The Importance of a GOOD monitor solution!

[elvis]

I don’t stress about the specs. The room acoustics and placement in the room will have a huge affect on the frequency response of any speaker.

I have the FR12 and it is the best FRFR cab I have heard, and I have owned/tried several. For reference, I am using it in a treated room with ATC SCM45A monitors.

I actually prefer playing my FM3 through the FR12 to playing it through my ATC monitors. Don’t get me wrong, it sounds great through the ATCs, but the FR12 has the amp in the room feeling that I am used to hearing over the past 45 years of playing through tube amps.

For expert users, this is 100% appropriate. What I see in discussions like this are people who need the best plug-and-play solution, and starting with a FRFR that is not even in the neighborhood of flat is confusing and difficult to use. The room effects should make the FRFR worse, such that improving the room condition moves back towards flat. This super-not-flat FRFR approach is just inappropriate and unhelpful for the majority of potential users. YMMV.

The ideal should be that two FRFRs in the same room should sound the same.

 

[MLocascio]

For expert users, this is 100% appropriate. What I see in discussions like this are people who need the best plug-and-play solution, and starting with a FRFR that is not even in the neighborhood of flat is confusing and difficult to use. The room effects should make the FRFR worse, such that improving the room condition moves back towards flat. This super-not-flat FRFR approach is just inappropriate and unhelpful for the majority of potential users. YMMV.

The ideal should be that two FRFRs in the same room should sound the same.

Two different model FRFRs (even two of the same brand/model) in different locations the same room will never sound the same.

Have you tried the Fender FR-12? It's a great sounding FRFR, regardless of how you choose to interpret the specs.

 

[elvis]

Two different model FRFRs (even two of the same brand/model) in different locations the same room will never sound the same.

Have you tried the Fender FR-12? It's a great sounding FRFR, regardless of how you choose to interpret the specs.

We clearly have different takes here. I get that you like the FR12. In addressing the experiences of users, particularly relative to other solutions, I find that specs are extremely enlightening. I would not chalk up ALL experiences to the room, mostly people are going to put monitors in the same spot in the same room because that is what is available to them. I A/B monitors right next to each other, for example. In this particular case, the response is SO not flat, that it's definitely going to have an effect on how they sound. Flat for audiophile purposes is usually <1dB ripple across the frequency range. For consumer, it's more like 3dB, which is a lot. 10dB is a TON.

I'm not throwing shade on your monitors, only trying to help understand why there seems to be a common opinion that this monitor has trouble with overdrive tones. If you like them, fantastic!

 

[Deltafit]

I love the FR12s and FR10s. I have a pair of each. They hang nicely with 15-20 watt tube amps too.

Do you play high gain or low gain mostly?

 

[WKSmith]

I'm not throwing shade on your monitors, only trying to help understand why there seems to be a common opinion that this monitor has trouble with overdrive tones. If you like them, fantastic!

I have only seen 2 posts about the FRs not working well for heavy distorted tones. I have seen way more posts and personal messages and emails about how remarkable they are for clean, jazz, and overdriven tones.

The FRs as you have seen are not flat. What they do great ..is to feel like an amp behind you when fed the same signal that you send FOH or studio monitors. Until you play one and crank it up the freq charts will never make sense to you, as we all have come to expect as close to flat on paper is the expectation for a monitor.

Many of us have much flatter (and way more expensive) monitor systems like the EV PXM just gathering dust since using the FRs.

They are not without other issues. I have solved most of them with my custom preamp design though.

The FRs are pretty awesome for $500ish, but they are not FRFR and they are for sure not 1000 watts.

These will not replace a good studio monitor system for dialing in tones. But it will make those tones sound and feel like an actual amp.

 

[WKSmith]

Do you play high gain or low gain mostly?

I play mid gain most of the time but I get high gain for solos with one tap. I favor Matchless /Bad Cat overdriven amps as hardware and models .

 

[elvis]

I have only seen 2 posts about the FRs not working well for heavy distorted tones. I have seen way more posts and personal messages and emails about how remarkable they are for clean, jazz, and overdriven tones.

The FRs as you have seen are not flat. What they do great ..is to feel like an amp behind you when fed the same signal that you send FOH or studio monitors. Until you play one and crank it up the freq charts will never make sense to you, as we all have come to expect as close to flat on paper is the expectation for a monitor.

Many of us have much flatter (and way more expensive) monitor systems like the EV PXM just gathering dust since using the FRs.

They are not without other issues. I have solved most of them with my custom preamp design though.

The FRs are pretty awesome for $500ish, but they are not FRFR and they are for sure not 1000 watts.

These will not replace a good studio monitor system for dialing in tones. But it will make those tones sound and feel like an actual amp.

That is a very interesting take!

 

[elvis]

I have only seen 2 posts about the FRs not working well for heavy distorted tones. I have seen way more posts and personal messages and emails about how remarkable they are for clean, jazz, and overdriven tones.

The FRs as you have seen are not flat. What they do great ..is to feel like an amp behind you when fed the same signal that you send FOH or studio monitors. Until you play one and crank it up the freq charts will never make sense to you, as we all have come to expect as close to flat on paper is the expectation for a monitor.

Many of us have much flatter (and way more expensive) monitor systems like the EV PXM just gathering dust since using the FRs.

They are not without other issues. I have solved most of them with my custom preamp design though.

The FRs are pretty awesome for $500ish, but they are not FRFR and they are for sure not 1000 watts.

These will not replace a good studio monitor system for dialing in tones. But it will make those tones sound and feel like an actual amp.

Do you correct for the fr with an eq, or just use it the same as you would with the EV?

 

[WKSmith]

Do you correct for the fr with an eq, or just use it the same as you would with the EV?

I own Archangel Electronics. I am the guy that invented the V2 replacement preamp for the FR12/10s. I have put thousands of hours working on these FRs. I have also spent months giving F-corp hell and a good teasing about their design failures .. and then fixed them

I just send them the same signal as FOH and dial in a flatter setting on the FR eq for louder settings or small boomy stages.