still have the 600.4 around...
and indeed $200 is a sick deal for a 3rd Generation!
as for the heat, they get hot enough to burn your fingers... not an 'ouch that was kinda hot for an amp' but rather 'holly Faking bastered, i've got a blister!' Hot!!

 

Does it look like this one?



It was a first generation piece in my old comp setup from 1990-1991. I had 4 10" (4 ohms each) on one half and the fronts on the other half. She actually changed colour when the subs really got working. And yes it needed a bridging module, but at the time PPI's 2/3 way crossover plugged right in and provided the channel inversion. (Still have that crossover.)

200 bucks is a great deal - good score.

Only advice I can give you - use 30 amp fast blows on each channel and NO MORE. I blew 30 amp fuses on the sub side constantly, so on the advice of my dealer I put in a 35 amp fuse on the subs. 2 days later it blew up - it got fixed under warranty, but was never the same again (I believe they missed some capacitors). It was a shame - it was one of my favourite all time amps. Retail at the time was something like 1600 bucks.

Mark

 

Thanks NOBASS for all of the helpful info. I have not seen the amp yet, have to see if I can fit it into my budget. Have to sell my Punch 100X2 first, probably. I have never fused a speaker output off of an amp, that is a good precaution to take?

 

Sorry, I'm not sure if you misunderstood, I meant a 30 amp fuse on each of the two power input leads. It has a ground and main power lead for each half of the amp (two blacks and two reds), so if you are pushing one half hard (as I was) its fuse will blow sooner. Actually the front end side was barely passing 10 amps, so it was kinda nice to have a separate fuse for the sub side. Here's another picture showing the power wires and the fusing (pre-Streetwires :



This of course is assuming it is a first gen...I don't have any experience with the later versions.

As for fusing speaker leads, I never have, has anyone found that useful?

Mark

[ April 18, 2005, 07:58 PM: Message edited by: NOBASS ]

 

Whoops, I gotcha, thanks.

 

WOW!!!!!!
I cant believe that you got that amp at all let alone for $200. I looked for one a few months ago and found 3, and they were all over $600 US.

I will agree with NOBASS about how damn hot all Orion amps get, but especially the style heatsink they used for either generation 425. In 1998 I had 2 HCCA 225 crossover series amps which is second generation HCCA. Each amp was running at 1.3 ohm mono and I had them so hot that you could not touch them, but I never had one ever go into protect or anything.

If it is the gen. 425 and you want the bridging module for it I know I have one around my house or the shop somewhere, I also have the schematic for the din cable you may have to build(not hard) if you cant find an Orion one. It connects the bridging module to the amp. If you search for specs on the first gen. and cant find any look at the 225 HCCA reference and double what it says because it really is 2 225's in one chasis. If you are interested in the module PM me.

Now if it is the second gen 425, which they called the 425r HCCA because of a new power supply, 12dB/octave crossovers on the 225 and 250 sides, which could be configured to 24dB/octave, and a line output RCA. If it is this generation 425 you got an amazing deal, to buy it new the retail was around $1000 U.S!!!

I have a test report for the 425r version and here are some specs.
* all figures are continuous wattage not peak

4 ohm stereo:
Rated power: 4x25 at 12 volt.
Actual power: 4x41 at 12v and 4x52 at 14.4

Bridged into 1 ohm mono:
Rated power: not rated by manufacturer
Actual power: 321 x 2 at 12v, and 480 x 2 at 14v

THD: less then 0.03% at actual output ratings
A-WTD signal to noise ratio: 100dB
stereo seperation: 80dB


Sorry about the rant but that amp was amazing, it was doing things that other 4 channel amps now cant even do!!!

P.S. Jeepbeats, if you want to sell it PM me.

 

^^ Thanks for all of the info! I have not picked it up yet, I will have to test it out first, make sure it works. Not sure how easy the crossover chips will be to find, either. Appreciate the offer on the bridging module, will let you know when I check this amp out.

 

Actually Chris, the second gen HCCA's were the "Digital Reference" series. The third gen's were the "Competition Amp/X-over" series.

There was no 425 in the second gen line. It reappeared for the third gen series.

The "r" series was the fourth gen of HCCA's and also the start of their decline.
I will take a 1-3 gen HCCA over a 4th gen "r" series anyday. The previous three series will do more power than the "r" series that you posted power specs on.

 

Along the same timeframe of this Orion and the AM series PPI amps: there's a few MTX Exterminator amps that have popped up on EBay in recent weeks. They were essentially a PPI ProMOS50 in an MTX chassis with a bass boost switch. Anyone remember those? Red heatsinks with the funky angled fins...

Mark

 

My 1200D barely gets warm... when working it hard, my Clarion amp gets lots hotter.