Acceptable companion to an Atomic CLR?

[Verne Bunsen]

Hello all,

I've been using a Line 6 Helix for about three years and for all of that time I've been very happily monitoring through an Atomic CLR cabinet (not the wedge) and through my Beyerdynamic DT770 headphones. These two are great for me because they both sound fantastic to me, tones crafted in one translate faithfully to the other, and things that sound good in them sound good in my DAW. In short: no complaints here. Fast-forward to the present and I've been playing a lot with stereo. Since I have just the one CLR I'm relegated to headphone monitoring only for this, and I want to get another speaker so I can get stereo monitoring in the room. What I'd really like is to acquire another CLR cabinet, but they don't make them anymore and they don't pop up too often on the used market. Even the current production model CLR wedges are back ordered and likewise pretty scarce used. So I'll wait for a CLR cab to pop up somewhere, it's bound to happen eventually, but in the meantime I'm still interested in getting stereo monitoring in the room. So, said all that to say all this: do any of you fellas have a recommendation for a powered FRFR speaker that will compliment the CLR in the meantime? I'm not really interested in a PA speaker or a wedge, I would like to keep to a cabinet-like form factor. I've looked a lot at the Friedman ASC-10/12, and while I think they'd be the bees knees if I were using them exclusively I don't think tones dialed in for them would translate as well to headphones and direct recording. They seem to have a lot of character of their own. So while I think they look fantastic and would probably be perfect for some, I'm not considering them right now. I am looking pretty hard at the Mission Io, the Line 6 Powercab, and the Tech 21 Deuce Deluxe. They all seem like solid options, but it's tough to guess how well they'll play with the CLR.

So, if you have any input, I'd be most appreciative!

-VB-

 

[new-killer-star]

You might be different than me but unmatched stereo speakers bug the snot out of me...

If it were me and there wasn’t a performance deadline I would probably use (or get) my studio monitors and wait it out for a matching one to show up on reverb - or sell the clr and get a new matched pair.

 

[mayfly]

Hmmm.  does not seem that it would be hard to build a clone of that CLR cabinet.  All you gotta do is:

1 - take it apart
2 - figure out what the drivers are (woofer and tweeter)
3 - clone the crossover (reverse engineer the schematic, wire it up)
4 - clone the cabinet.  Might be slightly harder if it's ported
5 - put it all together.

Does not seem that bad

 

[Verne Bunsen]

Hmmm.  does not seem that it would be hard to build a clone of that CLR cabinet.  All you gotta do is:

1 - take it apart
2 - figure out what the drivers are (woofer and tweeter)
3 - clone the crossover (reverse engineer the schematic, wire it up)
4 - clone the cabinet.  Might be slightly harder if it's ported
5 - put it all together.

Does not seem that bad

Exaxtly! So now I’m just trying to figure out who in this competitive industry has already done that...  :laughing7:

 

[Verne Bunsen]

You might be different than me but unmatched stereo speakers bug the snot out of me...

If it were me and there wasn’t a performance deadline I would probably use (or get) my studio monitors and wait it out for a matching one to show up on reverb - or sell the clr and get a new matched pair.

Agreed, having something that is voiced similarly is a priority. I’ve never run a true stereo rig before, so it may well turn out that “similar” doesn’t cut it for me. In which case selling the CLR might turn out to be the more practical option. I’m just loathe to go that route because it has worked so well for me. Of the speakers that I’m looking at, only the Line 6 Powercab has coaxial drivers, which is a big part of the CLR’s performance. That has me thinking it may be my best bet...

 

[Verne Bunsen]

This is informative:
[youtube]WjMsdts5F70[/youtube]

 

[new-killer-star]

Of the speakers that I’m looking at, only the Line 6 Powercab has coaxial drivers, which is a big part of the CLR’s performance. That has me thinking it may be my best bet...

Maybe. I have a coworker that absolutely loves his atomic clr, I’m not sure line6 has the same reputation of love for sound quality and it just really sucks to settle (when you don’t have to).

I will also say that I picked up a pair of gently used amphion One12 recently and it has me rethinking my giant audiophile speakers in my profile pic as well as my pair of Bose S1 pro that I use for my ax8 stereo rig...

Because they also have that something that makes them really special and that’s really rare - and I think a big part of what some of us look for when we play.

