# Orion NT200, actual ohm load



## StockA4 (Aug 26, 2011)

I'm having a friend test my Orion NT200, and at 4 ohms mono it does its thing quite beautifully from what I understand. But at 2 ohms mono, one of the fuses keeps blowing.

So while I have it sent elsewhere for a checkup/overhaul, I have a question about proper ohm load for this amp. The NT100 is most likely built to run at a lower ohm load, but I don't know for sure. 

What I do know is that there seems to be a lot of misinformation passed off as the truth. I've seen some pretty ridiculous claims behind some of the Orion amplifiers. And strangely enough, a quick trip through the manuals could clear up at least one of those misconceptions. But back to this amp, there's no way in the world it's going to do the 993 watts I've seen floating around the net.

Can someone with more experience than me (that's probably most people) tell me what the proper operating loads are for the NT200? Is it just like a 2250 and only capable of 4 ohms mono? 

I'm not even going to run it mono, I'm just curious. 







Thanks

And if someone can prove me wrong about this amp having that many watts with a legal test, (not just a clamp and your own math). I'll be more than happy to correct myself in saying this amp will never do over 900 watts. Even though it seems like it should. But I'm not far enough along to be able to tell you how much an amp can put out just by looking at the board.


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## bigdwiz (Oct 7, 2010)

StockA4's NT200 above had dual 30A internal fuses and I'm not even sure if this was stock? The NT manual is pretty basic and doesn't mention in detail the specs for these amps. I realize they were overbuilt for SQ and not necessarily extreme power amps, but it caught our curiosity. An Orion tech suggested swapping out the 30A fuses for 40A, and although I trusted his recommendation, I was still hesitant not knowing the mfg recommended fuses for this amp. 

We are beginning to see there are more than a few of these old school amps getting ridiculous wattage numbers mentioned online, yet having none of these numbers verified (eBay is the worst for misinformation). My favorite is the 2100 HCCA Competition and the 1600W at 1ohm "competition only" rating. BS, nothing more than BS. The amp does around 800W and that's all. Sorry for venting, I should probably start another thread named "Internet Amp rating myths, truth revealed..."


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## StockA4 (Aug 26, 2011)

You know what's funny? The difference between boards when it comes to the 250 HCCA and thd NT. Now, we know the 250 actually does pretty close to what it says if I'm not mistaken. But then I see the NT board with all the big beautiful caps and I wonder why it can't keep up. I know it's not all about the caps, and that it has to do with a whole lot of other stuff I really don't know about. 

And Dereck, there might even be something wrong with mine. We'll find out shortly. Might even do 1600 "real world" watts, (competition only).


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## StockA4 (Aug 26, 2011)

There's no one here that can tell me about the NT200? So far the numbers don't go over408 @ 4 ohms mono, and 534.6 @ 2 ohms mono before the fuse pops (continually).

Again, I'm having the amp checked because it's only the one side that blows, but I'd still like to know if 2 ohms mono is even a safe load.


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## SQ Audi (Dec 21, 2010)

Back in '95 when this amp was brought out ( think I have the right year) our Orion rep stated that this is not a high current amp, but rather an overbuilt SQ amp made to go against McIntosh in terms of performance. If you want high current, you can look at the PPI ProMos50 and the Orion 225 HCCA. Only the American Made amps were capable of this.

But this amp is the best of what Orion offered in its time. Best craftsmanship, best components, best sound. But not the most powerful. To my knowledge, it wasnt designed to go 2ohm mono.


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## StockA4 (Aug 26, 2011)

SQ Audi said:


> Back in '95 when this amp was brought out ( think I have the right year) our Orion rep stated that this is not a high current amp, but rather an overbuilt SQ amp made to go against McIntosh in terms of performance. If you want high current, you can look at the PPI ProMos50 and the Orion 225 HCCA. Only the American Made amps were capable of this.
> 
> But this amp is the best of what Orion offered in its time. Best craftsmanship, best components, best sound. But not the most powerful. To my knowledge, it wasnt designed to go 2ohm mono.


