Fulcrum Acoustics New Active Powered FA Series Review

[Grant Conklin]

Re: Fulcrum Acoustics New Active Powered FA Series Review

I hate to tell you this but there is no pro line in the sand anymore. All of the components in the pro stuff are in iPads and Kindle Fires. The opertaing systems are on everybody else's computers. The same plugs are used by people in bedrooms. The same mics are used in garages. The only difference is the marketing budget and industry alliances. Look at what happened to recording years ago when ADATs and Mackie 8 busses hit the scene. Wham! People like Queensryche made HUGE selling records without pro studios, pro tools, etc. It is not what you have but how you implement it.

PreSonus is not making pro tech rider gear. Come on. I think what you should be saying is that you hate to be a pro, forced to work in PreSonus' marketplace. Well my friend, there are more of those people than there are pros on big tours. Thank God for them. That is how I make my money. I never sell anything to major artists/tours.

Hello Brent,
You and I haven't met, so I think you're making a pretty big leap to assume you know exactly where my head is at based on one post. I don't sell to the major tours either. I often sell to end users who are barely literate where sound is concerned. I do my best to educate them, and that's why I griped about the misleading of customers. I actually agree that "It is not what you have but how you implement it," and in part my post does reflect that. What I am saying is that customers should understand the limitations of the tools they are sold. That's an important part of good implementation.

Grant

 

[Mark DeArman]

Re: Fulcrum Acoustics New Active Powered FA Series Review

I hate to tell you this but there is no pro line in the sand anymore. All of the components in the pro stuff are in iPads and Kindle Fires.

I'm confused, are not we talking about loudspeakers? I'm pretty sure there is still a 'pro' line in the sand with loudspeakers.

 

[Ivan Beaver]

Re: Fulcrum Acoustics New Active Powered FA Series Review

I hate to tell you this but there is no pro line in the sand anymore. All of the components in the pro stuff are in iPads and Kindle Fires. .

I would agree that SOME components (not the ones that make any real difference) are in those products. Resistors-capacitors-IC's processors erc-but they are used in almost ALL electronics.

Would you care to elaborate as to what you are talking about.

Or maybe I am missing something.

 

[Brent Handy]

Re: Fulcrum Acoustics New Active Powered FA Series Review

I would agree that SOME components (not the ones that make any real difference) are in those products. Resistors-capacitors-IC's processors erc-but they are used in almost ALL electronics.

Would you care to elaborate as to what you are talking about.

Or maybe I am missing something.

Ok, look at studio monitors. There are "pro" monitors marketed to the pro community that are not as good, not as resolute, and certainly not as good in fit and finish as high end audiophile monitors. Focal, B&W and Dynaudio are examples of companies making speakers whose consumer speakers are used in mixing and mastering facilities world-wide.

Look at amplifiers. Harman's Drivecore technology was actually developed by a contracted development partner for JBL automotive. That amp "module" is exactly the power amp and DSP backbone of the Drivecore amps.

Amps are amps in many cases. Bryston consumer is the same thing as Bryston pro. Now that the trend in consumer is to run balanced via XLRs, there is a bigger blur between consumer and pro. There are many, many other examples of cross marketed product.

To address MI vs PRO, the only difference between some MI and PRO speakers is the cabinet bracing and fly points. The drivers are often the same. There are too many examples. There are PRO lines that absolutely suck compared to high end MI.

We have Behringer, an MI company, with Midas and KT designs/technology. When it comes to DAWs, math is math. There is no sonic difference, unless colour is designed in. They all null in null tests. The difference in compatibility, usability, support, industry standardization. The latter is a hard nut to crack, because so many are entrenched and invested in the original standards. But, the facts are, Reaper, a $50 DAW is just as usable as PTHD sonically.

Re: components, SHARC chips are everywhere, not just in high end audio. Windoze, Linux, BeOs, etc has been implemented in the high end and low end of consumer and pro electronics. There are budget DIY kits completely out of the high end, distributed, products, which are clones, with the same components, or darn near same components.

The lines have been blurred since surface mount manufacturing was developed, and we incorporated DSP into everything, replacing the well built, dedicated processing.

 

[John Roberts]

Re: Fulcrum Acoustics New Active Powered FA Series Review

Ok, look at studio monitors. There are "pro" monitors marketed to the pro community that are not as good, not as resolute, and certainly not as good in fit and finish as high end audiophile monitors. Focal, B&W and Dynaudio are examples of companies making speakers whose consumer speakers are used in mixing and mastering facilities world-wide.

Thanks for clearing that up.

Look at amplifiers. Harman's Drivecore technology was actually developed by a contracted development partner for JBL automotive. That amp "module" is exactly the power amp and DSP backbone of the Drivecore amps.

Amps are amps in many cases.

If we ignore duty cycle, and perhaps current output to support low impedance operation. While the underlying technology may be similar, the different customers demand and pay for different feature sets. (I consider duty cycle and current output as features) .
Studio is pretty similar to home hifi for application stress.

Bryston consumer is the same thing as Bryston pro.
Now that the trend in consumer is to run balanced via XLRs, there is a bigger blur between consumer and pro.

