Reality 112FR
Regular price
£399.00
£749.00
1 x 12" high accuracy loudspeaker cabinet for FRFR guitar and acoustic instruments - the ultimate solution for the amplification of both acoustic instruments and digitally modelled guitar sounds.
The requirements are the same - maximum accuracy, excellent audibility and controlled feedback. The only difference is that the output level for FRFR guitar in a rock band is usually much greater than the SPL for solo acoustic instruments - but this means that the Reality 112FR has the headroom to handle multiple acoustic instruments, vocals and even recorded music, making it a true gigging problem solver. Don't expect thunderous or massively deep lows (it isn't a bass cab) but it'll still give enough fatness for most full-range acoustic music.
Please skip the following if you just want to get to the specs or buy one - this is the story of why this cab is how it is:
This is not just a lightweight FRFR cab with classic styling - it's so much more! The Reality 112FR combines the might of Celestion's F12-X200 full-range live-response coaxial loudspeaker with an AVD enclosure and custom rear-firing tweeter / adjustable crossover, for the best possible reproduction of modelled/profiled tones.
Full Range Flat Response is not enough because this only describes steady state sound in one location. If you want "high accuracy" (and if you want to hear your digital magic then you really do) then you need the following:
- Accurate frequency response (aka FRFR)
- Accurate polar response
- Accurate transient response
- Accurate dynamic response
These are the four critical links of sound reproduction. You may not know it but you WILL hear the weakest link - it's no good having "perfect" FRFR if the dynamic, transient or polar response is poor because the human ear is very good at hearing the deficiencies, not the best aspects.
This isn't our first FRFR cab, we've been doing this since Barefaced started out making radical high accuracy bass cabs. The Big Baby 2 and Big Twin 2 are already being used by bassists, keyboardists and guitarists who need to hear the truth of their tone, some through amps like Kempers. But the BB2 and BT2 have so much more low frequency depth and output than any guitarist needs, making them bigger, heavier and more expensive. So this is our first guitar specific FRFR cab.
We found that the F12-X200's coaxial 12" driver and tweeter with integrated crossover made for a great-sounding, efficient and elegant starting point but how it was used made a big difference in the resulting sound.
An F12-X200 in a closed cab does a good job of frequency response but polar response isn't so good further off-axis. Transient response is good too but dynamic response is limited at lower frequencies like with louder or chunkier rhythm guitar work.
An F12-X200 in an open cab will do slightly better with polar response but worse frequency response; transient response will still be good but dynamic response will really struggle when playing louder chords, low notes, etc.
Another option is a speaker like the F12-X200 but without the coaxial tweeter (using DSP to boost the higher frequencies where the cone's treble output is dropping). This can achieve the target frequency response and transient response, the dynamic response will be similar although more demanding on amps (causing clipping at high SPL) but most importantly the polar response will be very poor at higher frequencies. However it's far less expensive than having a coaxial speaker with a crossover.
An F12-X200 in an AVD cab achieves good frequency, transient and dynamic response with much improved polar response up to the upper midrange / lower treble region. However testing showed that improving the polar response higher up made a huge difference in real world situations.
Adding a rear-firing tweeter with its own custom crossover to coherently combine with the AVD's ouput makes the polar response a near perfect figure 8, which gives you incredibly consistent tone wherever you're listening from. It's almost surreal to hear the improvement in audibility from turning up the tweeter control, considering that tweeter is firing away from you!
Specifications
| Dimensions (H x W x D) |
40cm x 45cm x 31cm 16" x 18" x 12" |
| Weight | 9.5kg / 21lbs passive - 10.5kg / 23lbs Activier |
| Enclosure design | AVD-8 |
| RMS power handling | 200 W |
| Nominal Impedance | 8 ohm |
| Speakers | Celestion F12-X200 + Eminence APT80 |
Features
- Barefaced AVD-8 enclosure for superior audibility, efficiency, power handling and truly accurate FRFR sound
- Celestion F12-X200 coaxial 12" 2-way driver - "Full Range Live Response"
- Rear-firing Eminence APT80 tweeter with custom 4th order crossover for radically improved clarity and tonal accuracy
- Independent adjustment of rear-firing tweeter for acoustic correction in real rooms on real gigs
- CNC machined dual-density plywood construction - better tone, gig tough, lower weight
- Single top strap handle - low profile to fit under amps; steel core, brackets, bolts and t-nuts for durablity; replaceable chrome trim for aesthetics; rubber sleeve for comfort; nylon washers to add friction and damping to ensure it remains rattle free
- Rubber feet on base - medium compound to damp vibration and add stability, tall enough to clear another handle if stacking
- Dual combi 1/4” + speakon sockets - use standard 1/4" leads, or have a locking speakon on the cab end which you can leave locked in place during transport
- Two grill cloth options: Deep Black or Bright Silver, with white piping
- Two tolex options: British Raging Green or Black In Black
- Custom tolex or grill cloth also available - extra cost, subject to availability, longer lead times likely.
