PASSIVE Atomic CLR review?

Robboman

Robboman

Fractal Fanatic
After all the rave CLR reviews I decided I'll try one out for myself asap. It's been years since I tried (and failed) to get to a happy place using FRFR monitoring live in band context. My last serious attempt was with Ultra and a QSC HPR112. My guitar cabs work fine, but it's time to take another crack at FR. Much has changed.

So I got in line for a passive wedge. I'll power it with one side of my Matrix GT1000FX, while the other side will power my guitar cab as always. I figure I'll run both side-by-side for a while at band practices and such, so I can properly A/B the two as I'm messing with IRs on the CLR side. If nothing else, even if I still revert back to the ole trusty guitar cab, this process will allow me to fine tune my (IR-based) feed to FOH for future gigs.

Has anyone out there reviewed a passive CLR yet? Seems like Actives are the #1 choice.
 
I've just took delivery of 2 passive CLR's. Hopefully I'll get a chance to crack them open tonight and put them through their paces. My plan is to run them in a W/D/W setup with a 4x12 cab for the dry. I'm still running my old V-800, but that's getting replaced by a Matrix any day now. I'll report back with my thoughts of the CLR's in the W/D/W setup, as well as on their own.
 
Robboman said:
After all the rave CLR reviews I decided I'll try one out for myself asap.
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cokemachine said:
I've just took delivery of 2 passive CLR's. Hopefully I'll get a chance to crack them open tonight and put them through their paces. My plan is to run them in a W/D/W setup with a 4x12 cab for the dry. I'm still running my old V-800, but that's getting replaced by a Matrix any day now. I'll report back with my thoughts of the CLR's in the W/D/W setup, as well as on their own.
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Cool, can't wait to hear reports from both of you guys.
 
I haven't had a chance to try out the CLR's yet. Only 1 of the 2 showed so far, so I'm trying to track down where the other one went. I'll keep you posted.
 
With both CLR's accounted for and unboxed, I got some time over the weekend to see if they "eat lightning and crap thunder" as promised. I'll skip over the stuff that I'm sure most of you have already read in other posts, such as their versatility (easy to carry, pole mounting), general design (passive, coaxial, wedge) and general build quality (great). I've had experience with several floor monitors in the past - some good, some bad - but my main point of reference for comparison is with the Matrix CFR12's, which I was fortunately to try out through a colleague of mine.

Rather than test them out in a full-on W/D/W setup, I thought starting out with a simple stereo rig was best. I experimented with both CLR's off the floor positioned on top of my 4x12 cabs, on the floor in the wedge position, and on the floor on its side. All positions yielded a very true and even soundscape. The linearity of the CLR's is very evident as not a lot of speakers can go from room volume to 120db and maintain a relatively even response. At this price point, I don't think that there is anything out there that touches the accuracy of the CLR's. There are other FRFR monitors out there that are better, but at 2 to 3 times the costs. To be honest the difference in sound is not all that much, which is kind of scary! I can see people criticizing the CLR's for being too clinical, especially compared to the Matrix offerings. Both offerings are great in my mind and you really can't wrong with either. I would just use them in different applications. Neither the Matrix or the Atomic wedges are going to replace a 4x12 cab, as it's really difficult to push that kind of air with just one 12" speaker as opposed to four 12" speakers. In terms of "thump" and "whallop" the CLR's easily match that of the better 2x12 cabs out there. I will say that the Matrix wedges accomplish this slightly better than the Atomic wedges, but at the sacrifice of some clarity. To that end, if I was looking to replace the 4x12 cab in my W/D/W setup for a full FRFR setup, at this point I'd 100% stick with the CLR's for the wet and go with the Matrix for the dry. If the newly proposed Matrix 2x12 FRFR cab does happen, I'd say that's the way to go. Now if Atomic were to make a 2x12 wedge...

All in all, I'm very happy with the CLR's. Big things come in small packages is really a great description for them. Part of me wishes that I would have coughed up the extra $$$ and gone with actives for more versatility, but my intention is to replace my H|H V800 with a Matrix GT1500BD. The CLR's really don't "eat lightning and crap thunder", as that's best left to 4x12 cabs. I like to think the CLR's just do a darn fine job of reporting the weather.
 
Thanks for the great review dude. Now I just need Tom King to..

shut-up-and-take-my-money.jpeg
 
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