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Thread: Urei 6230 THD

  1. #1
    Senior Member Val's Avatar
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    Urei 6230 THD

    I am collecting amps to tri-amp my LE15A/375/075 rig. A friend said he had a Urei 6320 I could have for $150. The price seems ok and is aligned with my budget (and it's super clean). Looking at the manual I see that the max THD from any power level is less than 0.1%. That doesn't seem great. I would use the 6320 to power the 375 and would be running it way under it's max. Is JBL just being conservative?


    http://www.jblproservice.com/pdf/Vin...6260manual.pdf
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    Moderator hjames's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Val View Post
    I am collecting amps to tri-amp my LE15A/375/075 rig. A friend said he had a Urei 6320 I could have for $150. The price seems ok and is aligned with my budget (and it's super clean). Looking at the manual I see that the max THD from any power level is less than 0.1%. That doesn't seem great. I would use the 6320 to power the 375 and would be running it way under it's max. Is JBL just being conservative?


    http://www.jblproservice.com/pdf/Vin...6260manual.pdf
    I ran a pair of biamped 4341s with a JBL/UREI crossover and used a 6260 for the 2235 woofers, and used a 6230 for the
    high split (2122 midbass, LE85 horns, 2405 slots). We never played stupid loud in our system either.

    I suspect the specs are conservative - tho they ARE pretty old amps now and
    without having a trusted shop go through them completely, certainly aren't running as they did new.

    It was great as a budget approach, tho I did later replace the JBL amps with a pair of Adcom GFA555 (1st gen),
    and these days I am running a B&K ST202plus amp on the speakers that live in that space now.
    2ch: WiiM Pro; Topping E30 II DAC; Oppo, Acurus RL-11, Acurus A200, JBL Dynamics Project - Offline: L212-TwinStack, VonSchweikert VR-4
    7: TIVO, Oppo BDP103D, B&K, 2pr UREI 809A, TF600, JBL B460

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    Administrator Mr. Widget's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Val View Post
    Looking at the manual I see that the max THD from any power level is less than 0.1%. That doesn't seem great... Is JBL just being conservative?
    Just my opinion, but I think that THD and IM specs are pretty close to irrelevant. I wouldn't obsess on damping factor specs either.


    Widget

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    Senior Member Val's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mr. Widget View Post
    Just my opinion, but I think that THD and IM specs are pretty close to irrelevant. I wouldn't obsess on damping factor specs either.


    Widget
    I'd like to hear more about this. Are there certain specs you pay attention to?

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    Administrator Mr. Widget's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Val View Post
    Are there certain specs you pay attention to?
    Not really. In general I judge the power supply capacity by comparing it's 8 ohm and 4 ohm capabilities, but really there is no substitute to actual listening tests.


    Widget

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    Senior Member grumpy's Avatar
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    Noise (esp with higher sensitivity speaker), current capability, low output impedance (more important with speakers that have large impedance variations over freq), low distortion at lower power levels (not normally specified), I actually like looking at IM (can give an idea of how linear the amp is before feedback is applied)... Looks, connectors, fan required?, reputation...

    Used to look at watts/lb ... Lower being "better" ... When there was a large difference in the value for a wattage rating, something funny was going on (D, G, H class or overenthusiastic marketing). Not so useful these days.

    6230/60 are good amps, if they have not been abused.

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    Member rockin'rushmore's Avatar
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    How does one abuse a amp?I picked up a 6260 ,think it was out of a theater,not too rashed up.I like to jam out at times,thing has some fantastic "grunt"would not want to hurt it.So what would be detrimental to the life of a amp?

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    Senior Member grumpy's Avatar
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    Heat/lack of adequate ventilation.

    weather.

    dropping it

    shorting the output, or nearly so (improper load)

    extended clipping sessions.

    running from improper ac voltage.

    ...

    did I mention heat ?

  9. #9
    Senior Member Val's Avatar
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    I picked up the amp and my friend was willing to let me try-before-buy. Good thing too.

