Executive System like JVC EX-A1

Art:

Listen again, before purchasing the JVC EX-A1. The EX-A1's claim to fame is that the speakers' cones are made from wood soaked in saki ... that "feature" and the associated "Bose like" marketing accounts for its high price. Checkout the amp's specs and you will see that the amp has a THD of 10% ... that's right ... a boombox quality amp for 5 bills. The sound is extremely lightweight ... listen to something other than the lite jazz CD that JVC uses to promote the system and you will see how just noisy and average sounding this JVC system is. The JVC is aimed at business travellers (like me), who often find themselves reading the in-flight catalogs.

For the money, you are better off going with the TEAC H550 mini system which you can find for about $575. You would still need to add speakers and there are plenty of $200 per pair candidates out there ... NHT SB1; PSB Alpha; Wharfedale Diamond 8.1 (which Buy.Com has for $130 a pair); Axiom; etc. So all in, you are talking about $800.

I just went through auditioning small sized systems with a very good friend (not an audiophile by any stretch) and we were both very disappointed with the JVC, as well as other smaller systems like the Denon M31. She went with the 2 piece TEAC and some NHT SB1's and the sound is very impressive.

Regards, Rich

CJR888:

If I had not listened extensively to the JVC in 3 high traffic stores on 3 separate occasions, for about an 40 minutes each time (6 audition hours total), I could almost accept the 300 hour "burn-in" claims. The 3 stores were all in NYC ... Sharper Image (Rockefeller Center); Harveys Electronics; and J&R Music ... so these units saw some decent burn-in time by the time that I got there.

If you compare the specifications of the JVC to the highly popular and well regarded digital amp (Panasonic SA-XR 50), you will see that the JVC, spec wise, is really not up to speed in the THD department. This would tend to support my experience of the JVC as a noisy amp ... digital design considerations not withstanding.

JVC EX-A1
Output Power: 30 watts x 2 channels, min RMS, driven into 4 ohms at 1kHz with no more than 10% THD.

Panasonic SA-XR 50
Output Power: Stereo Mode 100W per channel (20Hz - 20kHz, 6 ohms, 0.09% THD)

I owned the SA-XR 50 for a while (sold it to a buddy) and one exceptional quality about the amp was how clean and clear sounding the amp was out of the box (paired with both NHT and Omega (Fostex based) speakers). The JVC was not in its league. On just about all types of music, it was a noisy, congested affair ... I don't see how burn-in would help with the noise.

I don't have any gripe with the JVC. I was just very disappointed with it, everytime that I heard it.

Regards, Rich

Art:

Sorry about the JVC. I have become a skeptic of any of the "giant" killers that quickly become darlings of Audio Asylum. When I began to read about how people were buying up these (and other) JVC's mostly because they were digital amps, claiming that they were "great" amps, and then trying to say that 10% THD is totally acceptable ... what can you say, other than there are alot of people who just don't know what to listen for when it comes to stereos.

The JVC EX-A1 was boombox annoying with CD's. Also, the tuner seemed unable to pick up any FM station cleanly, while the Tivolis that were next to it, had no trouble picking up any station. You had to hear the BS the salesman at Harveys was serving to explain that away.

You may want to look at the TEAC 500 mini-system for about $580. You can pair this with the NHT SB1 for $200. This is the system that I put together for my friend and it absolutely rocks.

Regards, Rich