Thank you. I'm pretty familiar with American H/C amps as I have one or two laying around the house. And I figured this one wasn't a high current, but it was still a bit of a mystery to me. Mostly because of all the nonsense that's been posted about Orion amplifiers and what they're capable of. I knew it wasn't doing 993 watts or whatever others are saying.

I have a lot of Orion amps that are "online rated" at ridiculous power and ohm loads. Lately I've been having mine tested, and have been paying attention to testing being done on amps just like mine. The results aren't what people think they are.

Your history is very close. The Dual Mono XTR came out in '95. In '96 they changed colors and name, but the amps were still the same. The only difference was in price. The XTR was $1250 while the NT was only $1100.


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## Frzninvt (Nov 7, 2012)

The NT200 was only technically stable to 4 ohm mono and 2 ohm stereo similar to the XTR line (250, 275, 2150, 2250). The NT100 as well despite all the rumors although it could be pushed a little harder. These as already mentioned were NOT high-current amps and built with Xtreme sound quality in mind. The stock fuse is indeed 30A, I am not surprised that one fuse blew when dropping it to 2 ohm mono. 

I ran the NT200 on a pair of a/d/s 346is fronts with the PX tweeters and a rare pair of Magnum Mobilesound 6x9 components in the rear. I tried to run an a/d/s 200i plate with a 100W L-Pad for a center channel using the + from one channel and - from the other and the amp did not like it at all. It would blow a single fuse every so often.

Decided to get an Audio Control System 90 Model 11 to run the dedicated a/d/s center instead. Very nice sounding amplifiers the XTR and NT line. I did feel that when I was running a 300 GSX on the Orion NT2 DVC subs and had an XTR-475 running the front and rear it had more separation and sound a tad more smooth and balanced.

Had it running off an Alpine CDA-7998.


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## soundhertz (Apr 26, 2011)

I have 2 of the NT100 and 2 of the NT200 amps. They are unbelievably clean and neutral sounding. These amps are biased more towards class A so they will get too hot and shutdown when run at low impedances. I've tried it. But at 4 ohms stereo or mono, they kick ass and sound fantastic!! Not always about watts. Look at build, specs, clean output, low thd, etc. Love these amps!!!


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## StockA4 (Aug 26, 2011)

Ya, I would never run my NT in any other other configuration that 4 ohms stereo. I know these were overbuilt to be listened to at that load. It was curiosity more than anything that prompted me to begin this thread. I'm actually considering running this NT200 with an XTR 2250 in my wife's car. It's a tossup between this and my 2150 SX. The 2150 is one of my all time favorite amps to run to a set of mids.

And I think I'm off by about $100 in my previous post.


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## soundhertz (Apr 26, 2011)

Yeah, I have run this amp at 4 ohms mono and it is a beast!! 4 ohms mono is fine for these. Nothing less than that. My favourite amp ever and I have tried some expensive mothers!!!


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## bigdwiz (Oct 7, 2010)

I'm uploading a video of me bench testing StockA4's NT200 right now...will link it to this thread when it goes live.


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## bigdwiz (Oct 7, 2010)

See the NT 200 bench tested on YouTube or embedded below;


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## MCLSOUND (Oct 21, 2011)

Nice video D
This amp was designed for nice high sensitivity midbass,with the power for awsome mid/hi.
If I was building a small to medium oldschool system,I would use the 100 on mid/hi and 200 on midbass(although 100 will do also)
For a large system that was fully active I would use a 100 on the highs,and depending on the sensitivity,a 100 will work on mids unless you are using a big ATC 75/150(then a 200 is a must).The 200 will work perfectly on the midbass in a large system and will work fine on a nice sub in a small to med. system but for a large system I would use the 2250 or 2100 depending on your load.
The Orion gear is not always about measurements as there are lots of variables such as sound quality.And yet the most important is sensitvity of a system.If your front end is a average of 86db as compared to 94db will make a huge difference also.

