Mackie FRS-1700 Power Amp 310W @ 8 ohms Stereo
Mackie FRS-1700 Power Amplifier
If you want a high-performing, reliable power amp that cranks-and that’s light enough so even your rockin’ octogenarian granny can load it in-look no further than Mackie’s FRS Series. Coming in three models, the FRS-1300, FRS-1700 and FRS-2800, the FRS Series power amplifiers give you amazing power, price and portability-for the real world. They feature Mackie’s legendary Fast Recovery circuitry for clean, undistorted sound with the ultimate in punch and clarity-even at clipping-’cause we know amps often get pushed to the limit. Delivering more Watts per dollar than other amps in their price range-1300W, 1660W and 2800W respectively at 4 ohms bridged-the FRS power amplifiers satisfy even the most demanding systems, without making a huge dent in your bank account.
With their resonant switching power supplies, FRS amps are super-efficient and ultra-lightweight, making them perfect for portable PA rigs, too-and Grannies on Tour. “Built-like-a-tank” construction and sophisticated protection circuitry ensure they will withstand the rigors of the road, and perform flawlessly during gigs, no matter what you throw at them. Combine the FRS Series amplifiers with the Mackie Precision Passive loudspeakers, and you’ve got optimum performance from a powerhouse system. Try ’em for yourself and you’ll see FRS Series amps are simply louder, lighter and better than anything else in their class.
Fast Recovery, Fast Response
FRS amps feature sophisticated Fast Recovery circuitry for the cleanest sound around. At Mackie, they know that most folks run their amps right up to clipping levels, so they design their amps to handle this kind of real-world (ab)use. What Mackie came up with is circuitry that allows the FRS amps to deliver ultimate power, without sacrificing sound quality. When you overdrive an amp with a traditional “negative feedback” design into clipping mode, it creates a feedback loop whereby even once you remove the input signal, the sub-stages of the circuits remain in saturation mode, causing all sorts of nasty harmonic distortion. The Fast Recovery technology in the FRS amps ensures all these sub-stages stay out of saturation, so even when the amp is driven into clipping mode, it instantly recovers, avoiding the “latching” phenomenon altogether. The result is ultra-clean, distortion free sound.
Ultra-Efficient, Lightweight Power Supply
The resonant switching power supply in Mackie’s new FRS amps provides many sonic and practical advantages. Being much more compact and weighing considerably less than a conventional linear supply, it helps make their FRS amps super lightweight and ultra-portable. And while switching supplies are becoming more and more popular these days due to their more compact topology, not all switching power supplies are the same.
Many of their competitors use switching power supplies that employ “hard switching.” With this design, at switching, voltage is present across the transistor and current is running through it, generating “glitch” energy that can cause unwanted noise in the form of Radio Frequency Interference (RFI), as well as excess heat. The FRS power supply employs “soft” switching. The soft switching design includes a resonant tank that allows the power transistors to switch at zero current and zero voltage. This design ensures that when the transistors switch, very little heat or errant energy is generated, so the FRS amps run quiet as a mouse, and cool as a cucumber. This not only means better sound, but longer life. The resonant switching power supply operates more efficiently than other designs, too, allowing it to provide large bursts of power more quickly.
Complete Protection Circuitry
FRS amps come with complete system protection. Mackie spent hours conceiving of all the possible what-if user scenarios, imagined all possible failure modes, then designed elaborate protection circuits t
