Help needed with a specific frfr speaker question

I have a question for those of you who have used or do use a frfr solution such as a yamaha dxr10, ev zlx12, alto, headrush etc... Will they reproduce the sound well of a profile at pretty low volume?

Here's my dilemma:

Myself like many others desired the amp in the room sound. I bought a kone about a year ago and wasn't quite satisfied with it, changed to an eminence speaker about a month ago and it worked ok but not as varied profile to profile which I expected before purchasing. I loaded the Kone back up last weekend and have spent a couple of days messing with it. I've come to the conclusion my issue with both speakers is volume, I wasn't turning my amp up enough to push them so they were lacking when reproducing sound.

Both preformed better at a decent volume, but my ears are about done in after years of loud music and extremely loud work environments, I can't play very long even though the volume really isn't that loud without pain in my ears and a pretty good headache. This has also caused me to limit my FOH outings after 29 years, I only do acoustic shows anymore and those are becoming less frequent.

I hooked back up to what I was using for four years prior to getting a power amp and Kone, the effect return of a small combo amp, I set the volume where I used to on it and it was much quieter than what I'm using now, I attribute that to a pretty low wattage speaker that doesn't need much power to move, but it doesn't sound near as good though I can play for longer periods of time.

I know going through studio monitors works well but I want something that sounds decent that I can take elsewhere, taking the amp in the room sound out of the equation which was what I was originally trying to achieve returns me to the question above, do those frfr solutions reproduce a good likeness of a profile at lower volumes.

Your thoughts or experiences would be greatly appreciated, I don't want to spend anymore money without seeking some advice first.

Quote from Kim_Olesen

I had a shootout when i bought the Kemper. Strangely enough i found the JBL MRX512M to be way better than any other PA frfr. The shootout included speakers like Headrush, Yamaha dxr12, JBL Eon and others that i don’t recall anymore.

I’ve used at quite loud stage volumes, enough for the rest of a band to hear me.

It seriously was like there was no transition from an oldfashioned guitar cab when i went with the Kemper/MRX512m combi.

I would imagine the horn played a good part in the overall sound because of its dispersion pattern, 70 x 70, a little more even as you move around, unfortunately those are discontinued. I had really good luck with the jbl prx powered series in three of the A/V installations I did a few years back. Paired them with an X32 at each venue and they didn't require much eq to tune them to the rooms, very smooth speakers throughout the eq spectrum. I had my Kemper when I purchased the last set but never had them in my home state, they were drop shipped 750 miles away so no chance to try them.

Quote from davec69

In my hunt for the perfect tone, I have tried many of the "FRFR" solutions. The Headrush 108 is probably the best for low volume, in my opinion. I use it for smaller gigs, and it sounds great at lower volumes. Lightweight, and since it has two separate inputs, I can run another line in, if needed. From a vocal monitor mix, or something else. Mind you, this is my 2nd 108. My first 108 went up in smoke at a gig, and was replaced by HeadRush. So, there's that....

I've used Alto speakers as stage monitors a couple of times with good results, it could all be speculation but I have heard several times that they make the Headrush, not to say that they are just a rebrand product, I think the electronics have been changed.

I've been researching quite a bit but hearing from other Kemper users is more apple's to apple's information. I was waiting to hear if someone jumped in to confirm the lower volume was doable. There is one other small format speaker that looks interesting but you can't find out much about it, even from the dealer, the ISP Vector fs8.

I tend to look at guitar equipment in the same manner I do pa equipment as I plan for an install. Speaker x has a wood cabinet, sound great and is $1200 each. Speaker y is a poly cabinet and is $700 each and sounds really good. On a scale from 1-100 (1 being the lowest quality sound and 100 the best) x is at 100 percent and y is at 70-75 percent, is the cost difference justified for the application. At times it is and others it is not, for me right now I'm probably in the "is not" category.

I may try the headrush 108, if it happened to work for me I believe I would sell of my recently finished Kemper rig and just get the stage, my old body would thank me 😅

Thank you both for the input.

Quote from OneEng1

Have you tried head phones? Good ones can really sound amazing with the KPA.

Yes, unfortunately they aren't comfortable for me even at low volumes, it might have something to do with the close proximity, but that's speculation on my part.

I had quite a bit of trouble with ear infections in my 40's, to the point I had tubes put in for a while, more common for children than adults. I'm 56 now and it has flared back up again, I've had earaches with mild headaches since the middle of May, higher frequencies are especially brutal if above loud speech level right now. Its caused me to back off on running sound too, even for Bluegrass bands which I used to do 2 or 3 Saturday nights a month since 2018. That and playing guitar are pretty much my only hobbies I enjoy so I'll find a work around, at least for playing guitar.

Quote from 2004Billy

At home I play the Kemper on studio monitors. I have stone age Mackie HR824, I find them non-fatiguing. The benefit is the backing track comes over the same monitors.

I plugged into my monitors for the first time last weekend, the clean sounds were phenomenal, especially with stereo effects, but they are subpar speakers and profiles with overdive do not translate well but I found they were non fatiguing as you said. I had a home studio for years but the PC I built gave up the ghost and my old Event monitors soon followed.

That's what prompted me to ask the original question about pa speakers, I was curious if they also sounded good at low volumes. My intent is, if a small pa speaker will work somewhat like monitors do I would still be able to take it out to play live. I've yet to do so since I've owned the Kemper and friends have invited me to jam sessions over the last couple of years, I miss doing that and would enjoy participating occasionally. If pa speakers are not a viable alternative then I will likely upgrade to a set of monitors that could handle the job, at least at home.

Quote from dradlin

I dial in separate profiles for playing at low and gig volume levels… brighter for lower volume play, darker for higher volume. Neither sound good when used in the unintended context. This holds true regardless of the speaker you are playing through.

I won't be playing at gig levels, very low to low volume. I'll probably try the Headrush 108 just to see if it will work for me. I've used similar speakers for small rooms that need to receive the FOH feed from an auditorium but at low volume and they've worked well, but I've never tried any type of guitar processor through one. My focus has been FOH for many years, playing guitar is a hobby for my enjoyment, I quit playing live in 1994.

I do agree with your statement, the years at a mixer forced me to learn just how many variables can affect live sound, that knowledge would have made me a better band member in my younger days.

Quote from Finally

It sounds a bit like you may be fighting against the fact that louder just sounds better.

But... when it comes to the FRFR at low volumes, my studio monitors sound way better than my ZLX15 speakers.

And...I always use the Kone for my own monitoring or just practicing/jamming. 🙂

I had the ZLX12 and plugged the Kemper into one of them the week I got it, it sounded horrible but that was all my fault. I had the EV set from the last event I had used it (outside with no sub) and didn't change the settings, on top of that I never even looked through Kempers output menu, or any menu to be honest.

I just plugged into the effect return of a combo amp I have and played the few profiles that sounded decent, zero tweaking on my part, and used it that way 3½+ years until I bought the Kone last summer. That's when I started going through the manual and finding out what exactly I had purchased. I've been messing with the Kone this past week, it sounds good using the speaker imprints and pretty good by itself without the Kemper Kone checked, but I don't care so much for the Kemper Kone checked frfr mode.

And yes, louder is always better! You should hear the old rehearsal room tapes I have, you can barely hear the drums, bass and vocals, I was a firm believer in gain and volume should be dimmed😅