Jvc 5444

[Reed]

So I plunked down $40 for a JVC 5444 unit today. Can anyone give me any info about it? It says it is a stereo four channel receiver, it has separate volume and equalizer and balance controls for front and rear, it has two four channel auxilliary input blocks, but it doesn't look like it has any onboard demodulating or dematrixing capabilities.

Do I need to get some external hardware to dematrix and demodulate quad sources?

Does this unit get a or a ?

Thanks.

 

[Q-Eight]

JVC's are kinda on the low-end of the spectrum. They're OK, but not great. Though JVC unit's should at least have a CD-4 demod onboard. Maybe not - I'm not too familiar with that model.

Personally, I would have held out for a Kenwood, Akai or Pioneer. Sansui or Marantz are the creme de la creme of 4 channel hardware But usually command a high price.

The JVC will prob'ly get half a Giggitty on the Quagmire scale.

But, it'll get ya by for the time being.

Trying hard not to turn this into a for sale ad, but if you need anything to help kick start your quad collection, I've got a CD-4 demod and a handful of Q8's I would be willing to sell to ya. Reasonably priced too!

 

[Reed]

Thanks for the tips and the offer. Let me hook this monster up and see what it does. I will go from there.

 

[Reed]

Well, it powers up and everything works, but it doesn't have the familiar selectore positions such as "Discrete" or "Matrix". It has a selection named "SFCS 4CH" which does something other than stereo. I still don't have my speakers set up right so i can't really tell how much of a "quad" effect it it, but ti has made my stereo vinyl sound pretty cool.

 

[Q-Eight]

"SFCS" a.k.a. "Simulated Four Channel Stereo"

In other words, phoney Quad. Quadraphoney? hehe.

Unless it has a Discrete or Matrix setting, I doubt it's true 4 channel.

 

[Reed]

Cool! This means I can hook it up to a VCR and get fake surround sound (sort of)! It ought to work great with the Sansui R-500 reverb unit I got on eBay.

This might tide me over until I can get some real quad gear.

 

[Dylan Berichon]

I've got one of these.

It worked for a while, before it died. The back channels turned intermittent, and then the whole thing just stopped working.

I didn't think it was worth the effort to try to fix it.

Also, the SFCS setting wasn't anything spectacular.

 

[quadanasaziland]

For all the new to quad guyz, you can throw a bunch of $ at various vintage quad gear from ebay but it will most likely be a waste of your hard eaned $ and sanity. Yes it is steep to restore a Sansui QRX 01 unit but in the long run you will be better off not throwing your $ money away. Be patient, get a 7001 from ebay cheap, hope it works while you save your $ for a restoration job. Bob uses better than original caps, removes the blend resistors and you end up with a 50 db's of seperation. Jezz! I should get a referral cut from Bob! I have tried most vintage quad synth types and nothing and I mean NOTHING holds a candle to the variomatrix board that Sansui gave us!

 

[Reed]

Okay. Looks like I will putt around with this stuff for awhile and save up the dough to get a QRX later.

 

[jvc_graz]

The 5444 was build 1971 and has been one of the first "quad" ready receivers. but there is NO build in demodulator for CD4!
i think a very good unit. if you wanna have one of the best quad receivers from jvc- please buy the 4VN-5456X from 1976. he has build in all necessary demodulators.

regards, JVC_Graz

 

[Reed]

Thanks!

 

[deandallen]

Cool! This means I can hook it up to a VCR and get fake surround sound (sort of)! It ought to work great with the Sansui R-500 reverb unit I got on eBay.

This might tide me over until I can get some real quad gear.

Reed, Half the fun is getting there, and you obviously can see the fun in this game. I commend your great attitude, and who knows, your JVC with "Sound Field Composer" may surprise you, especially since it's not as someone guessed an " a.k.a. "Simulated Four Channel Stereo". Thank goodness for that!

It is my understanding that JVC invented CD-4, 4CH and made the first demodulator. I feel pretty sure it was Quad Bob that stated this in one of his posts, and I've seen it elsewhere, too, and their separate demodulator units are supposed to work very well. Perhaps your unit doesn't mention discrete or matrix for a good reason. With 4 channels already there and ready, add a demod unit, and you got CD4. Period. See what type of jacks it has to add equipment. Maybe you'll be lucky. That's the one of the fun and exciting parts of playing with pieces of history, like we all do on this list.

My Sansui QRX7001 is, as they all seem to be, a ticking time bomb waiting to break down, which is the last thing you need. You need some fun and exploration, that won't cost so much, it takes the joy right out of it for you, and you probably have the very best starter unit you could have, right there. I'll tell you something, I did some research on my own, and I have a pretty nice JVC CD-4 (with demod built-in) receiver coming to my place soon, and I'm really looking forward to playing with it. It even still has it's original paperwork, sales tags, books and JVC CD4 set-up LP (very collectible in itself) and the first use of the port-hole type indicator for the power from 4 all speakers. I would not be surpirsed if it's playing for me when my Sansui has it's tune-up (that's what it's for). And if so, and if it's any good -- and it will be awhile (I'm not rich, either - but don't tell anybody) , I may give you a hollar about giving it a new home at your place once my 7001 comes home.

I hear you lose your machine for up to a year while it's being restored. Do you suppose it forgets who you are, while it's gone?

It's great to shoot for the stars, but it's even better to the grab the ones you can reach right now. Besides, wait a good while and the only ORX's left on the market will have been reconditioned (or else dead), and you'll have the best, in the end.:spot :spot :spot

Have fun,
Dean

 

[Reed]

Thanks for the reply.

