JBL/UREI 6290 and 6260 Amps

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12-18-2003, 01:18 PM
Oldmics

From Mr. Widget I can click "Buy it Now" much faster than I can keep up in the shop.

I hear that disease is called "Trigger Finger"
Oldmics
12-18-2003, 05:56 PM
Tom Loizeaux

Ken,
I use a 6260 and a 6230 in a bi-amp rack, along with a 5235, to drive one of my studio monitor pairs. I also have a similar set up using a Crown PS-400 and PS-200. I find the JBL/ Ureis to be a bit stronger (louder) and sound fine, but the Crowns seem to have slighty less noise and seem a little more refined. ? I believe the protection circuits in the Crowns are a little more advanced.
I like all of these because they are big, heavy, stable and overlooked by most people today.

Tom
12-19-2003, 01:16 AM
Ken Pachkowsky

Thanks for the info guys, will let you know if I get them.

Nice to hear from you Tom.

Ken
12-19-2003, 07:52 AM
Mike Caldwell

Hello
The largest Urie amp had speaker sense line input jacks
in the form of BNC connectors.
These were for and second set of lines going to the
speaker and connecting to the main speaker cable binding post
or connectors.
The amp would then detect any voltage generated by the speaker
s voice coils and compensate for it, makeing for a very high
damping factor.
Velodyne powered sub woofers had a similar idea only they
used a velocity transducer fastened to the back of the speakers cone.
I have an old Urie catalog, I'll dig it up and see what else the
say about the sense lines.
If anyone wanted the info for a Urie amp I could scan the pages
and e-mail them to you.

Thanks
Mike Caldwell
03-04-2009, 01:58 PM
DL2246

Jbl 6290

I have a pair of 6290 amps and currently use them to power four BassTech7 ServoDrive concert subs that weigh in at almost a half ton. They are a conservatively rated amp with a conventional power supply, four rack spaces and hefty at 60 pounds or so. The fan is a bit noisy but cools the heatsinks very well. With a slew rate of 50 volts per microsecond it's an exceptional value on the used market, going for $200 to $350 bucks. Only Chevin and Lab Gruppen can match that spec and those amps are like a bazillion bucks. The 6290's are a true 600 watts per side with a 4 ohm load and sound great. With a conventional PS they retain enough reserve power and won't crap out if the AC line voltage gets a little weird. They are big and heavy but if you have the rack space probably the best deal in old power amps.
03-04-2009, 02:23 PM
subwoof

old news

Did you realize that this thread is SIX YEARS OLD????
03-04-2009, 02:37 PM
JBL Dog

Quote:

Originally Posted by DL2246

They are big and heavy but if you have the rack space probably the best deal in old power amps.

Yup. I have three 6200 series amps. No doubt one of the best values out there.

:applaud:
03-04-2009, 04:02 PM
jbl_daddy

I had a pair of 6290's a while ago, 10+ years ago, great amps very punchy. The fans were anoying and they sucked a lot of power when turned on. I had a line just for them in my electrical pannel. When turned on all at once from a remote pannel they will trip breakers in your house.:)
03-04-2009, 04:13 PM
speakerdave

Quote:

Originally Posted by DL2246

I have a pair of 6290 amps and currently use them to power four BassTech7 ServoDrive concert subs that weigh in at almost a half ton. They are a conservatively rated amp with a conventional power supply, four rack spaces and hefty at 60 pounds or so. The fan is a bit noisy but cools the heatsinks very well. With a slew rate of 50 volts per microsecond it's an exceptional value on the used market, going for $200 to $350 bucks. Only Chevin and Lab Gruppen can match that spec and those amps are like a bazillion bucks. The 6290's are a true 600 watts per side with a 4 ohm load and sound great. With a conventional PS they retain enough reserve power and won't crap out if the AC line voltage gets a little weird. They are big and heavy but if you have the rack space probably the best deal in old power amps.

I agree on all counts. A musical amp.

