Quadrockasaurus
Senior Member
If you have any more photo's or comments to make on this quadraphonic unit please feel free to post them in this thread....
JVC 4VN-990 Quadraphonic Integrated Amplifier (1974)
Rarity: SCARCE
Average Sale Price: $150 - $250.00
Kinda scarce...but they do seem to turn up reasonably frequently...and not too expensive when they do....
PS!!...made a mistake on the title line....should be AMP & not Receiver (RCVR)....
I just got this one...but it's only worked properly for a week or so before it's gone a bit ga ga...probably transistors... ...the person who sold it to me said it was just serviced....
....yea....right...
Anyway.....while it was working it sounded pretty good. Warm and full, maybe not as good as Sansui, but pretty decent, and worth fixing up. No built in "name brand" decoders as such, except for JVC's SFCS, which on one setting is supposed to be similar to SQ or able to decode SQ (..or similar matrix formats), and on the second setting is like a Quad ambience thing for the 2 to 4 channel fake Quad. Not quite Vario-matrix or anything close, but useable and pleasant enough....I liked it. Didn't get a chance to test the SQ-ish decoding setting.
The Phono stage is OK but not as good as my JVC 4DD-5 outboard Quad Decoder....however, didn't quite get a chance to try really compare proper before the unit buggered up...
The five band eq is unusual on an amp in this era and is very handy but can also be switched out for the audio puritans out there. The quad level meters have a switchable low/high range, and look really cool bouncing up and down...they are usually illuminated, but the globes (..and wiring) are missing on mine....so another thing I've got to work on...
Some photo's of my unit below....a few very slightly photo-edited to remove some scratches, which I sure will drive me nuts when I can no longer update this post.
Note that the Function/Source & Volume knobs are not original. The SFCS knob is, but was originally used for the Function & Source with a matching one. I changed them (..swapped) them around as the seller had put some dodgy substitutes in place of the original Volume & SCFS knobs and my new choices looked better.
I gotta say...I think this is one of the nicest looking Quad components from this era.
Note the Military style plug in circuit boards...which will at least make this unit (..hopefully) easy to repair when I get around to it. I havn't investigated the insides in too much detail yet, but all (..most) of the electronics appear to be on the easily accessible & removable top boards with just wiring under the bottom panel...Thank you JVC...
Some Basic 4VN-990 Info:
Power Output: 35 Watts (8ohms) x 4 (or) 88 Watts (8ohms) x 2 - (....via Switch on Back)
Weight: 35.2Lbs.
Inputs/Connections Available:
Phono Inputs x 2
Quad Aux In x 2
Quad Tape Loop In/Out x 1
Stereo Aux In x 2
Stereo Tape Loop In/Out x 1
Quad Pre Out
Quad Main In
JVC 4VN-990 Quadraphonic Integrated Amplifier (1974)
Rarity: SCARCE
Average Sale Price: $150 - $250.00
Kinda scarce...but they do seem to turn up reasonably frequently...and not too expensive when they do....
PS!!...made a mistake on the title line....should be AMP & not Receiver (RCVR)....
I just got this one...but it's only worked properly for a week or so before it's gone a bit ga ga...probably transistors...
...the person who sold it to me said it was just serviced........yea....right...
Anyway.....while it was working it sounded pretty good. Warm and full, maybe not as good as Sansui, but pretty decent, and worth fixing up. No built in "name brand" decoders as such, except for JVC's SFCS, which on one setting is supposed to be similar to SQ or able to decode SQ (..or similar matrix formats), and on the second setting is like a Quad ambience thing for the 2 to 4 channel fake Quad. Not quite Vario-matrix or anything close, but useable and pleasant enough....I liked it. Didn't get a chance to test the SQ-ish decoding setting.
The Phono stage is OK but not as good as my JVC 4DD-5 outboard Quad Decoder....however, didn't quite get a chance to try really compare proper before the unit buggered up...
The five band eq is unusual on an amp in this era and is very handy but can also be switched out for the audio puritans out there. The quad level meters have a switchable low/high range, and look really cool bouncing up and down...they are usually illuminated, but the globes (..and wiring) are missing on mine....so another thing I've got to work on...
Some photo's of my unit below....a few very slightly photo-edited to remove some scratches, which I sure will drive me nuts when I can no longer update this post.
Note that the Function/Source & Volume knobs are not original. The SFCS knob is, but was originally used for the Function & Source with a matching one. I changed them (..swapped) them around as the seller had put some dodgy substitutes in place of the original Volume & SCFS knobs and my new choices looked better.
I gotta say...I think this is one of the nicest looking Quad components from this era.
Note the Military style plug in circuit boards...which will at least make this unit (..hopefully) easy to repair when I get around to it. I havn't investigated the insides in too much detail yet, but all (..most) of the electronics appear to be on the easily accessible & removable top boards with just wiring under the bottom panel...Thank you JVC...
Some Basic 4VN-990 Info:
Power Output: 35 Watts (8ohms) x 4 (or) 88 Watts (8ohms) x 2 - (....via Switch on Back)
Weight: 35.2Lbs.
Inputs/Connections Available:
Phono Inputs x 2
Quad Aux In x 2
Quad Tape Loop In/Out x 1
Stereo Aux In x 2
Stereo Tape Loop In/Out x 1
Quad Pre Out
Quad Main In
Last edited:
