Mobile Electronics Australia

The XTR15001 carries on this great tradition as their most powerful mono amplifier in the XTR range.

There are three mono XTR models, with 600WRMS and 1200WRMS versions priced below the XTR15001 which – contrary to what the name suggests – actually maxes out at 1600WRMS into a 1ohm load. Normally I’d say that a 1600WRMS mono amplifier is a little on the large side for most buyers, not just in pure power potential but also in sheer chassis size. Any mono amplifier that musters over 1000WRMS is normally reserved for SPL competition duties, and so here at MEA we’d normally review a more widely accessible and less powerful version – but not in this case.

The XTR15001 is nowhere near as bulky as equivalently powered amplifiers offered in recent years. Until now, genuine 1500WRMS+ amplifiers have been surfboards, yet at just 36.2cm x 23.6cm x 6.4cm in dimensions the XTR15001 is happily compact enough to slide under the front seat of most vehicles. It offers truly amazing power for its size and installation ease, and so all of a sudden an amplifier this powerful is actually a realistic proposition – so long as you can ante up the $1499RRP entry fee.

Proof of the XTR15001’s immense grunt comes courtesy of a supplied birth sheet that features your specific amplifier’s model number printed next to CE2006 certified power measurements at 4ohms and 1ohm. For the record, the XTR15001 I reviewed made 1592WRMS at 1ohm when supplied 14.4V, which is spot on its rating. 4ohm measured power, though, was far in excess of the rated 400WRMS at a substantial 639WRMS! That bonus 239WRMS is more than 50% more power than Orion officially states for the XTR15001, while splitting the difference also means you can factor on around 1100WRMS at 2ohms. That eclipses the 800WRMS 2ohm factory rating by some margin as well, and instantly makes the XTR15001 equally as appealing for those of you with higher total impedance loads to connect to it. In short, this is a ballsy amplifier no matter what the load.

Features & Specifications

While the purpose of a mono amplifier may sound simplistic there’s actually quite a lot of signal processing and flexibility required to get the best results. The XTR15001 is very well equipped in this regard. The low pass filter is variable from 30Hz to 250Hz and, uniquely, can be switched to provide either a 12dB or 24dB per octave filter slope. The ‘FULL’ position on the crossover doesn’t actually allow full range operation, as my sound checks revealed no audible difference between this and the 12dB per octave 250Hz setting. You can also switch the output phase to zero or 180-degrees, which the manual states is required when strapping the XTR15001 to a second one.

The input stage is supported by a three position switch marked ‘COPY/GAIN/MASTER’. The MASTER mode is for when the amplifier is the first in a daisy chain of amplifiers, which will all have their switches set to ‘COPY’. This mode is only valid when each amplifier is powering its own subwoofer or voice coil.

Curiously, the GAIN position setting is not mentioned in the manual, and nor is there any mention of how to strap or bridge two XTR15001 amplifier together. The owner’s manual needs some revision in this regard. Similarly, the supplied infrasonic filter is a simple on/off affair while the manual states it to have variable slopes and frequency selection that isn’t evident on the amplifier itself. I can only assume that I was sent a later, simplified model.

What does come provided is an excellent remote level controller for when your source unit lacks such a feature. A dashboard mountable box houses a backlit dial, and this is linked via a simple mono 3.5mm cable. You also get a small bracket to allow the remote control to be mounted flush somewhere into the dashboard. Finally, a single dial on the side of the XTR15001 offers up to 18dB of bass boost at 45Hz, with Orion stating that the ‘Q’ (width) of the boost curves gets narrower as the boost level increases. This latter feature is a nice touch and will assist in keeping the bass taught and defined when higher boost levels are applied.

The overall appearance and construction of the XR15001 is the exact type of neat overall presentation I have come to expect from the various factories in Korea that are churning out amplifiers like this one these days. The XTR15001 is further evidence that Korea is now one of the choice countries for manufacturing premium amplifiers.

Cramming the potential for 1600WRMS into a relatively small chassis has been no mean feat, and has required the use of three small daughter PCBs for signal processing to reduce the overall footprint. Orion have wisely opted for a larger heat sink mass which not only affords sufficient cooling but also keeps a traditional XTR style that harks back to the older classic designs from the ‘80s and ‘90s. They’ve also thrown a few dollars at engraving the heat sink and the results look awesome.

Installing the XTR15001 poses no dramas but the unusual insert terminals merit mentioning. This is the first time I’ve seen grub screws that enter at 45-degree angle to the actual wire holes and requires you to provide quite long ends of exposed wire on your cables to clamp them sufficiently. The main power and earth inserts are also really only large enough for 4-awg cable, and I think any amplifier that can draw 160-amps of current deserves 2-awg terminals. I do like how each end of the amplifier features a plastic end cap that conceals the wires and hides the mounting feet.

Upon power up the XTR15001 showed a ‘click’ noise from an internal relay (also common among many Korean sourced mono amplifiers), and when powering down this click was accompanied by a small pop through the subwoofers that wasn’t loud but was still clearly audible. This is a small but annoying oversight given the RRP of $1499 and that technically it’s rather rudimentary to overcome and will be evident every time you use the system.

My test speaker load comprised three dual 4ohm voice coil 10-inch subwoofers using a series/parallel wiring scheme to arrive at a nominal 2.66ohm load, as this was the only subwoofer array I had on hand that was capable of handling the XTR15001’s input power – albeit at less than it is ultimately capable of.

After toying with the input sensitivity level and trialing both 12dB and 24dB per octave low pass slopes I settle on the steeper curve set at around 80Hz. I also left the infrasonic filter off and left the bass boost set flat.

With a crash, boom, bam the sound checks got under way and the XTR15001 immediately stamped its authority on the sound by providing virtually limitless grunt. For the uninitiated this presents itself amazing headroom. This is immediately evident with staccato kick drums strikes like you’ll find in heavy metal, and Metallica’s latest ‘Death Magnetic’ album offers a perfect platform for the XTR15001 to prove its stuff. After a few days of auditioning in my test vehicle through a vast range of tracks I could only conclude that the XTR15001 provides a vice-like grip on the lowest octaves, controlling the subwoofers beautifully and revealing evenly musical nuance.

All in all it’s a stunning sonic performance that can often only be achieved when such a large overabundance of power is on tap without the nearest threat of clipping distortion. I’ve said it many times that this single factor is the most important aspect of what people need when looking for a ‘Sound Quality’ amplifier, and given this I’d have to conclude that the XTR15001 is one of the best ‘SQ” amplifiers for subwoofer duties I’ve auditioned thus far. It sounds wonderful.

Conclusion

There’s no doubt that the Orion XTR15001 is an excellent mono amplifier serving up comfortably double the power most users will ever need for daily usage. That’s just about perfect, then, as it allows you to avoid clipping distortion that is the main cause of subwoofer failures. Yep, that’s right; more power is friendlier to subwoofers than less power.

If Orion could sort the odd small issues I’ve mentioned the XTR15001 would be nearing perfection, while its price will keep it restricted to only very committed and very serious audio junkies. Value wise I think you are being asked to ante up just as much for the hallowed Orion XTR name as you are for the gubbins inside the chassis. For some buyers this will be just fine, and there’s something to be said for having pride in owning a true legend in the car audio game. The best news is that the XTR15001 does live up to the legend. It’s a damn fine subwoofer amplifier, and most likely one that you may never need to replace.