Questions
What is an "FRFR" guitar cab and what is it for?
Full Range Flat Response guitar cabs were created so guitarists using modelling amps (as originally popularised by Line6) could hear the true sound of their modelled amp AND cabs - rather than hear the sound of the guitar speaker they were using. So the earliest FRFR cabs were simply little PA speakers as they have reasonably FRFR.
How is the Reality 112FR different?
At Barefaced we know that FRFR is not enough - we want TRUE SONIC ACCURACY. That means not only frequency response but also polar response, transient response and dynamic response. No other FRFR guitar cab on the market properly addresses all four aspects of tonal accuracy. In your bedroom, sitting right in front of the speaker you'll notice it feels more 3D, like you're surrounded by tone with so much presence without harshness - but take it to a rehearsal or gig and you, your bandmates and your audience will be blown away by how well they hear you, not louder but just THERE in the mix, wherever they're standing. And that creates a virtuous circle of performance, where the whole band ends up playing better and making better music. This is about making music, not just reproducing it like in the world of hi-fi!
How can this be a guitar cab and an acoustic instrument cab too?
FRFR guitar cabs do not sound like normal guitar cabs - a normal guitar speaker has limited bandwidth and large amounts of colouration (i.e. distortion) which filters the sound of an electric guitar through an amp giving the tones we all know and love. An FRFR speaker is fed a modelled sound like those that come from guitar speakers, so there is no need for the speaker to add another layer of colour. It's a bit like cooking - if the chef has already added the seasonings, herbs and spices and then you add the same again at the table it won't taste good. With modelled sound including speaker and cabinet emulation you want the actual loudspeaker to simply turn that electrical signal into acoustic sound without changing it, not adding more spice.
But if you want to hear an acoustic instrument louder then you need to put a mic or piezo pickup on it, maybe add some EQ to help and then turn that up loud with a clean amplifier through a really honest sounding speaker. And in an ideal world you want that speaker to be omnidirectional, filling the room with sound just like an acoustic guitar does - just like the Reality 112FR!
What is an AVD-8 enclosure and what does it do?
"Augmented Vent Diffractor - Figure 8" is the latest patented technology from Barefaced Audio. It improves low frequency efficiency and power handling whilst reducing distortion, generates rear-firing midrange output with even response and broad dispersion and integrates a phase coherent rear tweeter. The end result is highly accurate response from both front and rear of the loudspeaker, giving incredibly "real" live sound and outstanding resistance to the problems caused by noisy bandmates or difficult room acoustics.
How does the AVD-8 enclosure work?
This may take a while to get your head around! At lower frequencies the slot and horn acts as a Helmholtz resonator, like a reflex port. Above these frequencies the slot allows midrange and treble frequencies through, diffracting them sideways for improved dispersion, with the horn panels improving acoustic coupling with the room.
If the AVD worked like a horn then output through most of the midrange and all of the treble bandwidth would be minimal (because in a horn the air masses in the coupling chamber, throat and horn act as an acoustic inductance with a low pass effect). Fortunately the AVD system instead allows good response into the lower treble region but that leaves a few octaves missing from the rearwards output for many guitar sounds.
The AVD-8 system therefore has a high output low distortion tweeter mounted on the rear baffle This tweeter is crossed over where the 12" driver's rearward output rolls off, which is over an octave lower than its forwards output. The tweeter thus takes over the rearward output throughout the whole treble bandwidth, which is only possible due to the very steep crossover slope protecting the diaphragm from over excursion.
One other clear acoustic benefit of the AVD-8 enclosure is in how it controls internal reflections and standing waves compared to a conventional cuboid-shaped guitar cab. The angled AVD panels and asymmetric baffle measurably reduce the amount of internally reflected sound that manages to escape through the cone interfering with the original tone, often causing conventional guitar cabs to literally sound "boxy".
How does the near-omnidirectional figure 8 response affect both acoustic and electric feedback?
One of the almost magical abilities of the AVD-8 enclosure is that to your ears it has very broad dispersion but to your guitar it has much more controlled dispersion. This is due to the psycho-acoustic phenomenon known as "precedence effect", whereby the brain combines near-identical sounds even if they're coming from different locations, as long as the delay between the two sounds is less than ~50ms. Consequently your brain hears the rear output as it reflects off room boundaries and miraculously combines it with the front output, hugely improving audibility, but that delayed sound has a less strong effect in acoustically generating guitar feedback. No conventional cab is as easy for lead guitarists to coax singing feedback from.