Since I posted this topic, I have done a bunch more research and made a few lucky buys on eBay.

Currently, I am using the JVC 5444 as a four channel amplifier. The JVC has two four channel auxiliary inputs, a phono input, and a built in AM/FM radio. I have the JVC hooked up through one of the auxilliary sets to a Fosgate 3602 360 Degree Space Matrix Surround Sound Processor which is hooked to my dvd/vcr. I am running it in "Regular" mode with the rear channels on the JVC hooked to the side channels on the Fosgate. This is supposed to be correct when using four channels with the Fosgate.

I have watched a few movies with the setup so far and it actually sounds pretty good! The ambient sound field is pretty amazing for my primitive and cobbled together system. I watched a movie that had an extended scene in a rainstorm and it sounded like I was atually standing out in the rain. I need to experiment with speaker placement since my TV area is diamond shaped with the TV in the point of the diamond and the viewing area spread across the wide part. I also need spend the time to fine tune the Fosgate and get it calibrated and set up right. I am very happy that I got the owner's manual and remote with the unit.

I also got a Pioneer QX-949A on eBay and a Sansui QRX 6001. I am going to keep these as music only devices. I also scored a set of mint condition Koss Quadrasonic 2+2 headphones complete in the original carrying case with all the original literature. Fortunately, all the gear I have gotten seems to be working with the exception of some dirty pots, but a few shots with terminal cleaner and lubricant should clear those up.

I think I have about finished buying hardware, except for maybe some speakers. I have a true variomatrix unit to synthesize music as well as a true surround unit for decoding movies. I think my next step will be cobbling together a computer system so I can clean up my old vinyl and trasfer the albums to CDs which can then be fed into the 6001 and enjoyed in quad.

I do have one question though. Can anyone tell me what the difference is on the JVC between the "4CH STEREO" mode and the "S.F.C.S." mode?

Thanks for the tips and I look forward to pestering you folks with more questions.

 

[deandallen]

:sunGood job, Reed. That *must* have been an old post. You seem all set, for now. Good luck with speakers.

I think the SFCS or whatever, stands for phased delay. It's a way to catch the normal encoding and play part of it slighty later increasing the perception of depth, or dimension. It was a holding place until real quad came available. Still used to some extent today. Gotta run, going on a date, but we'll talk quad sometime, if ya want.

Dean:sun@::

 

[Dylan Berichon]

I should add that this is certainly one of my cooler looking receivers. I love how the radio dial is back lit.

 

[stryker]

I have a question. I have an old JVC SEA-M9 "computer controlled graphic equalizer" as it is called. Mind you this is from the 80's. Just looking for some info on this old beauty as I have not used it in a long time.

 

[Arindal]

Hi,

i also use a JVC quad receiver (4 VR 1006) in my living room system so tried the SFCS function on various recordings. In fact, most JVC models feature 2 modes of decoding called ´SFCS Matrix 1´ and ´SFCS Matrix 2´.

It seems to be some kind of real matrix 4-CH decoding system, not just an ´adding-some-phasiness´-circuit. The ´Matrix 1´ is intended for stereo recordings, adding way too much signal to the rear speakers and producing a big whole in the stereo stage. Probably intended to impress some listeners back in the 1970ies, but useless today. The ´Matrix 2´ sounds pretty much like a QS decoder of minor quality, decoding most of my QS records well but a bit narrow in the rear speaker.

If you have no QS decoder at all and only a handful of records, this should do it. Playing SQ makes no sense, there is nearly no ´back´-effect at all, just a little bit ambience.

Have fun,

Malte

 

[ceedoubleyou]

JVC's are kinda on the low-end of the spectrum. They're OK, but not great. Though JVC unit's should at least have a CD-4 demod onboard. Maybe not - I'm not too familiar with that model.

Personally, I would have held out for a Kenwood, Akai or Pioneer. Sansui or Marantz are the creme de la creme of 4 channel hardware But usually command a high price.

The JVC will prob'ly get half a Giggitty on the Quagmire scale.

But, it'll get ya by for the time being.

Trying hard not to turn this into a for sale ad, but if you need anything to help kick start your quad collection, I've got a CD-4 demod and a handful of Q8's I would be willing to sell to ya. Reasonably priced too!

WOW? JVC was low end?
When I bought my 4VR 5456X back in '76, it was so much rated higher than anything Sansui made at the time. I don't know if Sansui aimed their product at a different market than Downunder but it wasn't rated much better than a Sanyo product, even Akai was in the same bottom end of the economy market. I'm actually quite surprised how Sansui rates on this forum, because Sansui products seem to be only available at K-Mart here in NZ. Don't all jump on me, but it's just an observation from down here in the South Pacific.:sun

 

[Quad Linda]

I just came across this thread. This is one of my all time favorite Quad pieces. It looks so cool!! I sold it in the day and was sad when they were discontinued in the fall of '73. It is NOT low end and is a very well made piece. It is an upper line JVC, as the smaller ones didn't have separate SEA equalizers for front and rear. No, it doesn't have a CD-4 demodulator built in, because its' design predates CD-4, which JVC invented. JVC never had SQ or QS built in. Like their sister company, Panasonic, they were always proprietary matrix decoder/synthesizers.

 

[ceedoubleyou]

I'm pretty sure 5456 has a CD4 demodulater

http://www.hifiengine.com/library/jvc/4vr-5456.shtml