# Are the old school Orion XTR amps any good?



## Sephiroth619 (Jun 24, 2005)

Is the power supplied as clean as a DLS A series amp?

Any other cheap old school amps that I should look into?


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## MarkZ (Dec 5, 2005)

How old school is old school?

I have an XTR 8004 and it's kickass.


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## Jim85IROC (Jun 8, 2005)

The pre-DEI influenced amps are phenominal amplifiers. Their cobalt stuff was a good value, but their XTR stuff was right there with the Kicker and Rockford stuff of the day. The HCCA, well that was in a whole 'nother league.


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## rimshot (May 17, 2005)

hell yes they are I had an XTR 8004 back in the day as well, black, and ran a two way set passive with the rear channels bridged to two alpine type r's. Great amp.


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## MCLSOUND (Oct 21, 2011)

Alot of people dont realize that oldschool is a piece of art/history.It sounds amazing for sure


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## MCLSOUND (Oct 21, 2011)

also one has to keep in mind that current is where the power is.Even if a amp states 100w/ch yet needs 100amps of current,this will define its true ability.
One can measure all he desires but when a amp that can eat up 100+ amps is hooked up to any speakers that have a sensitivity of between 90-95db,well these oldschool Orions will shake up the wheel wells.


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## oilman (Feb 21, 2012)

Great amp and well made. One of the few amps I'll never sell. I'm holding on to a few old relics for when my son gets older.


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## Frzninvt (Nov 7, 2012)

That series was an a/d/s & Orion pre-DEI venture and some of the best ever produced even today. Things went to crap when all the companies of old got bought out and production when to the Orient. :-(


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## StockA4 (Aug 26, 2011)

Ya, the pre DEI Orion equipment is well worth investing in and listening to. Mclsound is correct when he says feed them what they want. Some of these amps want a lot, some not as much. These amps don't appreciate low voltage. 

It would also be in your best interest to do some independent research on what you want. Independent from what you may see on the internet. They all have regulated power supplies and as phenomenal as I think they are, they're not all stable down to .5 ohms. I just had a bit of an argument with a gentleman on ebay who claims his stock 280 GX is stable to .5 ohms and produces 1,850 watts. And that he was running his daily at 1 ohm mono and "clamped" out at 800 watts. Needless to say, don't listen to that crap. Do your own research and legitimate testing if you want to know what your amp does.


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## Frzninvt (Nov 7, 2012)

Those older GX models also require the 400-BDG module to even run in a mono configuration.


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## StockA4 (Aug 26, 2011)

Or a 3100 SVF. And the 2350 isn't bridgeable.


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## Frzninvt (Nov 7, 2012)

The 3100 SVF is a rare animal, so is the Orion equalizer that was a full DIN unit that could measure the temps of 7 amps. It had a spectrum display. A friend of mine had one with an Alpine CDA-7939 it's model number escapes me.


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## StockA4 (Aug 26, 2011)

Frzninvt said:


> The 3100 SVF is a rare animal, so is the Orion equalizer that was a full DIN unit that could measure the temps of 7 amps. It had a spectrum display. A friend of mine had one with an Alpine CDA-7939 it's model number escapes me.


Now my curiosity is piqued. I have the aforementioned, but I've never seen what you're talking about. Unless I'm having a brainfart.


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## Frzninvt (Nov 7, 2012)

I cannot find any images or references on the web but if I were to take a guess at the model perhaps the 1400 DEQ? It had an orangish spectrum display but the spectrum bars were short. It had like 5 or 6 grey buttons on the face of it, and looked blacked out when off. Big bucks in the mid-90's. Around $1K or so.

It was much more than an equalizer it was a signal processor as well and had a ton of features.

I think I have the .pdf of the user manual for it at home. I'll check.


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## StockA4 (Aug 26, 2011)

Frzninvt said:


> I cannot find any images or references on the web but if I were to take a guess at the model perhaps the DEQ-1400? It had an orangish spectrum display but the spectrum bars were short. It had like 5 or 6 grey buttons on the face of it, and looked blacked out when off. Big bucks in the mid-90's. Around $1K or so.
> 
> I think I have the .pdf of the user manual for it at home. I'll check.


There's barely any reference to the SVF. I have just about all the manuals, but none of them mention the analyzer. Nor do they mention the SVF. The paperwork I have for the SVF is very archaic and didn't include info on anything else like most of the main manuals.


