Digital tone-emulation technology is more popular than ever, and guitarists who use it require full-range, flat and accurate output. General-purpose pro audio speakers (as in powered stage monitors) offer flat reproduction but are somewhat clinical sounding and lack the organic, immediate response guitar players want. On the other hand, traditional guitar speakers deliver immediacy and feel at the cost of accuracy, because they are purpose-built to generate more harmonic resonances the harder they are driven — which can undermine the work the profiling/modeling rig is already doing.
Celestion’s F12-X200 speaker, introduced last year, was the world’s first speaker to combine the best of both these worlds, with the problems of neither, which is what the British company calls Full Range Live Response. The new F12M-150 Triple Cone is intended to provide a solution for players seeking a Full Range Live Response speaker that is more compact and lower cost than its big brother, the F12-X200. This is a 12" diameter speaker with 150W power rating at 8Ω and a sensitivity of 96dB, still using a traditional ceramic magnet.
But the F12M-150 has a unique design featuring two additional tweeter cones integrated into the main woofer cone (making it "Triple Cone"). This enables the speaker to deliver near full-range frequency performance: from 60Hz up to 12kHz, for a rich and detailed sound, whatever the actual set-up.
Combining Celestion’s Pro Audio and guitar speaker know-how, response is flat and neutral, ensuring no unwanted colourations that could overwhelm the input signal. But with an optimized woofer cone and lighter moving mass the F12M-150 is designed to closely mimic the responsiveness of a traditional guitar speaker, delivering all the tactile feel that players expect from playing though a conventional guitar rig.
On the side of accuracy, the F12M-150 is a wide frequency range speaker, with response from 60Hz to 12kHz. The higher frequencies are reproduced using specially designed tweeter cones integrated into the speaker’s primary or “woofer” cone. This enables the F12M-150 to deliver a wide range of audible frequencies and harmonics. Furthermore, Celestion used its driver design experience to guard against unwanted sonic coloration of the input signal. All this ensures an accurate rendition of whatever amp/cabinet combination the musician is emulating.
On the side of immediacy, the F12M-150 employs proven design principles that have made Celestion royalty among guitar drivers since the dawn of rock and roll, such as straighter cone sides and a lighter moving mass compared with pro audio speakers. The physicality and tactile response of the speaker is live, as it would be playing through a traditional guitar amp.
The end result is that by using the F12M-150 in a monitor wedge, backline cabinet, or any familiar stage or studio application, guitarists can enjoy the instant fingers-to-music connection of their favorite amp setup alongside the multitude of amp setups offered by their solutions of choice for amp and cabinet emulation. The Celestion F12M-150 makes modeling technology more real.
www.celestion.com
