I bought a pair of FRX2 drivers 4 or 5 years ago with the intention of building a pair of ZOB cabinets to put them in, but that build hasn’t happened.  Not too long after buying the FRX2’s, I got a super spectacular end-of-summer deal from Pure Audio Project on a pair of Quintets.  They came with both Voxativ 1.6 drivers and their big wood PAP Horn1’s.  Since then I have been swapping the Voxativs for the horns every few months.  I enjoy both iterations of this great speaker immensely, but neither has the speed of my big Lowther horns anchored by the little Lowther A55 drivers mounted open baffle style to a massive Le Cleac’h Azurahorn.  Once you’ve experienced that kind of speed, all other speakers sound gummed up and slow.  My Quintets don’t sound bogged down or veiled, but they don’t have that Lowther speed either.  And they certainly don’t have that unbearable Lowther shout—that’s the reason I no longer have Lowthers!  The PAP Quintets are ever so slightly polite, if you will.

Back to the FRX2’s....    As soon as they arrived at my house I mounted each of them on a 24” x 48” piece of plywood with an Eminence Alpha A15 woofer.  I drove them for a couple of months with my SE84CKC and my LFD NCSE which had just been acquired.  The FRX2’s were run wide open and the woofers were cut off with a single coil at around 80 to 120 hz.  They sounded really nice, but they also seemed to be very delicate speakers.  I perceived the sound quality as fast and detailed, but light.  Being driven full range, there was tons of cone movement and volume levels had to be monitored closely.  I know that Steve’s literature clearly states that his electromotive contraption on the back of the driver protects it from overload, but it’s a scary thing to see a small cone flexing mightily as the volume is turned up on a big 60 watt solid state amplifier.  

I put the FRX’s back in their boxes, studied the ZOB plans/drawings I had purchased, and waited for the day that I would build ZOB’s.  They’ve been in their boxes for several years.

A few weeks ago, partly due to drastically reduced income, and partly due to simply having too much stuff, I began selling various pieces of audio gear on eBay and a few other online sites, and decided to sell my pair of FRX2 drivers.  After having several people show interest in my eBay Buy-It-Now price of $1,049, which included shipping, I decided to throw them up on the big Quintet frames just to see how they sounded one more time.  I mounted them on 1.5 inch thick wood baffles and attached them to the Quintet frames.  I listened to them running wide open hooked directly to my LFD for a few hours.  As they sounded the first time around, a few years ago, they once again seemed delicate, and they quickly became congested when the volume was pushed at all.  On top of that, there was too much bass and mid bass due to a fairly large overlap with the eight 15” woofers that were 1st order crossed at 85 hz.

My last hoorah, and final farewell, was to wire the FRX2’s to the PAP Thrier crossover, which is a serial first order type that I have upgraded from the already high quality standard parts.  I sat down to listen for a few minutes and was completely blown away!  I sat there for hours and hours listening through the night.  The speed of the FRX2’s, when not hampered by the lowest frequencies, was incredible!  Are they as fast as a small Lowther?  Maybe.....probably.  It’s been several years since my Lowthers went to my son-in-law’s home, and it’s nearly impossible to go by memory, but if they’re not as fast, they’re very close.  I doubt we’ll ever be able to put them side by side for comparison purposes, but it would be fun.  The FRX2’s are not only lightning fast and incredibly detailed in the Quintet set up with the crossover engaged, they are extremely full bodied, dense, and rich!  I like to use good trombone recordings when judging a speaker’s overall ability to sound as close to real as possible, and let me tell you, the FRX2 Quintets are probably the best sounding speakers I have ever heard.  Trombones and lower registers of pianos are challenges for any good speaker, but the FRX2’s are way more than capable—they are masters at trombone and piano reproduction!

For the past 35 years, every month or so, I’ll call my wife to sit in the listening chair to get her opinion on the most recent tweak.  Ninety-nine out of one hundred times, she’ll say, “I don’t know....I can’t tell any difference....but my ears aren’t trained the way yours are.”  Three or four weeks ago, following an input tube change on my CSP325, she responded, “Is he supposed to sound like he’s singing into a tin can.”  At least she’s honest in her responses.  So, after two full days of me thinking that I had stumbled onto something really special, she was again called to the listening chair, at midnight yesterday evening.  Her response was, “Oh my, Douglas.......your system has never sounded like this.  I feel like Chris (Rice) is sitting 6 feet in front of me singing into one of those super expensive recording studio mics and we’re sitting in a famous music hall.”  That’s one of very few positive statements she has made to me during this oft recurring 35 year drill, and it is, by a wide margin, the most definitive statement she has ever made. My wife loves music as much as I do, but as far as recorded music goes, she would be fine listening to her little pink Muzen Audio blue tooth speaker for her remaining years on earth.

Steve has stated that the FRX2 can make bad recordings sound really bad, and I know first hand how a super fast and efficient driver will do that, but I have been unable to find a recording that this FRX2 PAP combo reproduces in a harsh and/or unlistenable fashion.  They are so lush, beautiful, sweet, and gorgeous, but they are also super fast and detailed!  They will also play loud—well above 100 decibels without any strain at all.  We dined at noon today listening Chad Kassem’s SACD version of SRV’s The Sky Is Crying album, and we had it cranked in the basement listening room.  I would estimate the average loudness level down stairs was 105 db, though I didn’t measure it.  And it was very loud up stairs in the kitchen too, but it was perfectly clear and sounded as close to live as I’ve ever heard Stevie sound.

Steve, your FRX2 drivers are indeed spectacular drivers.  I still plan to make my way to East Peoria some time soon to hear the big ZF15L.  I have been truly excited about making this trip for some time now, but with this overnight development in the change of status in my own system, I will be quite impressed if the ZF15L’s can compete with the FRX2 Quintet pairing.  I do promise to listen with an open mind.  There is obviously some extraordinary synergy occurring within my system as it currently stands......I guess some times we just luck out.

For now, I have to admit that I sit here shocked and stunned at how good the Decware FRX2 drivers are!  And to think I could have sold these little gems, never knowing what they were capable of......

Hey Will,

Yes, the woofers at 6db per octave at 85 hz and the FRX2 at 295 hz 6db per octave, and they meet nicely in the middle at around 160 to 170 hz.  It’s a series crossover with a single coil and a single cap.

When using the big PAP wood horns, the crossover points are still 1st order but move up another octave for both the woofers and the horn........150 hz and 600 hz respectively.

 Since I will be finishing the DNA2 cabinets in a couple of weeks, I am tempted to at least try the FRX2 driver in the DNA2 horn. I know, I am way off base here assuming that it will work, but you know how it can be, not knowing. Any idea as to what to expect? As of now, I am using a pair of Mark Audio 12p drivers for the horns and it is a head shaker to listen to. How can something that small sound so big, and good?

Hi Doug,
Thank you for your post.  This has inspired me try out PAP.

I have a question though. PAP Quintet 15s reach 30hz to the bottom. Do they miss anything between 20hz-30hz? I see full-range speakers can reach down to 18hz-20hz.

Also, since the FRX2s are so fast, can the PAP woofers catch up with them? Do you notice any degrade in sonic coherence?


Huy

From Doug: "Yes, the woofers at 6db per octave at 85 hz and the FRX2 at 295 hz 6db per octave, and they meet nicely in the middle at around 160 to 170 hz.  It’s a series crossover with a single coil and a single cap."

Thanks Doug. This and your last post about the speed of the PAP woofers fill things out nicely. Great discovery, that relaxing that high energy low end region effected the FRX so much and so well, at least with the massive support of the right company!