Vintage Asylum

Posted by Deon C (A) on February 08, 2008 at 04:35:29

Hi guys

I need your help. This weekend I lucked out. A neighbour of mine decided to throw out an old receiver, and I was lucky enough to get to it before anyone else. When I spoke to him later on, he said that he had let the magic smoke escape (that’s not how he put it, but all of us know that’s what really happened), and he did not know if it can be fixed. I can’t be certain either, but I am sure gonna try! Anyway, back to the unit itself.

I need more info on this unit. The receiver is a JVC Nivico Model 5300 FET Solid State FM-AM Stereo Receiver (to give it it’s full name) and it is a very interesting unit, containing some unexpected and unusual features. It’s a big boy, the facia measuring 50.5cm (+/- 20”) wide and about 11cm (+/- 4.3”) tall, and it is HEAVY! It’s built like the proverbial brick … The facia is horizontally split, but not for the entire length (I’ll get to that later). Both top and bottom halves are black Perspex.

The top half contains that tuning section and tuning dial, and the bottom the other switches and selectors. It has eight rocker switches followed by the speaker selector switch (Phono, System 1, System 2, System 1+2), the Balance control, the Volume control and the Input Selector. The input selector is interesting as in switches between the standard selection (Phono, FM Mono, FM Stereo, AM, Aux), but is has a sixth choice called Tape Head. On the back where the tape plugs in, it has three sets of RCA plugs: Tape Monitor, Tape Record and Tape Head. I am not familiar with this type of configuration and would appreciate it if someone can explain it to me. All I can guess is that some three-head tape decks of old had a third output so that while you recorded you could monitor the recording from the playback head as it has just been recorded. Is that it? If so, and since I don’t need this facility, can I use it as a second aux input?

Anyway, back to the front panel. The rocker switches have all the usual functions (FM AFC, FM Muting, Tape Mon, Mono/Stereo, Loudness), and few less expected (Low-cut, Hi-cut) and one totally unexpected, namely a tone control bypass switch. I did not expect that on such an old receiver!

As I said, the front facia is not horizontally split for the entire length. About 35cm from the left it has a vertical split running from top to bottom, and next to that it has a five band equalizer called the S.E.A. Control System, with adjustment for 60Hz, 250 Hz, 1000 Hz, 5000 Hz and 15000 Hz. It looks good and the sliders have a really positive feel. Can anyone tell me what S.E.A. stands for?

Round that back the curiosity continues. At the FM and AM antenna connections, it has a switch for Local/DX, something I have only seen on car radios. Next to the Phono input it has a switch for Mag/X-tal. I take it this is to switch between magnetic and crystal cartridges. What would the difference be? Does it change the RIAAA curve or the sensitivity of the input? Next to that it has the aux input and the three inputs for the tape as noted earlier. Another interesting feature is that next to each of the two sets of binding posts (one each for System 1 and System 2), it has a switch for 4-ohm and 8-16ohm. Lastly it has another very unexpected feature- a set of Pre-out and Main-in RCA plugs. This was very unexpected indeed, but may prove to be very useful in the future!

Any information that you guys can give me on this unit would be appreciated. For now I just want to get it fixed so that I can slot it into my main system. It will be replacing my current receiver (a Pioneer KX-440). My whole system (excluding speakers) got stolen a few years back, I have been struggling to replace it since. My current system consists of a Rotel RD-965BX cassette deck, a Rotel RCD-965BX cd-player, a Technics RS-TR212 double-cassette deck, various turntables and now the two receivers. Speakers are Tannoy 15” dual-concentrics which need new foam surrounds for the drivers, so in the mean time I am using a pair of Goodmans Axiom 201 drivers on open baffles (but they need a service too as the one unit is rattling a bit). I am now torn between fixing the Tannoys or getting a pair of bass drivers and tweeters for the Axiom drivers (after repairing them). Only the future will tell what I will eventually do. :-)

Thanks guys,
Deon
__________________________________________
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take,
but by the moments that take our breath away.
- Author unknown