Old School Mini Truck System Orion HCCA XTR Wow

1990 Mazda B2200 Custom Mini Truck "Fantastic Voyage"

Lowered mini trucks are the epitome of old school car audio. If you were into the car scene in the early to mid 1990's, you know these trucks. Lowered, crazy paint jobs, wire wheels and of course boomin' stereo systems! Here we have a demo of the 1990 Mazda B2200 nicknamed "Fantastic Voyage" owned by Jason Williams. What a true time machine! See the truck as it was created in the mid 1990's! Stereo is classic old school including:

• Alpine CDM-7823 Head Unit
• Alpine CHM-S600 6 disc CD Changer
• Audio Control 3XS Electronic Crossover
• (2) Orion 225 HCCA Digital Reference Amplifiers
• (4) Orion XTR 15 DVC Ferrofluid Injected Subwoofers
• (4) Soundstream SS 5.0 midranges
• (2) Soundstream SS 1.0 tweeters
• Sega Genesis Game system with optional CD-ROM drive
• 4.3" Color TV

A very impressive facet of this truck is the fact the Orion 225 HCCA amplifiers are rated at 50 watts each. That's right, 25 watts per channel at 4 ohms. The 225 HCCA is an example of the classic "cheater" amp meaning it was capable of MUCH more power at lower ohm loads. The 225 sub amp for example, is loaded down to 1/2 ohm mono and putting out over 500 watts! I know, 500 watts is not much by today's standards, but watch to see what it can do with the ultra-efficient XTR 15 DVC subs!

100 Watt Old School System with Orion 225 HCCA Amps and (4) XTR 15" Subs

The 1990 Mazda B2200 sports a custom peach paint job that really makes is stand out in a crowd. The truck also has some original Dayton 15" wire wheels with the classic 195/50/15 Dunlop radials. The stance is lowered 3" via lowered control arms and sits nice and low, yet still able to traverse speed bumps without scraping. The rear has one leaf removed and air shocks.

1990's mini trucks often times used "themes" for their presentation. Another famous mini truck was "Ladie's Choice" which sported a convertible hard top and a bed full of PPI 2350DM amplifiers. These themes helped differentiate the trucks while also assisting in the displays. Jason's truck sports Care Bears as the interior theme and also displays a couple of his many magazine features. This 1990 Mazda had the center spread in the December 1995 Mini Truckin' magazine! The most impressive part is the truck is almost exactly as was back in 1995! A true time machine!!

Jason sends a personal thanks to William Wilson of Hickory, NC who actually built the truck back in 1994. He also did a great job of preserving the Mazda for 17 years until Jason decided he needed to put it back on the show scene! Great job with the truck, William!!

Back Side View of the 1990 Mazda B2200 Custom Mini Truck

Big thanks to Jason for the demo! If you are at a car show in the NC/SC/VA/TN area and see Jason's Mazda, make sure to stop by and chat with him and get a demo of this amazing system. It is impossible to capture the full experience via video, but we try our best here at OldSchoolStereo!!

See the full 10 minute plus video of Jason's truck and even get a demo of the 100 watt (yeah, right) sound system:

Watch on YouTube in full 1080P HD or embedded below:

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Thanks to Jason for taking the time to show and demo his truck! If you'd like to write and article or make a video of your old school install, contact me through Facebook and let me know.

Make sure to Subscribe to my YouTube Channel to stay updated of my latest videos. You can also follow me on Twitter @oldschoolstereo. Also be sure to like us on Facebook.  Keep it Old School!!

-BigDWiz

Possibly the Ultimate 50 Watt Cheater Amp from the 90's?

