Purchased this unit out of the local online sales and I wasn't expect much on the condition though but willing to take a bet for such a rare unit. I went to the courier receiving warehouse to pick it up and while loading it to my trunk, I took some pictures as pre-inspection 1) Overall, very run down condition with stains and marks especially on the top surface and some dings here and there 2) Missing one antenna with another one dented and broken on the tip 3) Speakers terminal with one side not connected and the other channel with parallel connection to both speakers ( this immediately tells me one side output could be dead ) 4) Chrome areas look dull and badly oxidized 5) Upon power on - LCD light up but some missing segment on the digits. Cassette / radio function but sound only with left channel working. 6) Most of the buttons having contact issues causing scratchy, intermittent, distorted sound and popping on/off of the speaker. Let me walk you through with these images before and after restoration and how I renew it to my best effort. After cleaning the interior and settled the functionality issue, next is to work on the exterior. I always use car wax for exterior cleaning as it would not harm the labels and will give a glossy lacquer finish especially on the chrome surface. I also managed to make printout of the original door label design. And finally this is how it turn out after all the effort, a totally renewed JVC PC-55 boombox 2 new antennas were replaced. Took few shots under warm light.
This is one Heroic restoration, I would have fainted seeing that blanket of dust! I do not want to scare you, but do you know that there is an alien sitting on top of your PC-55? right above the tuning wheel
Great work but did the alien manage to add the sticker on the tape unit which suddenly appears about half through the video?
Haha you can say that, it's my beloved companion. It's actually a car mp3 FM transmitter which I modified for home use.
That turned out great! A real labor of love and a cool find. The plants on it are killing me, I try to keep anything biological a few feet from any of my equipment. I love these early 80's units that split up and spread out, usually the size of a bed. I have to admit I didn't know that some three piece's were actually four units until a couple of years ago and I own a handful of them. In the college days this would have been such a great system to have a long with a turntable...
had sevral of these and love em, have one now, my personal grail when i was a teen....great restoration
As others have been telling Ken80s: good going with the restoration. Uh, did he copy those "Dolby C-NR/JVC Portable Compo" stickers from the digital template of those designs that have been saved on one boombox-fan website or another? (Would that website be Stereo2Go? Or maybe BoomBoxery?) At the risk of being too suggestible (seeing that Ken80s is based in Malaysia), was the music that he played in the YouTube clip with his repaired '55 infused with East Asian rhythms? Well, in the meantime, one can enjoy the restored and repaired JVC PC-55. For what it's worth admitting to this, this beefy sound system (87 watts, yes?) with the so-called feather-touch tape controls is one of the portable stereos that I craved a few years ago but never went for (too expensive on eBay, too rundown to be a cost-effective purchase, etc.) But, again, do enjoy the tasteful music. Maybe some Tor Aulin? (Heard his "Swedish Dances" composition being played on Comcast channel 848 as I typed this.)
Nice work! I am hoping you may be able to guide me. My PC-55 when turned on, the green light comes on but the red light quickly goes off, thus causing no sound/power. Is there a fix? Also, any chance you could share file so I could print out the label for the deck?
Jody, have you opened it up? If it's as dirty as Ken80s I'd start there, I'd also strip off all of the accessories and plug in the amp only to rule out what's causing the shut down. Once it's opened, there's probably a relay that makes a clicking sound when it powers up or down, usually there's a lag after you hit the power switch before the click. It's in a clear box, take photos of the insides to show us the condition.
Hi Jody, power supply issues require detail troubleshooting especially PC55 which designed using switching power supply. If you are not familiar with electricity please do not attempt to repair as to avoid electric shock. You need point to point voltage check within the discrete components. But first thing first open the unit and dust off the circuit boards. Reseat the inter connectors and possible use contact cleaner. Then power up the unit to see the DC voltage could turn on. Try to do this before the next step. I have attached the power supply circuitry for your reference.
Hello....I did just a quick open and blew some dust off. Now the red light doesnt go out BUT it flashes rapidly. Is there hope? Thank you for helping.
I am not seeing a CLEAR box. I opened it and simply blew some dust off and plugged it back in and now the red light doesnt go out. It flashes rapidly. Can I load video in here or only pics?
