The JVC JR-S200 Receiver

Ah, here we have yet another under appreciated Japanese receiver manufacturer. JVC's styling is, er, distinctive, and I confess not to my taste until recently. But I have a new found appreciation of this line after working on this unit and also getting a gander of the very impressive JR-S600. The S200 is 2nd in the line that extends from the S100 through the S600, and is listed at 35 watts per side. Orion says it was sold from '76 to '80 and retailed for $300.


While a bit glitzy and slider-dominated it is a handsome unit to my newly acclimated eye. The thumb wheel tuner is a bit angled and much smaller than that of the Marantz tuners and receivers of the era. The end caps are interesting, sort of plasticky, faux heat sinkish. Definitely, the JVC designers were not running with the Pioneer/Marantz/Yamaha crowd with wood cases.

Wow, my photo skilz were not exactly shining the day I took these snapshots. The chassis was not too bad to work on although there were a few difficult to change caps on the amp board at the right. The tuners are in the center; the phono section in the center, back right, just to the left of the heat sink. I replaced 57 caps with Panasonic FCs. Then Mike pointed out that there were 4 more buried in the tone control board mounted vertically in the front, behind the sliders. That board was a bit of a challenge.

The JVC is a perky sounding little receiver. It is not exactly a powerhouse, but has enough slam to sound better than 30 watts should. Pick one of these up if you find one. If you ever stumble across the big brother S600, buy it in a heartbeat. It is one seriously flashy, large receiver and at 120 watts per channel can run with any of the big dogs.