Old school Orion XTR 2250

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I have an xtr 2250. I also picked up a 13w7 for dirtcheap. I want to know if I could run that sub which is dual 1.5 ohm on the beast bridged? I picked it up off a guy who was running 1 ohm off one channel for over a year and there was no damage done so I wonder if its ok to run that w7 at 3 ohm bridged? I know its limit states 4 ohm bridged but its also an oldschool high current amp. I know its 90percent the same as the 2100hcca I would like to know if anyone else has some experience here. Thanksss
 
Why would it run two 12w6v2's at a one ohm load off one channel and not a 3 ohm load bridged? The box is the Jl powerwedge and everything is brand new. I would run the amp most likely half gain or 5/8 and bass boost on. The speaker checks out at 2.7 ohm at the amp its on now, a 1000/1 JL. I had the 12w6v2's on it after that but at a 4 ohm bridge.
 
Mr. Babin, what do you think is the lowest safe impedance to run this amp bridged on. 3.2 or 3.5 or 4? Is it possible to up the impedance by adding length to the speaker wire. I tried it with a foot of 18 gauge and noticed the impedance increased by .1. Do you think 15 feet would make this 2.7 ohm speaker run about 4 ohm? Thankss
 
The manufacturer rated it as a 4 ohm mono (minimum) for a reason. A well educated electronics engineer likely decided the rating. Since he likely knows more than I do about the amp he designed, I'd go along with his suggestions.

18g speaker wire has ~0.013 ohms per foot. You'd need 100 feet of wire to make 1.3 ohms.

The best thing to do is to get the right speaker amp combo. As of now, you can sell the amp and buy something more suitable. If you blow it (possibly making it unrepairable) it will be worth nothing.
 
Yea I'm definitely not blowin that amp up.. If i ever do sell it its goin on ebay. I seen them go for around 650 on there. I got two 12w6v2's the amp, kicker x-over, 1 farad cap, and an optima redtop plus 16 feet of 1/0 for 600. I never was interested in owning a 13w7 until a week ago a guy on cragslist said he was selling one he used for about 3 months 3 years ago for 300. I didn't believe til I seen it and ran it on the 1000/1 he was sellling for 300 also. I couldn't leave it. I've already had offers for a grand for the two. I'm gonna sell em next week. anyways thanks for the advice you just furthered my first instinct to not do that. One more question though. Whats the problem(s) with running 100 feet of 18 gauge wire to up the impedance? I'm sure there has to be some. Also the wire had must of been smaller than 18 ga.
 
I've always wanted to see what the potential of that thing is. Now i have one sub that could handle it I'm anxious to see. I found another one of those subs for a deal again last night and its on the way. I may try something if its gonna be safe. Anyways after that I bought them to resell anyway and I'll be back to my two 12's which are absolutely clean crisp reliable subs. I gotta turn the beast up one time before I grow out of this. Later
 
Hey Perry, You still around here somewhere? 2 questions, (1) What is the difference between the 2100 hcca and the 2100 hcca digital reference series are they both the same amps? (2) I have an old first series xtr 12 I want to take apart, where do I start? Is there a right way? Thankss Your opinion is seeked here - what do you think a 2100 hcca dig reference amp is worth in good condition for its age? It also has the speaker wire soldered to pins instead of using the plug, is that bad?
 
To be honest, I can't tell you the difference in the amps. I rarely look at the outside of the amps so I don't know if the amp I'm repairing is a digital reference or not. If I'm not mistaken there may have been some overlap where DR and non DR amps had the same boards for a while. I'm sure others could provide more information.

I know nothing about their woofers. Maybe someone else can help.

I don't know what they're worth. The value varies with supply and demand.

Having wire soldered to the pins probably doesn't look as good as a plug but if they're soldered properly, it will work at least as well as the plug.
 
Question: Why when runnin the xtr 2250 to two 600 watt subs in 4 ohm bridge mode do the peak indicator lights light up when I'm not even at the max on the subs and I have a 1000watt amp with the gain set at no more than half. I understand that the gain is for matching the amp to volts output from the head unit. I have it set right now so the lights do not come on but I need about a quarter turn up to be close to the peak on the subs.
 
It means that the amplifier has reached it's maximum (clean) output. Most people drive their bass amps to hard clipping. Virtually no one buys as much power as they need. Driving it to clipping intermittently won't hurt anything. If you drive it into hard clipping continuously, it could cause your speakers to fail. The actual power at full clip is roughly twice the the power just at clipping.
 
Why does the amp power double between right before clipping and full clipping. Any why does the amp put out unlcean power after the clipping point. I know distortion kills speakers. But the light doesn't necessarily mean that there is distortion from the speakers does it? I don't run my speakers to distortion I'm an SQ advocate, but is there inaudible distortion?
 
There's a significant difference in 'just before clipping' and 'full clipping' (square wave). It don't happen with one step on the volume control.

If the LED is illuminated, there's a really good chance that the amp is producing at least slightly distorted output.

Distortion doesn't kill speakers. If it did, you wouldn't be able to play any rock music (distorted guitar from over-driving the signal). The problem comes in when you have speakers that are barely rated to handle the rated power of the amp (before/at clipping) and then drive that amp to full square wave output.

If you're driving the amp until the clip LEDs are illuminated, you're driving a distorted signal into the speakers. You can't hear distortion when it's at low levels with subwoofers (playing music).
 
Thanks alot Perry for sharing your knowledge and not making me feel beneath for my lack of understanding of all these things. It is a good feeling to know that I can ask someone who knows the big scheme behind all these audio electronic questions and not just Joe Schmoe at the speaker shop and hope they're right.
Since we're on the subject what causes the clipping and why does it have to be that way. I don't get why distortion comes in at a certain output from amps.
 
Clipping is caused when someone tries to get more from an amp than it can deliver. The audio amplifier requires a power supply. The power supply voltage determines how much voltage the amplifier can send to the speakers. Higher supply voltage can produce higher maximum power output for any given load. When the amplifier is driven to a point to where the desired output voltage from the audio amplifier equals (approximately) the supply voltage (when the amp is driven to full power), the signal becomes clipped and distorted. If it's clipped harder, the distortion becomes worse. Mild clipping is typically inaudible with music. If you hear distortion through woofers, it's generally severely clipped.
 
Ok. I understand clearly. And any suggestion on how to increase the power available to amp. Its sittin on an optima red top battery just for the amp and has a farad capacitor at its disposal also. I have read your article in bcae1 on your proposal on capacitors not having much positive or negative clearly defined in any setup you have witnessed, and I do understand and agree to a point with you on that. I think that if your system needs a band aid on the powersupply and not stitches that sometimes a cap can help. But what other ways are there to do this without upgrading alternators. I'm not really interested in performing this for myself but I'd like to know.
And I've heard of bridging batteries together for 24volts? Is there truth to this?
 
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