I will not forget my experience when listening to a system in a "REAL" hummer couple years ago consisting of 2 15" Cerwin vega Strokers(10yrs old) in 5.5CF boxes each running off a Orion HCCA 2100 each bridged at 1ohm(that is equal to .5ohm stereo) and a HCCA 425 on the fronts and rears.The fronts were a lower component set of 6.5/tweeter and upper 6.5/tweeter with a 2ohm load and 95db sensitivity.Rear was a single pair od 6.5 coax ..the 425 kept up no problem because of high sens. at a 2ohm load .....AND THE BASS!!!!!!! WOW...The 2100 running bridged at 1ohm(no matter what the amp measures) with the sens. of the Vegas and the box/room gain,was so much that at 9/10 on the volume I had to say..ENOUGH.
This was proof to me on how amazing oldschool Orion can be...So just imagine what a NT200 would have sounded like on the front end.


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## MCLSOUND (Oct 21, 2011)

Here is a pic of the hummer and a BNIB nt200


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## bigdwiz (Oct 7, 2010)

Great points, I should stress the power output is only part of the story...My favorite recent setup was during my test of the Orion XTR-2250. I tested this amp with my trio of JL Audio 8W6 (mid 90's subs) in a slot ported box and all I can say is 

The XTR-2250 "only" measured around 800w at 4 ohms bridged with resistive loads, but let me tell you, I've never heard those 8W6's sound so sweet! It really can't be portrayed on YouTube, but I did my best


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## MCLSOUND (Oct 21, 2011)

This is so True as the sens. of those subs is ?????......Do you know the sens,...I will guess that those oldschools are 89db each and with 3 would be = to 94/95db?? The new gear is less sens because of the huge motors and depth of desire(LOL).Alot of the newer gear is rated at 86db but when you reach 20-30hz it is more like 72db sens.


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## StockA4 (Aug 26, 2011)

"The Orion gear is not always about measurements". Your right, it's not. I've never planned on using this for anything other than a set of mids. Same with just about all of my Orions, besides the one or two I'll use for sub duty.

I've said this a few times; these aren't all for piling subs on. Granted you can with one or two of them, but if you have an amp that does something amazing at 4 ohms, why wouldn't you use it there? That's a rhetorical question.

I think the reason measurements come up is because there are those who believe Orion amplifiers put out much more than rated. And that doesn't have anything to do with speaker sensitivity or correct setup (which John is referring to), it has to do with people saying that they have measured their amp to do something that nobody else's amp is able to do. I'll admit I bought into it when I first started picking up Orions, but I've been paying attention and having my amps tested since then.

I can tell you this, I had the same thing as Dereck on the bench: an XTR 2250 and a trio of 8w6's (4 ohms bridged). On regular music hovering around 30 amps, that little combo is unbelieveably LOUD! Absolutely rocks the house and puts a smile on my face. It's hard to believe these two items weren't made expressly for each other.


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## StockA4 (Aug 26, 2011)

MCLSOUND said:


> This is so True as the sens. of those subs is ?????......Do you know the sens,...I will guess that those oldschools are 89db each and with 3 would be = to 94/95db?? The new gear is less sens because of the huge motors and depth of desire(LOL).Alot of the newer gear is rated at 86db but when you reach 20-30hz it is more like 72db sens.


The JL's are 83.6


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## cman750rr (May 29, 2018)

Orion"s best simple past and present , these amps sound beyond great SQ sound plus lots of Bite & Grunt ..design is flawless ..I have the complete NT series , XTR and NT using Carbon Fiber Mids and NT Drivers ...what I can say in 2018 is that Orion made some bad ass gear still maintains value but most of all sound quality ..craftsmanship unmatched .. these amps can play very loud without distortion ....I am using all four at 2 Ohms although this is safe mode.

Made a personal mission not have any modern 2000 post Orion gear in my installs, simple reason not into Chinese Rubber or Korean parts ....XTR Pro 10 inch driver lasted 3 months of use ....before it tore ...Orion today will not provide a warranty ..