I'll believe that when I see XLRs on the back of my TV monitor.

There are many, many other examples of cross marketed product.

Bedroom recording has always been cross pollenated with consumer gear. Pro is the tail wagged by the far larger consumer market dog.

To address MI vs PRO, the only difference between some MI and PRO speakers is the cabinet bracing and fly points. The drivers are often the same. There are too many examples. There are PRO lines that absolutely suck compared to high end MI.

While there are others here more qualified than I to address this, even if using similar drivers, premium boxes may use tighter tolerance drivers for better arraying, better crossover accuracy, etc.

We have Behringer, an MI company, with Midas and KT designs/technology.

As the PR would have us believe.

In fact it is harder to design good for cheap gear... Midas and KT was expensive, because they couldn't build it for less. They were available to be purchased for a reason.

When it comes to DAWs, math is math. There is no sonic difference, unless colour is designed in. They all null in null tests.

There are reported subtle differences in how some of that math is performed (sample rate conversion, etc). They are more similar than different. The industry has not even standardized what Q means in the context of boost/cut EQ, so suggesting that they all work the same is not supported by our experience.

The difference in compatibility, usability, support, industry standardization. The latter is a hard nut to crack, because so many are entrenched and invested in the original standards. But, the facts are, Reaper, a $50 DAW is just as usable as PTHD sonically.

I'll take your word for it.. don't recognize either.

Re: components, SHARC chips are everywhere, not just in high end audio. Windoze, Linux, BeOs, etc has been implemented in the high end and low end of consumer and pro electronics. There are budget DIY kits completely out of the high end, distributed, products, which are clones, with the same components, or darn near same components.

There are a finite number of convertors and processors practical to select from, but there are differences in the margin from execution.

The lines have been blurred since surface mount manufacturing was developed, and we incorporated DSP into everything, replacing the well built, dedicated processing.

SMD has not blurred the line between Pro and consumer audio... I would argue that the first hole in the bottom of that boat was the CD... For a while the dynamic range of the consumer playback media was exactly the same as the pro mastering gear (16bit). Historically studios enjoyed superior performance. Since then pro gear has climbed marginally higher (and consumer has sunk even lower MP3 et al).

The stronger trend that improved the performance of even value proced consumer gear was large scale IC technology that drove improved (cleaner) processes, and digital audio (a decade or more later).

That said, as long as there are different customers with different needs (like duty cycle), they will demand different products, with feature sets more attuned to their specific needs.

JR

 

[Ivan Beaver]

Re: Fulcrum Acoustics New Active Powered FA Series Review

To address MI vs PRO, the only difference between some MI and PRO speakers is the cabinet bracing and fly points. The drivers are often the same. There are too many examples.

.

Since there are "to many examples" to list-how about telling just 1 or 2 SPECIFIC examples?

 

[Caleb Dueck]

Re: Fulcrum Acoustics New Active Powered FA Series Review

To address MI vs PRO, the only difference between some MI and PRO speakers is the cabinet bracing and fly points. The drivers are often the same. There are too many examples. There are PRO lines that absolutely suck compared to high end MI.

Either you're trying to use an exception or two as a rule, or you just haven't heard/used many speakers. Sounds like what we've heard from a few competitors (before we were hired to take down and install a real system).

 

[Jack Keaton]

Re: Fulcrum Acoustics New Active Powered FA Series Review

Did this thread get tim duffin'd?

 

[Shane Presley]

Re: Fulcrum Acoustics New Active Powered FA Series Review

Did this thread get tim duffin'd?

Now THAT'S funny, I don't care who you are....lol.

 

[Tim McCulloch]

Re: Fulcrum Acoustics New Active Powered FA Series Review

Did this thread get tim duffin'd?

That's gonna leave a mark....

 

[Brad Weber]

Re: Fulcrum Acoustics New Active Powered FA Series Review

No. Fulcrum actually designed the product.

My understanding is that Dave and FA worked with PreSonus on the product design and the processing but that the final implementation of both the product and processing was by PreSonus. So perhaps more a PreSonus design with significant input and collaboration from FA than a FA design. Is that an inaccurate understanding?

 

[Silas Pradetto]

Re: Fulcrum Acoustics New Active Powered FA Series Review

My understanding is that Dave and FA worked with PreSonus on the product design and the processing but that the final implementation of both the product and processing was by PreSonus. So perhaps more a PreSonus design with significant input and collaboration from FA than a FA design. Is that an inaccurate understanding?

I'm not really going to go into any further detail other than to say, "no". I don't know how much I'm actually allowed to say.

 

[Bennett Prescott]

Re: Fulcrum Acoustics New Active Powered FA Series Review

My understanding is that Dave and FA worked with PreSonus on the product design and the processing but that the final implementation of both the product and processing was by PreSonus. So perhaps more a PreSonus design with significant input and collaboration from FA than a FA design. Is that an inaccurate understanding?

Dude,

This thread is 8 months old, and anything to do with Presonus is way off topic in a Fulcrum FA series review. If you want to discuss these new products, start a new thread.