55. amazing radio's to say the least.

 

[Beosystem10]

Yes, I love my PC-11, especially since I added an extra amp and the speakers from my spare one as a totally reversible modification that makes it twice as loud, yet still portable in its original configuration.
But the PC-5, even with speaker foam that's long past its "best before end" date, is in another league. Not only does it have lots and lots of deep, thumping bass but the build quality of that deck makes even the superb one in the PC-11 look ordinary. PC-5 has full logic control with two motors and switchgear that needs only the gentlest touch, it has a very rapid search system, makes the most satisfying clunking and whirring sounds as that dedicated transport motor does its thing and generally has the feel of a much more high-end separates system's deck.

The seller deserves special mention too, he specialises in audio gear including boomboxes, vintage portable radios and domestic separates systems but the thing about him that most impressed me was the way he packed the PC-5 for sending; immensely strong, lots of good quality packing materials, plenty of insulation between the layers of card, perfect in fact.

Before I pulled the trigger and used BIN, I asked him whether he'd mind measuring the distance between the handle brackets and I explained to him why this mattered to me. He was delighted to be asked, gave me accurate figures and was very enthusiastic about the whole idea that he'd actually found a buyer who had the required handle to complete the thing.

The original eBay listing is here. He described the thing well but if anything was a little too hard on himself as the "casual age related wear signs" he refers to were in fact absent and I can only assume that he was referring to a couple of microscopic greasy finger marks on the top of the box - soon removed with a very slightly damp piece of kitchen roll.

 

[k2j]

Super cool.

Hey John, what is the measurement of the handle? I've got a vector research that I'm gonna goodwill and maybe the handle would work on something a little more worth it. Are all the JVC PC systems equiped with the same handle configuration?

thanks!

 

[Beosystem10]

I'll measure the handle this evening and take some photos that will answer the question - at least as far as the measurements of PC-5 and PC-11 are concerned, but in essence, the handle brackets on the PC-5 are very slightly further apart than the brackets on the PC-11 yet the handle is a perfect fit in either case as the difference in the distance between the brackets is precisely equal to the contact areas of left and right handle end fittings combined, meaning that the brackets fit at the other end of each handle end fitting in the PC-5 than they do in the PC-11. What this suggests to me is that JVC designed the PC-11 to fit the handle for which they had already tooled up when they made the PC-5. That, or the original PC-5 handle would have come in a slightly greater width and the way in which the PC-11 type fits both is happy coincidence?

OK, I'll get the numbers posted here later.

 

[redbenjoe]

awesome box --its a lifetime keeper

 

[Lasonic TRC-920]

Wow what a find!

Just pure

Although I have never refoamed speakers, I would have to imagine it can be down by a novice. It's on my personal list of things I want to learn.

DAMN man, the looks of this 5 is to die for.

 

[Beosystem10]

Thanks for the comments guys.

Super cool.

Hey John, what is the measurement of the handle? I've got a vector research that I'm gonna goodwill and maybe the handle would work on something a little more worth it. Are all the JVC PC systems equiped with the same handle configuration?

thanks!

OK, so here come some images to explain the answer to the question, but first; a shot of the back of the PC-5. If you look carefully, you can just see that there are two sheets of thick, printed clear plastic over the back. One sits over the cassette deck, the other spans the tuner and a/f amp and these pieces of plastic have drawings on them that show what connects to where. I've never seen this sort of thing before but as it came with the various leads all hooked up already, I probably wouldn't even have known that it was supposed to have this:

So, distance between the handle ends relative to the brackets on a PC-11:

Now the gap between handle end fitting and bracket, again PC-11:

And note how the bracket sits on the other end of the available space on the PC-5 when a handle of the exact same type is fitted to the 5:

And the handle as fitted to the PC-5, fits perfectly and the only difference between the two boxes is that the 5's brackets are slightly further apart. The handle fits both models just as securely.
Hope that answers your question, k2j.


edited because I forgot one of the pictures relating to that handle, this shows the distance between these brackets on the PC-5:

 

[Beosystem10]

OK, so Bjorn Borg tells me that the correct handle for a PC-5 is in fact longer than that for a PC-11, this image shows that by virtue of where the gaps are relative to the brackets:

But I can see no structural reason why my approach shouldn't be used. Unless of course anyone has a handle they want to get rid of, which is from a PC5 originally.....

 

[k2j]

Good work John. Even measured in inches, thanks! I'll take a peek at the VR when I get home.

 

[Beosystem10]

You're welcome.

I'm far too set in my ways to adopt these newfangled metric measures, I always measure small things in thousandths of an Inch, slightly larger things in Inches and massive things in Feet, Yards and Miles. Metric distances worry me.

