Vintage DD turntables. Are we living dangerously?

I have experience with the JVC QL-A7 and QL-7, both using TT-71 motor unit. Great for the money. But the gems, as far as pure turntables are concerned, are actually in the integrated turntables such as QL-Y7, QL-Y66F, QL-70A, etc., all have coreless motor and smooth sonic. The QL-Y66F is the same as QL-70A, except one with electronic arm and the other is manual. Electronic arms are not reliable unfortunately but the motor unit is stable and reliable. It's high time for people to look into those and install your arm of choice. If all integrated DD turntables have an armless version, history could be rewritten. But audiophiles usually overlook them because they want to use their own arm and I don't blame them. But they're missing out on gems.

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Correction: the model should be QL_A70, not 70A. I have keep these model numbers straight in my head. :)

Sorry for the confusion.

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Correction of correction. Oops. The above should read:

"I should have kept these model numbers straight in my head."

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hi hiho,

It's high time for people to look into those and install your arm of choice.

I've actully been eyeballing the victor ql a95 (same motor as the tt 801 and can be used in conjunction with the ts1 vacuum stabillizer) for a year now, but the arm issue has kept me from pulling the trigger. I assume that one cannot just put whatever arm one wants (leaving aside geometry), due to the electronics in the table? Can you please elaborate on what might be involved in installing a different arm on one of these integrated tables?

thanks.

Banquo363,

I never had a QL-A95 so I cannot be sure. Most of these tables have ribbon cable connectors from tonearm to the main board so you can disconnect them and the table will work manually. You can just add a armboard to cover the hole and a cut out for your am. The mod should be reversible. Most JVC arms are 10" so a typical VPI 10.5 or similar should work. I have the a QL-Y66F and the automatic electronic tonearm never works right so I uninstalled it by disconnecting all the ribbon connectors and I just need to machine a piece of armboard for it. Another approach is to make a larger plinth and so you can keep the stock arm and mount another arm in the back. The A95 plinth seems to use a lot of wood around the motor unit so adding arm shouldn't be too hard. The stock arm seems like a mechanical arm and should be reliable, unlike the electronic one that uses field coils to adjust VTF and azimuth and damping. The Y66F arm on mine was a nightmare! The Y66F is a bargain, arm or no arm.