The FRFR Speaker
The HEADRUSH FRFR 112 2 Way Speaker
While the text bunnies will tell you that FRFR stands for “for real for real” which is both repetitive and bad grammar, in the context of musicians and gear it stands for Full Range Flat Response.
We know that our normal guitar and bass amplifiers are neither. They have response curves and are not full range as they are optimized for particular sounds, a reason why musicians of our ilk like the idea of owning more than one amp and speaker cabinet system. Since the combination of amplifier output transformer and speaker cabinet have such dramatic impact on sound we can make statements like nothing else sounds like a Vox, or a Marshall Plexi into a pair of 4x12 cabs.
However as amp and cabinet simulations become more prevalent in homes and on stages, we still want to hear their sounds out of something more than headphones. We want to feel the push of air and feel the music. This is where FRFR speakers come into play.
There’s An Amp in There
The signal that comes out of our amp and cabinet sims is a line level signal, meaning that it can drive headphones, but not a speaker system without some power being delivered. Thus FRFR speakers have built in power amplifiers. They are almost always solid state and built to have no unique audio flavour or texture. This means that the frequency response of the amplifier is flat, similar to a high fidelity stereo amplifier that adds and subtracts nothing from the sound that it receives only boosting the final output sufficiently to drive a speaker. The speakers themselves are also similar to true high fidelity speakers in that they add no colour and no frequency fall off or boost throughout the delivery range. Whether super low frequencies to super high frequencies like the oh so often quoted 20Hz - 20KHz response of the finest hifi speakers, this is what an FRFR speaker needs to do and without caveats like plus or minus 3 dB. Full Range Flat Response.
Isn’t That Boring?
Perhaps it is, but then boring by design. A good FRFR speaker has no personality of its own, and the best ones are akin to powered studio monitors. We are not talking about $100 junk, we are talking about serious audio equipment. If you are paying a lot for a pair of Focal studio monitors to use when mixing and producing music, you want something that is going to have a similar sound when playing live unless you are running straight from your box to the PA and only using in ear monitors.
An FRFR that is superb is boring. It also brings a lot of power, most often in a Class D style amplifier to create respectable sound pressure levels that are not coloured or textured.
Where Would I Use These FRFR Speakers
I am very much a user of amplifier and cabinet simulations for recording. From a simple device like a Strymon Iridium or DSM and Humboldt Simplifier to an all singing all dancing DSP based system like a Kemper or Quad Cortex, I also want to hear what the sound is like live, not just as a digital recording. In this case I am not using plugins in the DAW for amps and cabinets, I am using that capability right in the device. I have a number of amplifier and cabinet profiles in both the Kemper and the Quad Cortex, and I have a selection of tube amps collected over many decades. I am not going to plug the Quad Cortex into an unpowered cabinet, because it won’t do anything, nor will I run it into the power amp input on an amplifier for a guitar because that amp is designed to have its own tonality. Not flat and not full range. Thus I match my amp/cabinet simulation device to a full range, flat response powered speaker system. To achieve this, the speaker drivers in the FRFR systems are built to deliver that full range and while the usual metric is how big the bass driver is, there are always midrange and treble drivers in a good unit, just as in a proper high fidelity speaker.
Connecting them Up
Most of the simulation devices will offer at least TS outputs and the more sophisticated units will offer TRS or XLR balanced outputs. I prefer balanced lines, and to understand why check out my article explaining balanced lines here. I’m running low impedance microphone cables from my devices to the FRFR speakers wherever possible, otherwise I am using TRS to XLR cables where the device, such as the Iridium does not have XLR outputs. Low impedance means longer run lengths and lower noise. Good things.
Does an FRFR sound like a Cabinet?
Natively an FRFR should have no character of its own. A speaker cabinet for a guitar or bass amplifier definitely has character and you never want an FRFR to sound anything like an amp cab directly. Instead your device will use speaker profiles, most often in the form of Impulse Response files that are created by recording the real amplifier cabinet in specific ways to build a cabinet model, aka cabinet simulation or Cab Sim. Many profiles are made by miking and recording the amplifier and cabinet together to create a Profile that accurately simulates the combination of amplifier and cabinet.
But, Sims cannot sound like the real thing..
Actually, a really fine simulation will be indistinguishable from the amp and cabinet that was used to create the profile. Where people who are actually paying attention will sometimes draw the conclusion that this doesn’t work is by ignoring the reality that no two amps of the same type and cabinet actually sound identical. I have two Marshall 100 watt heads of different vintage. One drives a pair of 4x12 1960 cabinets, and the other drives a single much later 4x12 cabinet. Both sound great, but do not sound like each other. I built profiles of each set, and the profiles are very close to the real thing live and indistinguishable recorded.
I did an experiment when someone told me that the Fender Tonemaster DSP amplifiers sounded nothing like the real thing. So I got my hands on a brand new reissue Fender Super Reverb and a brand new Fender Tonemaster Super Reverb. I recorded them both, with the same microphone setup, because the original Super Reverb did not have a DI out as does the Tonemaster. I recorded the same passage played through each one, and as expected the most inconsistent thing in the recordings was my own ability to play.
I then invited those who swore up and down to a test. I told people that I would play them two tracks through studio monitors or headphones, their choice. I would not tell them the order of the recordings and which amp was which. I asked them to tell me which amp was which, and what told them that.
My sample size was relatively small, so it was hardly a scientific test. However, the consensus was that the listeners could not tell which was which. They agreed that the sounds were not identical but could not say which was the DSP Super Reverb and which was the tube based model.
Live things are a bit different. A limited range cabinet connected to a tube output stage feels different from a DSP based Tonemaster. Neither sounds bad, but they are subtly different. Push either miked through a PA in a club and you would never know.
Listen it’s perfectly ok to say you prefer the sound of “real” amps and cabs, but you may not be able to tell the difference in a blind comparison.
What FRFRs are Good?
You can get very decent FRFR speakers from the folks at HeadRush. I have a couple of pair and they sound really good with any of my devices. I have a pair of JBLs (now discontinued) that are also good although I think the 12 inch HeadRush units are flatter response. Other players like QSC, EV and Yamaha. I bought a used Fender unit for a project and it is decent enough, but discontinued. Just as you would audition cabinets for a guitar or bass amp, your best bet is to audition different FRFR speakers.
Be careful that someone doesn’t try to smoke you by saying a PA speaker is the same as an FRFR. Not true. Powered yes, full range, flat response, not likely.
Remember that we are talking solid state amps, typically Class D, so while your 30 watt AC 30 can peel paint, a 400 watt FRFR probably won’t. Moreover, many of these things are marketed as x number of watts, with maximum peak power printed in microscopic text.
Look for something with a decent cabinet build. Nowhere is it written that a decent FRFR weighs very little. One that is super light may be missing something in the cabinet build, or in the amp or the speakers themselves. Try before you buy if you can.
Summary
While these new devices can bring you excellent renditions of amplifiers and cabinets from the single simulations like a UA Ruby to hundreds of potential profiles such as with Kemper or Quad Cortex that are superb right into the DAW for recording, or direct to the PA for live work, when you want your digital device to feel like a traditional amplifier the FRFR speaker is the way to go. If your regular rig is not stereo, then you only need one. Some have bluetooth so you can play your phone through them, and if you want that fine. I don’t care about that so it’s not a criteria for me. I think that the Fender has bluetooth without the need for some nonsense accessory, but I am not sure, because I am not going to use it that way.
As always, thanks for reading and until next time, peace.
