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Specs on Jensen Spectrum 530 speakers??

mal0422

mal0422

New Member
Recently got some LARGE Jensen 3ways from 1978, but I think I need a better amp to power these monsters.

Unfortunately, I can't find any specs anywhere on these! Can you help?

Jensen Spectrum 530.jpg xxx.jpg Jensen Spectrum 530, maybe 6ohm??, w/10"woofer, mid & tweeter, knobs for mid & high behind the grill. Super-heavy, solid walnut, 22lbs each maybe. My 3 amps from 1970s are nice, but only 20watts RMS, maybe 40watts on the bigger one. They're probably 8ohm. I can barely get decent audio out of the Jensen monsters ... so I need the specs to see what my problem is.

JENSEN Spectrum 530... woofer model is 2207806 ... Serial number behind grill is 101682.
That's all I know! --Mark
 
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Mark, you shouldn't need a ton of power to get decent sound out of these. I'm not familiar with this particular model, but almost all speakers from that era (barring some high-end exotics) should do fine with 40 watts, or even 20 (not to concert-hall levels, of course, but to a comfortable level in a typical room). I assume you're able to drive other speakers with your amps without any trouble? I suspect the problem here is twofold:
1. The woofers need to be refoamed; you should not play them any more until this is fixed, and
2. The crossovers probably need new capacitors. Also, the controls may be dirty or corroded inside.

Hope this helps.
 
Hello,
sorry, but not monster speakers by any means. I had the 520s, my first hi fi speaker and have the 540s (mint) now. very decent for what it is , especially the tweeter. pretty efficient too. I believe around 90 db. Easy to drive main stream speaker from 1976. Beautifully designed cabinets too. Furniture grade.
 
xxx.jpg
Stan man said:
Hello,
sorry, but not monster speakers by any means. I had the 520s, my first hi fi speaker and have the 540s (mint) now. very decent for what it is , especially the tweeter. pretty efficient too. I believe around 90 db. Easy to drive main stream speaker from 1976. Beautifully designed cabinets too. Furniture grade.
Click to expand...
Thank you. I sure wish I could find some specs of any kind on the Jensen Spectrum 530, but very careful searching and phoning all the obvious spots has turned up nada. Like I stated earlier, my decent Zenith receiver barely drives these at 75% volume, and that's after refoaming the woofer surrounds and such. Do you think it's an Ohm mismatch? I don't understand Ohms much, but I think all four 1970s systems in my house are typical midprice/nice 8ohms. Sanyo/Zenith/JVC and a newer Aiwa. I do love these cool 530s; great solid wood. I think I'd even spring for an amp/receiver if I knew what to match it with (100 watts rms??)
Thanks again for your interest and knowledge.
 
No, it's not an ohm mismatch, you only have to worry about that with a tube amp or extremely unusual speakers, neither of which apply here. Do the woofer cones move freely when you push on them? What are the models of the other receivers and speakers you own?
 
swechsler said:
No, it's not an ohm mismatch, you only have to worry about that with a tube amp or extremely unusual speakers, neither of which apply here. Do the woofer cones move freely when you push on them? What are the models of the other receivers and speakers you own?
Click to expand...
Thank you for the advice. I carefully installed in new foam surrounds on the 10" woofers, and now they sound great! --Mark
 
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