 

[Cagey]

I used to have a pair of CLRs, and opened one up out of curiosity. Class D amp, custom crossover, Eminence 12" coax speaker. Nothing tricky about the enclosure, as far as I could tell. I suspect the magic is in the crossover. Very fine sound - best I've heard, and I don't think I'd try to match one of them to something else. Get another like you have, or sell the one you have and replace with a pair of something else. As you've already noticed, you don't see them up for sale very often, but it happens. (I sold mine.) People like them well enough and they're hard enough to get that resale is pretty good on them.

 

[mayfly]

Interesting.  I do love those Eminence coax speakers.

VB:  The crossover is just a bunch of passive bits - please take a pic of it and maybe I can figure out what it is.

 

[Cagey]

The crossover is a bit more complex than that. I don't have one to take a picture of anymore, but there was a lot more than what you'd expect there. There was a good-sized chip on there, so I suspect there's a DSP involved playing with the input to flatten things out before separating into upper/lower ranges and feeding the amp.

 

[mayfly]

Oh!  An active crossover!  Digital one at that...  Even more interesting! 

Probably can't reverse engineer it though.  Sorry 'bout that.

 

[Wolfie351]

Do yourself a favor and just get a pair of decent studio monitors.  I'm willing to bet you'll decide to keep them even after you find a matching CLR.  So much easier to fine tune your tone with them and it's painfully obvious when someone does their mixing with headphones

 

[Verne Bunsen]

Maybe. I have a coworker that absolutely loves his atomic clr, I’m not sure line6 has the same reputation of love for sound quality and it just really sucks to settle (when you don’t have to).
I will also say that I picked up a pair of gently used amphion One12 recently and it has me rethinking my giant audiophile speakers in my profile pic as well as my pair of Bose S1 pro that I use for my ax8 stereo rig...
Because they also have that something that makes them really special and that’s really rare - and I think a big part of what some of us look for when we play.

Do yourself a favor and just get a pair of decent studio monitors.  I'm willing to bet you'll decide to keep them even after you find a matching CLR.  So much easier to fine tune your tone with them and it's painfully obvious when someone does their mixing with headphones

Thanks for that, I'll take it under advisement. At some point I'd like to compliment my rig with a nice pair of monitors for the desk, but I'm not ready for that to be my primary...

Regarding the lackluster Line 6 reputation, it's been my experience that it is quite overstated. I was hesitant to purchase Helix because it was kind of dismissed by the "serious" modeling community as a non-competitor, but I am thrilled with its performance. Wouldn't trade it for any of the others. Not saying everything they do is necessarily going to be a win, but I am not inclined to dismiss them out of hand either.

 

[Verne Bunsen]

Oh!  An active crossover!  Digital one at that...  Even more interesting! 

Probably can't reverse engineer it though.  Sorry 'bout that.

No apology necessary, thanks for making the offer!

 

[Verne Bunsen]

I used to have a pair of CLRs, and opened one up out of curiosity. Class D amp, custom crossover, Eminence 12" coax speaker. Nothing tricky about the enclosure, as far as I could tell. I suspect the magic is in the crossover. Very fine sound - best I've heard, and I don't think I'd try to match one of them to something else. Get another like you have, or sell the one you have and replace with a pair of something else. As you've already noticed, you don't see them up for sale very often, but it happens. (I sold mine.) People like them well enough and they're hard enough to get that resale is pretty good on them.

Thanks for that Cagey. It changes my thinking a bit to know that there is "life after CLR", haha! Out of curiosity, what did you replace yours with if you don't mind me asking?

 

[Cagey]

Moving the CLRs was purely a financial thing, or I'd still have them. They've since been replaced with a Yamaha DXR10 and a Line6 PowerCab Plus. Both very nice speakers, but I wish I still had the CLRs.

 

[Verne Bunsen]

Moving the CLRs was purely a financial thing, or I'd still have them. They've since been replaced with a Yamaha DXR10 and a Line6 PowerCab Plus. Both very nice speakers, but I wish I still had the CLRs.

Gotcha, that’s helpful to know. I looked at the DXR 10 and 12, they seem solid. They were the most intriguing of the PA style speakers I looked at.

 

[Cagey]

Actually, those DXR10 units are a LOT of speaker, don't sound like you'd expect at all, and punch way above their weight. If you can't have a CLR, that's probably what I'd recommend in my admittedly limited experience with powered FRFR units. I'm pretty pleased with that unit. The Powercab Plus is... interesting. I don't really have enough time on it at any appreciable volume to really make a judgement or review it properly. Very interesting for the basement/bedroom player/recorder due to its wide capabilities.

 

[Verne Bunsen]

Duly noted...

 

[Verne Bunsen]

Let the trials commence....