New Power Amplifiers From Mackie: The FRS Series

You don't have to work with a PA system or be a touring musician carrying around a trailer full of professional gear to know that power amplifiers are Heavy. It's in their very nature to be built ruggedly and comprise a lot of heavy-duty workmanship that must endure long trips and all sorts of abuse; adding together the strong chassis, internal power supply transformers, metal housing and some more you'll end up with quite a load and in case you have to move such a setup from place to place - a back pain.

[admark=1]It looks like the guys at Mackie headquarters have grown really sick of heavy equipment and have put their gear on a serious diet: this is how the new FRS amplifier series, with impressive specs in lightweight packages, came into being. There are three new members in the Mackie family: the FRS-1300, the FRS-1700 and the FRS-2800; built on the same technology, these new amps will give you more bang for the buck while letting you assemble and haul around bigger and more complex rigs, without needing to hire more stagehands or break your own back.

The FRS is an acronym for the patented Mackie technology called Fast Recovery System; this means that the amplifiers running on FRS technology will deliver you the same clean, undistorted audio signal at very high volumes and even in clipping situations, letting you push the limits of your show further on and still have your sound safe.

All the FRS amplifiers weigh 10 kilos or less, making them a real toy compared to what other amps come with and despite their lightweight construction, they can deliver between 1300W and 2800W RMS in 4 Ohms bridged, quite a blast for the most demanding situations. These amps also come with switching power supplies and are therefore ready for the gig anywhere on the planet.

The MSRPs are: $519 for FRS-1300, $649 for the FRS-1700 and $769 for the FRS-2800; shipping in the US in February 2008 and internationally from March.

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