Why no love for Jensen trans

GroupDIY Audio Forum

Help Support GroupDIY Audio Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
G

Guest

Guest
I see Lhundal and OEP mentioned a lot, but rarely see Jensen mentioned are they just crap?
(or are we just snooty?)
 
Plus they're more expensive than any of the alternatives, while not necessarily "better".

Peace,
Al.
 
[quote author="alk509"]Plus they're more expensive than any of the alternatives, while not necessarily "better".

Peace,
Al.[/quote]

what he said. IMO Jensen are good but are they worth the $$ I doubt it...
 
as said above

Availability and Cost

I've tried to talk to Bill about this in the past and thought at one time a solution ( at least for Australia ) was near
but it didn't turn out that way

so OEP, Lunhahl
and the other American companies for our states side friends
Ebay
Joe is getting some cool stuff made and these are good options for the Australians

For the EU Sowters are good and so too the local secondhand for the Neve related stuff.

Ebay - UTC

:shock:
what was the question ?
:grin:
 
For US customers Cinemag has a better selection at a lower price. The quality is on par with Jensen if not better. One major convenience of Jensen is that they always seem to stock their parts. No doubt maintaining that inventory contributes to their high prices. For hobby and DIY folks the savings are usually worth the inconvenience of waiting a few weeks for the Cinemags. As others have pointed out, OEPs and Lundahls are available through distributors in more parts of the world.
 
I just got the JT-16-A I'm going to put into channel strip. Got it from http://www.siliconsolutionstream.it/ , they were very helpful. Ask for prices and start a group buy if you want them for less money. Btw. the JT-16-A was ~80 EUR +VAT / piece.

E: See also the Class-D amp modules they sell @ http://www.s3shop.it/
if you ever need one. They also list Jenses Transformers there http://www.s3shop.it/prodotti.htm
No click'n buy webshop yet as they don't keep them in stock but order from Jensen after you have (pre)paid the order (so it takes couple of the weeks to get the stuff).
 
I'm one guy who does love Jensen transformers; for sheer tranparency I haven't heard the like yet. If you're after definite colorations other brands may be more appropriate, but for a transformer that doesn't tell you it's there, I like the Jensens. I don't like the prices, no, but I've been known to bite the bullet anyway.

Incidentally, the late Deane Jensen endeared himself to me forever in a long conversation many years ago. I asked why his company never built output transformers for power amps; he replied, "I don't like to build anything that creates more than 90dB SPL when you drop it on your foot."

Peace,
Paul
 
Ok that gives me some idea, thanks all.

So at around ~80 EUR +VAT for the Jensen JT-16-A, for comparison's sake what is the price (approximately) on the others?:

- OEP
- Lhundal
- Cinemag


pstamler,

Where can Jensen's be purchased in the US? is it a Mouser/DigiKey thing or are they only available through certain channels?
 
[quote author="RedHouse"]Where can Jensen's be purchased in the US? is it a Mouser/DigiKey thing or are they only available through certain channels?[/quote]

You purchase them direct from Jensen...

-Jay
 
Who are now a few steps away from where I used to have an office in Chatsworth, California. I go to that industrial park sometimes to take walks and have had a mind to stop in and ask them if the new location is an expansion or contraction from their old location. I suspect the former, as Whitlock told me the home theater biz is driving the need for a lot of video isolation transformers to gavanically isolate low frequency hum/noise paths in single-ended I/O equipment. In the video duplication biz it's also helped the balanced power folks to sell more of their big mains transformers.
 
[quote author="buttachunk"]Jensen is generally the cleanest of the transformers[/quote]

Jensen does make some really clean and flat transformers, but so do Cinemag, Lundahl, and many others. To say Jensens are "the cleanest" is a little misleading. Actually, there are at least two Cinemag mic inputs (a 1:8 and a 1:10, IIRC) that, as far as my ears and my ST-1700B can tell, are the exact same transformers as the equivalent Jensens, only the Cinemags are cheaper.

[quote author="buttachunk"]The reason you pay less (sometimes) for other traffos is the higher concentrations of steel.[/quote]

True. But again, Cinemag, Lundahl, Profile, et al all have high nickel offerings that are clean as hell, yet consistently cheaper than Jensen.

Jensen transformers are great, don't get me wrong, but at least for mic inputs and line outputs there are cheaper options out there that are just as good, if you bother to look.

Market clout does not the best product make...

Peace,
Al.
 
Back
Top