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## StockA4 (Aug 26, 2011)




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## big jerm (Dec 26, 2010)

StockA4 said:


> Ya, the pre DEI Orion equipment is well worth investing in and listening to. Mclsound is correct when he says feed them what they want. Some of these amps want a lot, some not as much. These amps don't appreciate low voltage.
> 
> It would also be in your best interest to do some independent research on what you want. Independent from what you may see on the internet. They all have regulated power supplies and as phenomenal as I think they are, they're not all stable down to .5 ohms. I just had a bit of an argument with a gentleman on ebay who claims his stock 280 GX is stable to .5 ohms and produces 1,850 watts. And that he was running his daily at 1 ohm mono and "clamped" out at 800 watts. Needless to say, don't listen to that crap. Do your own research and legitimate testing if you want to know what your amp does.


280GX is 2 ohm stable stereo, EBay seller lies again.


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## itsblown (Dec 6, 2011)

I wish I could remember the exact model number I believe it was the 200.2 xtr it was all Black with the cooling fins on the heat sink. I bought it for 5 dollars because the kid selling it thought it was broken. Probably one of the nicest mids and highs amps I've ever owned and to this day its the only piece of audio equipment I regret selling.


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## brett (Apr 27, 2005)

had an old xtr600.4 and ran two xtr15svc in my old caddy and it was fun and sounded great! i know some guys that have quite an extensive orion collection it would make you sick. ive always had a little voice in the back of my head telling me i should go back but finding amps that arent all scratched to **** and haven't been fried from kids trying to get too much out of them is a hard thing. remember the old concept amps? those were rad!


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## bigdwiz (Oct 7, 2010)

big jerm said:


> 280GX is 2 ohm stable stereo, EBay seller lies again.


Yeah, StockA4 contacted this dude to educate him and he's still off his rocker. He's positive this 280gx is 0.5ohms stable...


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## bigdwiz (Oct 7, 2010)

I have a few vids showing the XTR-2250 (and some other OS Orion's) 


*Orion XTR-2250 The Beast vs. Concept 97.3 Ultra Cheater Monster Amps *







*Orion XTR-2250 The Beast Amp Amplifier vs. JL Audio 8W6 Subwoofers Teaser Video*







*Orion XTR-2250 The Beast Amp Power Output Test Wattage RMS Old School DD-1 *


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## herman_x (Dec 21, 2007)

@bigdwiz: when you will upload output test of orion nt200 on youtube?


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## BoostedOne (Nov 15, 2012)

Damn, I miss my 2250SX... And my XTR500's(same amp).. 
One of the earlier posters was right.. They are absolutely GREAT amps, but don't skimp on the voltage supply.. I bought my 2250 used from a local RF dealer for 300 bucks in 1991 and had to put it on layaway for like 3 months to get the money together.. Used to to replace my Sherwood brick(the old 70+70).. I was so excited to get it I must have called Orion and talked to this dude Chris like 5 times in the month before I got it.. I remember him telling me to make sure I had at least one extra battery in the trunk for it.. I figured "Ahh, hogwash"... It played for about 30 minutes before it blew.. But not before cooking the Blue Thunder 12's my buddy let me borrow LOL.. So I had to replace a set of 12s and get it fixed before I could use it again(with a second battery)..


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## bigdwiz (Oct 7, 2010)

@herman_x

Will post NT200 results soon. It didn't like 2ohms mono although the power jumped a good margin from 4ohms mono, it kept popping internal fuses (30A x2). I even took a chance and upped to 40A x2, and popped those as well. I'll explain it in the vid, may be a few weeks...

I'm gonna move to other mfg's b/c it may seem like I'm picking on Orion. Not the case at all, just a lot of curiosity about the mythical Internet ratings people post and I'm ready to show the facts. I have so many to test, just very little time right now to do the tests. They will come in due time...


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## BoostedOne (Nov 15, 2012)

bigdwiz said:


> I'm gonna move to other mfg's b/c it may seem like I'm picking on Orion.


LOL.. I do like the old Orions, but one of my friends used to say "If its fryin, its Orion"..LOL


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## brett (Apr 27, 2005)

i think orion got a bad rep from all the knuckleheads trying to drop their amps to ridiculous loads, or not giving them enough juice to begin with. i never had a problem with mine, nor did any of my friends and their multiple orion amps (pre dei).


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