Every year we have our annual holiday sale in Nov & Dec. Use the coupon code " 10% off " to get a discount on all things vinyl related even sale items like this turntable. That means you can deduct $116.70 from the price of this turntable at checkout.The JVC QL-7 is one of the two JVC sleepers that are obtainable as they are available from time to time. The QL-5 is the more common little brother. They are both quartz lock tables with almost no wow and flutter.
I knew this was a musical table before I even scored it; I have upgraded a half dozen QL-5’s with terrific success. The QL-7 is much more solidly built and more musical off the get go. With that in mind we set off to make this deck even better. First up was the plinth, it has alternating layers of Baltic birch and MDF making it heavy and inert. We wrapped that part of the plinth with beautiful, solid, 3/8″ Bocote wood. Bocote is very dense and heavy- not to mention it is gorgeous! (the armboard is also 3/8″ Bocote)
The deck was damped (top & bottom)and the platter had our metal powder loaded “goop” poured into the bottom adding a lot of mass and shielding from the magnetic motor that direct drives employ, it has anti-EMI paint on it as well. The top of the platter has a Dynamat like substance on it for further damping and shielding. The platter mat is a soft Sony mat that they use on their professional tables, it is a good thin mat, we needed a thin mat because of the height of the damping on the top. The original bottom cage was retained for shielding & we put on a cryo treated 14 AWG power cable with a three prong end, the deck & cage are grounded to the wall socket as is your phono section- no hum!
We tried several arms on this table, they all sounded great, but the cryo treated, rewired Nottingham Space arm just took it to a higher level. This table is no joke and outperforms several more heralded turntables, and comes very close to the top rung in performance now that it is all jazzed up & has a fantastic arm. (the Nottingham has been rewired with Cardas wire, tags and a DIN end) It comes with a prototype of the “Impec-cable” which sounds terrific!
On top of the performance is the looks, it has the cool “flying saucer” look with touch on/off, and speed controls & digital read out. The top of the deck is metal, not plastic like the QL-5. The last photo shows the QL-7 in my main system checking out the SQ and different arms. Here is a quote from a happy owner on the VE:
I own the QL-5, QL-7, QL-A7, and QL-Y7. I also own QL-Y66F and QL-F6. At one point QL-Y5F.
I can say the QL-7 is a definite upgrade from the QL-5. Much smoother and musically involving. Very smooth sound. The QL-5 is good but lacks the last touch of involving sound. The QL-7 or even better the QL-A7 with auto arm-lift, can be very accurate and revealing without souding sterile like some Technics decks, which I also own several including the SP-10mk2. Overall I prefer JVC QL turntables over other brands. The QL-Y7 is one of my prized possession. It works wonders in tracking and sounds super smooth. The smooth sound can be credited to the wonderful coreless motor. The QL-7 does not have a coreless motor but its sound is close enough. Once you go above the “5” models they start to be in the big sonic league. I would love to get my hand on a QL-10. To answer your question, yes, get the QL-7 or QL-A7 if you can. JVC truly made some wonderful turntables. Ignore the snobs.
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| Payment and Shipping |
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Personal Check after it clears, Paypal, Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover |
| Ships To: |
USA Only |
| Shippers/Payer: |
(none specified) / Paid by: Buyer |
| Shipping Notes: |
(none)
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