    I auditioned the amp in the living room on a small test speaker I didn't care about, then my LE15A/375/075 rig, then in the garage on the my 4699 Cabaret. This amp is in great shape. Totally heavy duty construction. Fan-less. I thought the LE15's did exceptionally well with this amp on the low end. Not so shimmery on the high end as the in-built amps in my Integra AVR. The downfall of this amp is noise. With no input connected and the gain cranked there is noticeable hiss. With input connected but not delivering signal still noticeable hiss. I'm guessing that it has to do with this amps age as I doubt this amp had this problem when is rolled off the assembly line.

    I appreciate the feedback from Grumpy, HJames and Mr. Widget. I'm giving this amp back to my friend. I now have a better idea on how to evaluate a power amp. Thank you.

  10. #10
    Senior Member grumpy's Avatar
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    Might give it a try with the gain turned down some. Probably don't need to run it wide open. Need to ~match the gain of other amps used to compare.

  11. #11
    Senior Member Val's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by grumpy View Post
    Might give it a try with the gain turned down some. Probably don't need to run it wide open. Need to ~match the gain of other amps used to compare.
    Good idea. Tried it and the noise diminished to an acceptable level.

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    There is a local ex-JBL dealer clearing stocks and I took a chance on the 6230. It is NOS.

    I took one unit home, hook it up to my 4345 passive, and I was blown away by the quality of the sound. I am currently using Mcintosh MC2500 which is no slouch. The 6230 is only 75W and my 2500 is 500W. I tried to find fault with the 6230 ... I really did... I cranked it up, expect it to fall apart musically, but song after song it just boogied along, and the bass on this thing is outstanding. The bass rattled my windows and ceiling. 75W !!! On the 4345, the highs are nicely extended, not what I expected from a pro amp.

    Needless to say, I went back to the dealer and bought the remaining two sets. Too bad they only had 6230.

  13. #13
    Senior Member Val's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ngccglp View Post
    There is a local ex-JBL dealer clearing stocks and I took a chance on the 6230. It is NOS.

    I took one unit home, hook it up to my 4345 passive, and I was blown away by the quality of the sound. I am currently using Mcintosh MC2500 which is no slouch. The 6230 is only 75W and my 2500 is 500W. I tried to find fault with the 6230 ... I really did... I cranked it up, expect it to fall apart musically, but song after song it just boogied along, and the bass on this thing is outstanding. The bass rattled my windows and ceiling. 75W !!! On the 4345, the highs are nicely extended, not what I expected from a pro amp.

    Needless to say, I went back to the dealer and bought the remaining two sets. Too bad they only had 6230.
    Good to hear. I plan to use my 6230 for driving the LE15A's in this winter's tri-amp project.

  14. #14
    Moderator hjames's Avatar
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    The first version of my biamped 4341s used a JBL/UREI M552 active crossover, a 6230 for the high split and a 6260 amp for the low split.
    I quickly swapped that for an Ashly XR-1001 which was much quieter and seemed to perform better than the M552.

    Quote Originally Posted by ngccglp View Post
    There is a local ex-JBL dealer clearing stocks and I took a chance on the 6230. It is NOS.

    I took one unit home, hook it up to my 4345 passive, and I was blown away by the quality of the sound. I am currently using Mcintosh MC2500 which is no slouch. The 6230 is only 75W and my 2500 is 500W. I tried to find fault with the 6230 ... I really did... I cranked it up, expect it to fall apart musically, but song after song it just boogied along, and the bass on this thing is outstanding. The bass rattled my windows and ceiling. 75W !!! On the 4345, the highs are nicely extended, not what I expected from a pro amp.

    Needless to say, I went back to the dealer and bought the remaining two sets. Too bad they only had 6230.
    2ch: WiiM Pro; Topping E30 II DAC; Oppo, Acurus RL-11, Acurus A200, JBL Dynamics Project - Offline: L212-TwinStack, VonSchweikert VR-4
    7: TIVO, Oppo BDP103D, B&K, 2pr UREI 809A, TF600, JBL B460

  15. #15
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    Hi

    After hearing the 6230 I will definitely look out for a 6260 to biamp the 2245H.

    I am using 5235 with 4345 cards so far it sounds good. I also have a Ashly which I think sounds fantastic for the price.

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