I have an orion 2500d amp. It powers up nicely, produces sound, but wont get loud. I recently hooked it up to a pair of alpine type x subs wired down to a 1 ohm load. With the gain set at max, the amp was only outputting 12 volts AC from the speaker output with volume at 3/4. With the gain all the way down, I get no volume at all. This amp used to be very loud at 0 gain running 1 ohm. I tried a 600 watt rms MTX amp in place of the orion and the subs were 3 times louder than the orion. Anyone have any suggestions on what it could be? Bad gain POT? bad output transistor? I appreciate the help.
I estimated around 300 watts, considering the song played wasn't a sine wave but instead a poor sounding audio cd in which the song itself didn't have any hard bass notes. I'm guessing if I used a 50hz test tone, the voltage would in fact go up.
What happens if you try to drive a much easier load? Say 8 ohms or not even a load at all, say just the multimeter?
If the problem isn't with the actual 'power' bit of the amplifier then I'd expect the output voltage to remain roughly the same regardless of load. In other words, you've got a duff pot somewhere, or an opamp has become destroyed. The problem is with the signal conditioning circuit before the power stage.
If however the output voltage varies significantly, depending on the load, then something could very well be broken in the power stage.
If the problem isn't with the actual 'power' bit of the amplifier then I'd expect the output voltage to remain roughly the same regardless of load. In other words, you've got a duff pot somewhere, or an opamp has become destroyed. The problem is with the signal conditioning circuit before the power stage.
If however the output voltage varies significantly, depending on the load, then something could very well be broken in the power stage.
I actually tested the output without a load. Multimeter only. When applying load, I never tested the AC voltage because I assumed it was still low, considering how the subs weren't that loud. I babied this amp. I ran a 220 amp irragi alternator under the hood, a run of 0 gauge kicker wire into a yellow top battery in the back. I then ran the power and ground wires into distribution blocks to split the 0 gauge to two 4 gauge wires. This amp has 2 power and 2 ground inputs.
I heard the number one killer of these orions is vibration. It almost seems as if I were to get a line converter that supported a preout of 16 volts, then the amp would prob run at its optimal. It's like the gain POT just won't turn up like it should.
I heard the number one killer of these orions is vibration. It almost seems as if I were to get a line converter that supported a preout of 16 volts, then the amp would prob run at its optimal. It's like the gain POT just won't turn up like it should.
Yes you need to fully determine where the problem is coming from. Is there something wrong with the output stage, or is there an issue with the rest of the device. After finding this out, open the thing up and start looking around for any destroyed components in the area you think might be damaged.
Also check to see if the correct areas of the amp are receiving the correct voltages too. If you're lucky the silk screen on the PCB will have written on it, voltages @ various input/output headers, to help guide you.
Also check to see if the correct areas of the amp are receiving the correct voltages too. If you're lucky the silk screen on the PCB will have written on it, voltages @ various input/output headers, to help guide you.
I had the amp in the house, on my way to test it I leaned it up against a chair and it fell over. I picked it up, hooked up power and RCA's, stuck in a 0db 50hz test tone. Gain knob all the way up, the voltage was at a constant 88 volts. I dunno if something was touching inside the amp, but the fact that it fell and now works is just weird. I feel i'm gonna have all kinds of problems with this amp. I know that I'm supposed to run the gain at 50 volts for a 2500watt rms amp at 1 ohm. I'll get around to hooking up the amp in the car again and see how it performs. Thanks for all the help.
Sounds like a loose connection somewhere to me. Might be a bit hard trying to find it, but once you have the amp shouldn't really give you any trouble.
When the amp is playing, use a plastic barrelled pen and tap on the various components inside. If there's a loose connection somewhere or a dry solder join, this will usually cause some change in the sound when it's 'hit'. A pop or a crackle etc.
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