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## SQ Audi (Dec 21, 2010)

cman750rr said:


> Orion"s best simple past and present , these amps sound beyond great SQ sound plus lots of Bite & Grunt ..design is flawless ..I have the complete NT series , XTR and NT using Carbon Fiber Mids and NT Drivers ...what I can say in 2018 is that Orion made some bad ass gear still maintains value but most of all sound quality ..craftsmanship unmatched .. these amps can play very loud without distortion ....I am using all four at 2 Ohms although this is safe mode.
> 
> Made a personal mission not have any modern 2000 post Orion gear in my installs, simple reason not into Chinese Rubber or Korean parts ....XTR Pro 10 inch driver lasted 3 months of use ....before it tore ...Orion today will not provide a warranty ..



Holy 5 Year Thread Bump Batman!


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## cman750rr (May 29, 2018)

SQ Audi said:


> Holy 5 Year Thread Bump Batman!



A 20 plus year old piece of Car Audio history, worth mentioning ....
Fair enough comeback with the DC cartoon comment ........ perhaps the comment could have been what has Orion done lately worth reporting ...


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## vettefiend (Apr 4, 2009)

Orion has done nothing worth reporting lately, hence this thread being dead for 5 years.

As someone who grew up in Tempe in the 80's and 90's, I miss the times of Orion vs PPI vs RF. I was a huge Orion fan but I do admire RF for staying the course in car audio.


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## SQ Audi (Dec 21, 2010)

cman750rr said:


> A 20 plus year old piece of Car Audio history, worth mentioning ....
> Fair enough comeback with the DC cartoon comment ........ perhaps the comment could have been what has Orion done lately worth reporting ...


Orion might be idle, but Bernie Boland certainly isn't. Check out Boland Audio on Facebook.

Bernie is the designer of the NT200 among others of the original Arizona company.


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## JosephH (Dec 30, 2019)

Very nice thread.

I'm close to working out all the kinks with local designers / installers to get these XTR 200 up and running in my old school / modern stereo build. One will be running a JL Audio 10TW3 at 4 ohms and the other will be running a set of Focal K2s and Experts at 8 ohms. Take a look below:


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## Humvee (20 d ago)

MCLSOUND said:


> Nice video D This amp was designed for nice high sensitivity midbass,with the power for awsome mid/hi. If I was building a small to medium oldschool system,I would use the 100 on mid/hi and 200 on midbass(although 100 will do also) For a large system that was fully active I would use a 100 on the highs,and depending on the sensitivity,a 100 will work on mids unless you are using a big ATC 75/150(then a 200 is a must).The 200 will work perfectly on the midbass in a large system and will work fine on a nice sub in a small to med. system but for a large system I would use the 2250 or 2100 depending on your load. The Orion gear is not always about measurements as there are lots of variables such as sound quality.And yet the most important is sensitvity of a system.If your front end is a average of 86db as compared to 94db will make a huge difference also. I will not forget my experience when listening to a system in a "REAL" hummer couple years ago consisting of 2 15" Cerwin vega Strokers(10yrs old) in 5.5CF boxes each running off a Orion HCCA 2100 each bridged at 1ohm(that is equal to .5ohm stereo) and a HCCA 425 on the fronts and rears.The fronts were a lower component set of 6.5/tweeter and upper 6.5/tweeter with a 2ohm load and 95db sensitivity.Rear was a single pair od 6.5 coax ..the 425 kept up no problem because of high sens. at a 2ohm load .....AND THE BASS!!!!!!! WOW...The 2100 running bridged at 1ohm(no matter what the amp measures) with the sens. of the Vegas and the box/room gain,was so much that at 9/10 on the volume I had to say..ENOUGH. This was proof to me on how amazing oldschool Orion can be...So just imagine what a NT200 would have sounded like on the front end.


 Who is this? The photos you posted was of my H1 Hummer! LOL E-mail me [email protected]


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