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Orban 8100A with XT2 vs Omnia 3 FM Turbo

I

ILOVERADIO2

Guest
Looking for help. Can the orban set up 8100a and XT2 sound better then a modern Omnia 3 FM Turbo? I now have a Omnia 3 FM turbo but just purchased the Orban 8100a and XT2. My format is all 80's www.wams.fm. The board is a Radio Systems RS-12 feeds the Aphex 320a into a Orban 111B reverb then the Omnia 3 FMT. I am looking for aggressive 80's processing like Hot Hits WCAU-FM in Philadelphia. They also used the Orban 8100A.
 
ILOVERADIO2 said:
Looking for help. Can the orban set up 8100a and XT2 sound better then a modern Omnia 3 FM Turbo? I now have a Omnia 3 FM turbo but just purchased the Orban 8100a and XT2. My format is all 80's www.wams.fm. The board is a Radio Systems RS-12 feeds the Aphex 320a into a Orban 111B reverb then the Omnia 3 FMT. I am looking for aggressive 80's processing like Hot Hits WCAU-FM in Philadelphia. They also used the Orban 8100A.
Click to expand...

As long as you don't mind being considerably less loud you can make the 8100/XT sound nearly as good.

On the other hand, if you need loudness (for whatever reason) the Omnia will win every time. It is also more musical rather than having that "orban sound". Of course if you are doing a retro format you may prefer that coloration.
 
I'll trade you an Omnia ONE for the 8100/XT right now.. no questions asked. That should tell you all you need to know.
 
RealityCheckr said:
On the other hand, if you need loudness (for whatever reason) the Omnia will win every time. It is also more musical rather than having that "orban sound". Of course if you are doing a retro format you may prefer that coloration.
Click to expand...

I have an 8100, an Omnia ONE, an 8200, and an Omnia 3 Turbo. With an Ariane out front, the 8100 beats them in terms of loudness and the "predictability" of the audio. The Turbo falls apart when pushed and the ONE sounds good, but the audio isn't as punchy and polished as the 8100. The 8200 is too grungy and doesn't have the best tradeoffs and the AGC is a disaster.

I like that Orban sound... where the processing "digs in" to the music rather than sounds like it's laying on top of it.

Now that I have voiced my opinion, I will wait for the wrath..... by the way, my ideas for "processing" cumes 4,000,000 per week with a 6 share in market #1.
 
It's hard to argue with that. :) Ratings have a way of being the final say-so on that subject IMHO. If your station's processing sucks, it does have a subcontinence of the listenership and will make some difference.
 
I have a slightly modified 8100A/XT2 on the air at a music intensive non-com...I'm occasionally asked "what ARE you running on WKPW"? Funny, I'm never asked that question where my Omnia 6's, 8500's, 8400's, etc are in use. If you are fortunate enough to have an 8100A/XT2 in your arsenal, don't let it go to waste.
 
wgliradio said:
RealityCheckr said:
On the other hand, if you need loudness (for whatever reason) the Omnia will win every time. It is also more musical rather than having that "orban sound". Of course if you are doing a retro format you may prefer that coloration.
Click to expand...

I have an 8100, an Omnia ONE, an 8200, and an Omnia 3 Turbo. With an Ariane out front, the 8100 beats them in terms of loudness and the "predictability" of the audio. The Turbo falls apart when pushed and the ONE sounds good, but the audio isn't as punchy and polished as the 8100. The 8200 is too grungy and doesn't have the best tradeoffs and the AGC is a disaster.

I like that Orban sound... where the processing "digs in" to the music rather than sounds like it's laying on top of it.

Now that I have voiced my opinion, I will wait for the wrath..... by the way, my ideas for "processing" cumes 4,000,000 per week with a 6 share in market #1.
Click to expand...
I heard wgliradio's station last September...it was a delight to listen to. It was the perfect combination of loud and silky clean...very rare. His opinion of the 8100A/XT2 pretty well mirrors mine.
 
Well I now have the Orban 8100 with XT2 on air www.wams.fm (off-air receiver,128 stream) and it sound like it needs a little help. I took the Aphex 320a off line for now.
 
I listened for a while on laptop speakers, and thought it sounded just like agressive 80's processing.
Now I put on a good pair of Sony headphones, and one channel is sick!
Left ch according to the vol fader, but right ch according the Sony phones...go figure.
Anyway one channel sounds like it has a shorted or leaky electrolytic capacitor somewhere in the audio chain.
It is gritty, and sounds like an underbiased or over biased transistor, perhaps as a result of a bad cap.
Not hearing any changes in the defect, it is constant and unchanging. The bad channel is 2-3 db lower, too.

It could be the stream or the monitor radio, but something is wrong with one channel somewhere.
Time to hit some bypass switches and see if the crud on the one channel clears up.

Other channel seems fine. The music is making me want to gouge my ears out. I'm not yet ready to be mellow.
 
If I was playing anything prior to 1993, or thereabouts, I would absolutely consider an 8100 with an Ariane. I've never been totally blown away by the XT2...but I haven't heard every config or mod out there, either.

An Ariane and 8100 combo is very very kind to classic hits...and can sound shockingly loud and proud.
I have grand respect for what the 8100 does...and more respect for what it doesn't do: like completely grunging up voice.
 
Btw...one of my fave airchains was an 8100 w ariane into a modded moseley composite stl feeding a hemphill clipper and a continental 802d, I think, exciter...wowie zowie! Apparent loudness, total punch, and absolute clarity...and consistency out the wazoo.
 
I will check on the receiver that feeds the stream it could be the problem for the L/R issue. The 8100 and xt2 both are the newer model with the LED's but could need to be recapped. The level issue could be caused from the Orban 111b reverb. Do you have any settings that you could give me?
 
"digs into the audio". I like this. The optimod sounds like it's compressing the audio more. While the omnia sounds more like limiting and clipping. It would be much of a muchness between the 8100 and O3t. Infact in a market with this exact comparison they both do a great job. Neither is a loudness king but the omnia is fantastically musical, and I love the way it handles the leading edge of piano and guitar. In general I feel the highs are more exciting in the omnia but the bass is phatter in the optimod. Someone should develop an omnimod.
 
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