Though this thread is six years old, the amps are older and still providing good value for money, and they still show up on the used market, although I like to advise caution when buying used pro power amps on ebay.
03-04-2009, 06:16 PM
Mr. Widget

Quote:

Originally Posted by speakerdave

I like to advise caution when buying used pro power amps on ebay.

Over the past 6 years I have become significantly less open to the idea of buying vintage electronics. Of the basement full of older amps and other devices I have and have had like these older speakers we love, almost none of it actually works up to original specs.

As John pointed out on another thread... the amp may being "working", but sometimes it really isn't.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jcrobso

About a year ago people started complaining about the sound in one of the production studios here at the radio station. The studio has JBL 4412A speakers. I listened to the sound in the studio and something had changed!
There was a fuzziness to the sound, a low level distortion. The people said the speakers were bad, I doubted that it was the speakers. After checking out some things I figured out it was the old Crown DC300, I swapped it out with a different amp, sound was clean again.
I took the DC300 to the shop and hooked it up, put 8 ohm resistors on and put a 1khz sine wave in, hooked up a scope. What I saw on the scope just blew my mind! On the left channel the positive half of the sine wave was clipped about half way up, but the negative part of the sine wave was OK.
On the right channel the negative part of the sine was was clipped and the positive part was OK. This is very high amplitude distortion, but it didn't sound terrible, just kinda fuzzy. From what I saw on the scope I though it should have sounded much worse than it did! :biting:
For years I have know that speaker distortion is usually much higher than amp distortion. The reason that we love JBL is because of their low distortion. This experience has reinforced my conclusion that the quality of the speakers is far more important than the amp. I don't get hung up on amps. I use good amps but I don't go crazy over them, JBL speakers,YES!:D
I not putting down any one for their like or dislike of any brand of amp. John

Widget
03-04-2009, 07:25 PM
westend

I use a 6290, driving low end in a biamped Altec set. More than enough power, of course. I have a replacement fan sitting on a shelf as the older stock fans are a bit loud. I'm thinking the newer fan will be much quieter.

JBL's own product literature states that the 62xx series are underrated as to the amount of actual power available. I've never tested mine but with that long row of Sanken's in there I don't doubt it has a lot of power to spare.
03-04-2009, 08:25 PM
Titanium Dome

Well, well, here's a thread that's back from the dead.

This little discussion caused me to do a little research on the 6230 and 6260. They appear to be identical, spec-wise, to the Synthesis® S150 and S300 amps I got recently, which were made by UREI. :hmm: Facelift, anyone?
03-04-2009, 08:48 PM
hjames

1 Attachment(s)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Titanium Dome

Well, well, here's a thread that's back from the dead.

This little discussion caused me to do a little research on the 6230 and 6260. They appear to be identical, spec-wise, to the Synthesis® S150 and S300 amps I got recently, which were made by UREI. :hmm: Facelift, anyone?

Well, I'm real happy with mine ...
03-04-2009, 11:12 PM
Mr. Widget

As a well known Hafler man...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Titanium Dome

This little discussion caused me to do a little research on the 6230 and 6260. They appear to be identical, spec-wise, to the Synthesis® S150 and S300 amps I got recently, which were made by UREI. :hmm: Facelift, anyone?

Vintage gear and being up to spec aside, you might find this interesting...

Several years ago Zilch lent me a small 62XX that compared to the Hafler P3000. I compared them. Running them full range on my mini monitors, the Hafler P3000 was significantly better sounding. I suppose it also cost significantly more. Now that they are both dead lines the prices are likely more in line with each other.

Widget
03-05-2009, 04:00 AM
JBL 4645

Empire’s original 13KW THX JBL Urei 6290

The famous Empire Leicester Square, screen #1 at London's West End, used them for its original, JBL 13KW THX sound system during the late 1980’s though to late 1990’s. The amps where removed and replaced with QSC and Martin Audio loudspeakers during 2000. About 5 years later it was all-revamped back to JBL and Crown power amplifiers and killer 56KW THX certification. :applaud:

http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messa...069/275681.jpg

http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messa...069/275682.jpg
More over at this thread: The Empire Leicester Square London a JBL installation!
http://www.audioheritage.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=13057

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