Yes, I know, if you guys watch my YouTube videos, then you've probably seen the Lanzar Opti 50c. But wait, is it possible another "50 watt" amp may give the Lanzar a challenge for king of the 25x2 amps? Well, yes, specifically the U.S. Amps VLX-50. I recently came across a near MINT 1996 model in the "Mirror Polish" finish which looks nearly chrome. See the pics below:

1996-1998 U.S. Amps VLX-50 Ultra-High Current Cheater Amp

The VLX-50 has the following ratings:


2 x 25W at 4 ohms (12V)
2 x 31W at 4 ohms (14.4V)
2 x 62W at 2 ohms (14.4V)
2 x 125W at 1 ohm (14.4V)
2 x 250W at 0.5ohm (14.4V)
2 x 500W at 0.25ohm (14.4V)
1 x 1000W at 0.5 ohm bridged (14.4V)
THD: less than 0.006%
External 120A Fuse Required

VLX-50 Inputs and "Vari-Loud" controls

The U.S. Amps logo is laser etched on the heatsink and it surprisingly took me several days to prove this was actually a VLX-50. For some reason, U.S. Amps didn't put any markings on the end plates or even on the circuit board indicating the model of some of their amps (this one included). I was able to get confirmation from U.S. Amps this was indeed a VLX-50, based on the serial number. I even posted a thread over on DIYMA to get some info and got some great info in the archaeological dig.


So, the best part about having an amp rated at 50 watts total put out 1000 watts is the "cheater" factor. Back in the 90's, you could have two of these and still compete in the 100 watt and under competition class (as they rated amps by their 4 ohm output power). Thus the "cheater" status as you could have up to 2000 watts if these amps were properly loaded down. Orion really started the cheater amp category with the 225 HCCA, which was introduced in the late 1980's. Also, as a response to ultra-cheater amps like the VLX-25 and VLX-50, Orion developed the "1-watt" Concept 97.3 back around 1997. The cheater amp era basically ended around the early 2000's as most manufacturers were competing to see how high they could rate their amps (by using MAX power) instead of underrating amps. Another reason why I prefer the car amplifiers from the 80's and 90's...

VLX-50 Power / Ground / Speaker Terminals

Get ready for the long awaited 25x2 cheater amp shootout. As soon as the temps cool and I complete my additional resistor loads, we'll see how the VLX-50 competes against the monster Lanzar 50c. I don't believe the Orion 225 HCCA, Rockford Power 50x2, MTA 225HO or Audio Art 50HC have a chance against the VLX-50 or 50c, but who knows? We all may be surprised!




See my video overview of the U.S. Amps VLX-50 below.




Make sure to Subscribe to my YouTube Channel to stay updated of my latest videos. You can also follow me on Twitter @oldschoolstereo.


Watch the video on YouTube in 1080P or embedded below:

Old School 1990's 50 Watt Cheater Amps Tested

This post will be a work in progress until I complete my round of tests on the 25x2 Watt "cheater amps" from the 90's. I'll include a spreadsheet showing the results and links to the videos I create for each amplifier. Thus far, the test will include:

1) Rockford Fosgate Punch 45HD - from approx. 1991, not a true high-current amp like many of the other's, but well known to be underrated and able to handle almost any speaker load

2) Orion 225 HCCA - from the early 90's, test will include the "Digital Reference" and maybe the "Competition Amp/X-over" models. One of the most feared cheater amps of the early through mid 90's.

3) Precision Power ProMOS 25 - also an early 90's cheater amp rated to handle 1 ohm loads and promises the warm, smooth SQ of an early PPI amp

4) Phoenix Gold MPS-2240 - part of Phoenix Gold's "Mobile Professional Series" the MPS-2240 is identical in size to the MS-275 and is a high-current amp rated at 24x2 and designed to handle loads down to 1 ohm

5) Phoenix Gold M25 - the "M" series from Phoenix Gold were known for superb SQ and are very popular among collectors and those building old school systems as well.

6) US Amps 50HCA - an early version of a 25x2 cheater from US Amps. No crossovers, no terminal strips, just raw power and old school flair

7) US Amps USA-50 - a late 90's 25x2 amp designed to handle loads down to 1 ohm

8) Zapco Z50C2 - mid-90's amp, small in footprint, big in SQ



Bookmark this page as it will be continually updated with more information on each of these amps!



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