 

[jimmyjimmy19702010]

Fantastic looking unit - congrats.

I can help you out with a few PC-5 parts including a nice, original PC-5 handle that's the same colour as Bjorn's unit (i.e not yellow) if you want it.

James...

View attachment 9780

 

[alfie]

Great score john!
Looks bloody lovely!!!!

 

[Beosystem10]

Fantastic looking unit - congrats.

I can help you out with a few PC-5 parts available including a nice, original PC-5 handle that's the same colour as Bjorn's unit (i.e not yellow) if you want it.

James...

JVC PC5 002.jpg

James, you are a worker of miracles! PM shall be heading your way very soon. Ordinarily, I'd settle for what I have on the basis that it works. In this case, you have lured me with a photo of a grey thing.

Great score john!
Looks bloody lovely!!!!

Cheers Alfie, yes, she's a looker and no mistake but now that I've fitted my spare Sansui speaker drivers (5.2 Ohms impedance, no indications that they're causing the amp any kind of stress) into the PC-5's cabinets it sounds so good that I'm seriously concerned whether the original units will sound this good once they're refoamed and back where they belong.
I've also had the PC-5 hooked up to my Wharfedale Delta 30 speakers (6-8 Ohms, 89db/W sensitivity), it drives them without any detectable loss of wallop and oh man, that bass with the Deltas' 8" woofers makes me want to find a way of nailing these speakers to the JVC on a more permanent basis, but that would be cheating.

I did a side-by-side comparison between the JVC and my (owned from new) Technics SAC 05L in the kitchen earlier this morning and sadly, much as I love my - unreliable, troublesome and often off the road while parts are in transit - Technics, the PC-5 kicks its arse until the Technics is lying comatose on the floor in a bloodied heap, then keeps kicking it a little more every time the Technics tries to get back to its feet. With the Sansui drivers, the JVC kept thumping right up to the point where it was loud enough to disguise the fact that the SAC05L was even playing, all without clipping or otherwise objecting to being given such a spanking. The track chosen for this battle?

This one (bass to the top of the scale please):
http://youtu.be/y8ifzuFCcuM

 

[monchito]

awesome find

 

[retrohead]

the pc5 was a formiddable beast-lost count of how many ive had and passed on,all of them with shot speakers-they do sound bloody awesome too-amazing for the size of speakers used in them.a massive congrats from me john and hope you enjoy her-as for voices in your head?when im at a carboot mine always tell me no but in reality i say yes

 

[Beosystem10]

Cheers man. I bought some fresh JVC (ex Mazda MX5) speakers for mine that are doing a grand job while I wait for a day when I have time to fit the new suspension rings to its original ones, with the grilles on they're subtle enough but I did run it for a while without and these things sound awesome, even more awesome than the direct equivalent Sansui ones I also tried. I've checked the amp chip spec sheet and it's designed to run with speaker impedance values from 3 Ohms upwards, these JVC's, O/E as fitted to MK1 MX5s, have a DCR of 5.2 Ohms in spite of being marked 4 Ohms (impedance) so they're actually 6 Ohm units not that they'd do any harm given that the amp has overload cutout protection, not triggered yet in spite of my best efforts to push the beast:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hqf3fhQGk0o

Excuse the crappy phone vid. In reality, that JVC will run flat out with no detectable signs of stress - probably why they specified 6 Ohm speakers in spite of the amp being perfectly able to cope with much lower - and the tape deck is simply amazing in its ability to play worn, old tapes so they sound like they just came off the shelf at Virgin Records, circa 19-oatcake.

I'm buzzing with the sheer joy of having found this for so little money, even better: a very kind member is sending me an original owner's manual and an original, non-yellowed handle of the correct type, which is a touch different from that PC-11 one that's on there just now.

I'm glad that I didn't fit separate tweeters and relocate the reflex ports to the back of each enclosure, the way I have done the speaker upgrade is totally reversible and once I've done the foam replacement surgery, I'll be auditioning the factory speakers with a view to putting them back permanently, assuming they can match the performance of the Mazda ones seen above!

I'll tape my typing fingers together now..

 

[jimmyjimmy19702010]

Hi John,

Here's a sneek preview of some interesting specs from the owners manual coming your way:
View attachment 9841
View attachment 9842
View attachment 9843

 

[Beosystem10]

OK, so thanks to our James, I just spent a while reading the real thing , the manual and handle are here! Last week, I also splashed out a few quid on an original accessory for the PC-5 from a seller on eBay.co.uk. There had been no bids and the start price seemed perhaps a little strong but when would I ever get the chance to have one of these again? So one second from the end, I pounced and bought a blue thing with zips and buckles and a built-in canvas strap. No, not a gimp suit, I bought the official PC-5 fitted luggage: