JBL SE-460 (c. 1970)

The JBL SE-460 is one of the lightly documented pieces in JBL's electronics lineup. What survives in period publications places it as a stereo amplifier current around mid-1970. No service manual or original spec sheet has surfaced in the material reviewed here, so the record rests on two magazine items and a classified ad.

HiFI-Stereo (June 1970, p.24) ran the SE-460 in its new-products roundup, crediting the amplifier with spring-loaded speaker terminals, individual gain controls for each channel, and an idle draw so low that the unit could be left powered up when not handling a signal. The same listing reported:

• Harmonic distortion under 0.2% across the audio range
• Intermodulation distortion under 0.15%
• Frequency response 1–70,000 Hz ±0.5 dB
• Power bandwidth 5–35,000 Hz
• Damping factor 4

A follow-up item in Hi