Mackie FRS1700 Stereo Power Amplifier

Mackie FRS1700 Stereo Power Amplifier

Mackie's FRS Series power amplifiers give you amazing power, price and portability—for the real world. They feature Mackie’s legendary Fast Recovery™ circuitry for clean, undistorted sound with the ultimate in punch and clarity—even at clipping—because you know amps often get pushed to the limit. Delivering more Watts per dollar than other amps in their price range, the FRS power amplifiers satisfy even the most demanding systems, without making a huge dent in your bank account.

With their resonant switching power supplies, FRS amps are super-efficient and ultra-lightweight, making them perfect for portable PA rigs, too. “Built-like-a-tank” construction and sophisticated protection circuitry ensure they will withstand the rigors of the road, and perform flawlessly during gigs, no matter what you throw at them. Combine the FRS Series amplifiers with the Mackie Precision Passive loudspeakers, and you’ve got optimum performance from a powerhouse system.

• Fast Recovery™ design for clean, undistorted sound
• Ultra-light, ultra-quiet, ultra-efficient switching power supply
• Short, under-impedance, over-current and thermal protection
• Robust, impact-resistant, all-steel 2U rackmount chassis

Fast Recovery, Fast Response
FRS amps feature sophisticated Fast Recovery circuitry for the cleanest sound around. What Mackie's engineers came up with is circuitry that allows the FRS amps to deliver ultimate power, without sacrificing sound quality. When you overdrive an amp with a traditional “negative feedback” design into clipping mode, it creates a feedback loop whereby even once you remove the input signal, the sub-stages of the circuits remain in saturation mode, causing all sorts of nasty harmonic distortion. The Fast Recovery technology in the FRS amps ensures all these sub-stages stay out of saturation, so even when the amp is driven into clipping mode, it instantly recovers, avoiding the “latching” phenomenon altogether. The result is ultra-clean, distortion free sound.

Ultra-Efficient, Lightweight Power Supply
The resonant switching power supply in our new FRS amps provides many sonic and practical advantages. Being much more compact and weighing considerably less than a conventional linear supply, it helps make our FRS amps super lightweight and ultra-portable. And while switching supplies are becoming more and more popular these days due to their more compact topology, not all switching power supplies are the same.

Many manufacturers use switching power supplies that employ “hard switching.” With this design, at switching, voltage is present across the transistor and current is running through it, generating “glitch” energy that can cause unwanted noise in the form of Radio Frequency Interference (RFI), as well as excess heat. The FRS power supply employs “soft” switching. The soft switching design includes a resonant tank that allows the power transistors to switch at zero current and zero voltage. This design ensures that when the transistors switch, very little heat or errant energy is generated, so the FRS amps run quiet as a mouse, and cool as a cucumber. This not only means better sound, but longer life. The resonant switching power supply operates more efficiently than other designs, too, allowing it to provide large bursts of power more quickly.

Complete Protection Circuitry
FRS amps come with complete system protection. Mackie spent hours conceiving of all the possible what-if user scenarios, imagined all possible failure modes, then designed elaborate protection circuits to ensure that pretty much no matter what you do to the FRS amps, they will endure. Built into every FRS amp is a defeatable clip limiter plus short, under-impedance, over-current and thermal protection.

The power supply also includes real-time monitoring circuitry that keeps track of operating conditions in order to prevent over load failure. The circuitry “checks” the operating temperature, takes into account the maximum current, then manages the power supply accordingly, reducing the power if necessary to protect the power supply and amplifier. As a result, FRS amps can actually throughput more power than competitors’ models with the same power rating.

Many amps rate power by “music power,” not sine wave power. If you drive some of these competitors’ amps using sine wave power at their supposed power rating, the amp will overload and “burn up.” Because of Mackie's protection circuits, under the same conditions, this simply won’t happen to FRS amps.

The Most Portable Powerhouse in its Class
Despite being heavy on power, FRS amps are the lightest Mackie amplifiers EVER. Other amps in their class either weigh a ton, or don’t deliver on wattage. Thanks to the design of a super-lightweight and sophisticated switching power supply, it saves on the pounds, without sacrificing on performance. FRS amps bring Mackie build and sound quality to rigs on the go, for maximum power and portability. Now you can get all the wattage you need, and load in and out with ease.

Ultimate Performance, Ultimate Value
With FRS amps, in one lightweight package, you get the ultimate in performance, reliability and affordability. More powerful and quieter than others in their price range, FRS Series amps satisfy even the most demanding systems, while demanding little strength to transport. Their “built-like-a-tank” construction and Mackie reliability mean the FRS amps will withstand the rigors of the road, and perform flawlessly during gigs—for years and years. Plus, we’ve designed the FRS amps to function optimally with Mackie Precision Passive loudspeakers—match your FRS amp to loudspeakers from the Mackie C or S Series, and you’ve got a perfectly integrated, powerhouse sound reinforcement system.

• Professional lightweight stereo power amplifier with high-power / low-distortion design
• Fast Recovery™ circuitry for clean, undistorted sound - even at clipping
• Ultra-light, ultra-quiet switching power supply for maximum efficiency and minimal heat 
• 1660W continuous power @ 4 Ohms bridged
• Selectable mono/stereo/bridged mono operating modes
• High-resolution, 6-segment LED meter per channel
• Defeatable clip limiter plus short, under-impedance, over-current and thermal protection
• 30Hz subsonic filter maximizes amplifier efficiency and headroom
• Combo XLR/TRS input and TRS thru connectors per channel
• Speakon® and binding post outputs per channel
• Third Speakon output for bridged mono applications, also provides both output channels on a single connector (mono/stereo modes)
• Multi-speed fans adjust to operating temperature for minimal acoustic noise
• Robust, impact-resistant, all-steel 2U rackmount chassis
• Comfortable handles for easy transport and protection of level controls