XTRProBoy 10+ year member
Senior VIP Member
I actually just bought an HCCA D2400 to replace another Orion amp that's unfortunately broken. Amp hasn't arrived yet but I'm quite excited to get it, lol.
Though I did think of several other options before selecting this amp, I still ended up going with the Orion.
Still, I can't help but thinking a few things about how DEI has perverted the Orion name, lol.
I'm sure this amp will be a competent performer but I don't get why they had to use the HCCA name?
First there's the silly max power ratings they started using as the naming convention (i.e. D1200 is 600W amp, D2400 is a 1200W amp, etc.) and then there's the fact that I don't consider these amps to really be "High Current" either.
I mean to me (and correct me if I'm somehow grossly mistaken) a "high current" amp has always meant not just an amp that drew/produced a lot of current but an amp that was unregulated so as to provide double it's power when the load impedance is halved.
In fact both Orion XTR and HCCA amps use to operate like this, with the latter of course taking it to a more extreme level by being stable to a .5 ohm stereo/1-ohm mono load. However these new HCCAs do nothing of the sort. In fact they use the term "loosely regulated" in the product information when the amps are anything but, in comparison with the old Orion amps...
D2400 for example is:
425W @ 4 ohms
800W @ 2 ohms (not so bad we're only "losing" 50W here)
1200W @ 1 ohm (okay that's a "loss" of 500W from it's 4-ohm rating and even a loss of 300W even considering the power increase from the 2-ohm load).
That's hardly what I call "loosely regulated" //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/rolleyes.gif.c1fef805e9d1464d377451cd5bc18bfb.gif If anything it's completely regulated, lol. I also see nothing about bi-polar output(s) and other things that you used to expect from Orion. It's ashame to me that DEI is using the HCCA name and doing whatever they want with it. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif
And wait, HCCAs were class A/B amps, not class D. Orion's Class D line was originally the XTRPRO, I don't get why they didn't use that name instead. (The XTRPRO still had [un]regulated output in the same way as XTR and HCCA amps though.) I liked it better when they weren't using the old names with simple "1200d" names instead. DEI does state that "back then" large class A/B designs were used and today it's all class D driving subs. True, I suppose, but I still can't help but think they're using this name more as product promotion than to actually "bring back HCCA".
Plus c'mon now these HCCAs are simply the same amps as the Directed ones aren't they? I'm nearly sure--the shape and dimensions all agree with this though admittedly I've not seen the internals side by side. The HCCAs offer IntelliQ and the DEI alarm integration over the standard Directed amps, but the price difference is pretty big. You can get a Directed d2400 for ~$200, the HCCA D2400 costs about $100+ more. I bought the Orion amp over the Directed, specifically for IntelliQ and, well admittedly, the Orion name/looks.
It's funny how when doing a search for these amps I'm seeing that people sometimes ask "Directed d2400 v. other amp(s)" and people recommend the other amp(s). Then similar threads with the same/simlar amps in the versus side, but the Orion HCCA instead of the Directed, and people say "Orion" instead, LOL. Tell me that's not the Orion name selling the product right there.
I'm not trying to bash DEI or anything, nor am I trying to say these amps are not good amps (I bought one afterall, lol). I'm even quite confident I'll be nothing but happy with the amp, but I'll never really think I've got an "HCCA" amp no matter how DEI have packaged it... I dunno maybe I'm too old-skool in my thinking?
Though I did think of several other options before selecting this amp, I still ended up going with the Orion.
Still, I can't help but thinking a few things about how DEI has perverted the Orion name, lol.
I'm sure this amp will be a competent performer but I don't get why they had to use the HCCA name?
First there's the silly max power ratings they started using as the naming convention (i.e. D1200 is 600W amp, D2400 is a 1200W amp, etc.) and then there's the fact that I don't consider these amps to really be "High Current" either.
I mean to me (and correct me if I'm somehow grossly mistaken) a "high current" amp has always meant not just an amp that drew/produced a lot of current but an amp that was unregulated so as to provide double it's power when the load impedance is halved.
In fact both Orion XTR and HCCA amps use to operate like this, with the latter of course taking it to a more extreme level by being stable to a .5 ohm stereo/1-ohm mono load. However these new HCCAs do nothing of the sort. In fact they use the term "loosely regulated" in the product information when the amps are anything but, in comparison with the old Orion amps...
D2400 for example is:
425W @ 4 ohms
800W @ 2 ohms (not so bad we're only "losing" 50W here)
1200W @ 1 ohm (okay that's a "loss" of 500W from it's 4-ohm rating and even a loss of 300W even considering the power increase from the 2-ohm load).
That's hardly what I call "loosely regulated" //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/rolleyes.gif.c1fef805e9d1464d377451cd5bc18bfb.gif If anything it's completely regulated, lol. I also see nothing about bi-polar output(s) and other things that you used to expect from Orion. It's ashame to me that DEI is using the HCCA name and doing whatever they want with it. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif
And wait, HCCAs were class A/B amps, not class D. Orion's Class D line was originally the XTRPRO, I don't get why they didn't use that name instead. (The XTRPRO still had [un]regulated output in the same way as XTR and HCCA amps though.) I liked it better when they weren't using the old names with simple "1200d" names instead. DEI does state that "back then" large class A/B designs were used and today it's all class D driving subs. True, I suppose, but I still can't help but think they're using this name more as product promotion than to actually "bring back HCCA".
Plus c'mon now these HCCAs are simply the same amps as the Directed ones aren't they? I'm nearly sure--the shape and dimensions all agree with this though admittedly I've not seen the internals side by side. The HCCAs offer IntelliQ and the DEI alarm integration over the standard Directed amps, but the price difference is pretty big. You can get a Directed d2400 for ~$200, the HCCA D2400 costs about $100+ more. I bought the Orion amp over the Directed, specifically for IntelliQ and, well admittedly, the Orion name/looks.
It's funny how when doing a search for these amps I'm seeing that people sometimes ask "Directed d2400 v. other amp(s)" and people recommend the other amp(s). Then similar threads with the same/simlar amps in the versus side, but the Orion HCCA instead of the Directed, and people say "Orion" instead, LOL. Tell me that's not the Orion name selling the product right there.
I'm not trying to bash DEI or anything, nor am I trying to say these amps are not good amps (I bought one afterall, lol). I'm even quite confident I'll be nothing but happy with the amp, but I'll never really think I've got an "HCCA" amp no matter how DEI have packaged it... I dunno maybe I'm too old-skool in my thinking?