Obviously with acoustic instruments you don't "play" with feedback like with an electric guitar but feedback is certainly a big issue. If you crank your acoustic guitar, violin, cello, etc up super loud through the Reality 112FR just like a wailing lead guitarist then you will run into the usual feedback problems and have to flip phase, use notch filters etc. But if you're not going so crazy and just turning up normal acoustic gig loud then the narrower forwards dispersion and broader rearwards dispersion will result in greater feedback resistance at a given level of perceived loudness than any conventional cab.
What does the tweeter control do and what is it for?
The tweeter control independently adjusts the level of the rear-firing tweeter - note that this tweeter is crossed over very low, as much as two octaves below where a tweeter on a typical guitar FRFR cab might be, so it has a big sonic affect as it deals with the full treble bandwidth and what many guitarists will also consider their upper midrange tone. This gives a unique dimension of acoustic control, so in a very bright sounding room with lots of hard surfaces you may keep it turned down low whilst in a more acoustically dead room you'll turn it up more.
This is particularly valuable when playing smaller venues where your guitar cab is providing the house guitar sound or the bleed from the stage is loud out front, especially in terms of how the sound changes between soundcheck in an empty room and a packed gig - humans are very efficient acoustic absorbers. Simply turn up the tweeter control and bring that clarity and liveliness back.
With acoustic instruments of all kinds, turning up the rear-firing tweeter will not just add audibility but more importantly make the sound far more 'acoustic'. Instruments acoustically radiate sound in all directions and that is one of the main reasons why the vibe and character of an unplugged acoustic is so different to hearing it through a typical "acoustic" amp.
What is "CNC machined dual-density plywood" construction?
In 2008 Barefaced pioneered the use of unconventional plywood, bracing and assembly techniques within the guitar and bass amp industry. For more than a decade we've continued to develop our enclosure designs, for the best possible sound through management of internal reflections for clear detailed mids and highs, and rigid non-resonant enclosures for tight controlled lows. This method of extensive bracing and calculated reinforcement allows us to make the cabinets incredibly low in weight but tough enough to gig for a lifetime. Since 2012 they've been precisely machined using our own CNC mill and then hand assembled in our Brighton factory.
Customer feedback
30/03/26 - Activer Reality 112FR - Germany
Hi Alex,
at the weekend, I played with the band in a small venue. The Reality Cabinet really worked extremely good. That’s where it really shows off its full potential. It felt like a friend on stage right from the very first moment. Because of the tight space, I had to place it to my front-left, and in terms of sound, that wouldn’t have been possible with any other cabinet. So cool. That was also the moment when the rest of the band were won over by Barefaced.
There was no sign of overemphasised frequencies in that environment. My guess is that the dynamics of the Reality are so much clearer than with other cabinets that the room’s beat frequency is addressed much stronger. And that this frequency is ‘charged up’ overall. Very interesting.
Thx and regards
Volker
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Hi Volker,
That's great to hear!
If I were you I'd go for a dual AVD Radical 212H with 65 Heritage speakers.
Here's the Dual AVD customisation option:
https://barefacedaudio.com/
Best regards,
Alex
16/03/26 - Reality 112FR - USA
Cabinet was delivered this afternoon. Looks great!
I hooked up the cab to my Mesa Rosette and it sounds amazing! I should have done this a long time ago. Well done.
Thanks for all your help.
13/03/26 - Activier Reality 112FR - Germany
it’s here (safe & sound) and it’s good - and when I say good, I mean REALLY GOOD!
It keeps its promise. I'm as happy as a child!
Thanks for your kind support. Greetings to the team - have a nice weekend.
Volker
28/01/26 - Activier Reality 112FR - Spain
I've been using the reality for some time now and the truth is I'm very happy with it. I have used it in several gigs with my mood dwarf pedal with amp and cabin simulation. The cab sounds great with a lot of dynamics and accuracy in response.
Marc
30/01/26 - Activier Reality 112FR - UK
Excellent. I absolutely love mine. So so good. My Marshall is now a plant stand 😮
Danny
11/01/25 - Activier Reality 112FR / Radical 212H / Upsizing 1215 - USA
I have three Barefaced audio cabs. The Activier FRFR 1x12, the Radical 212H, and the Upsizing 1215. They are all absolutely my favourite and amazing. See this though, makes me wish I had the Activier on my 212H. Even with the V30s it is outrageously light. These are worth every penny.
McClain
05/11/25 - Reality 112FR - UK
Hi Alex,
Thoroughly enjoying the Reality!
I am now considering a Reformer with a guitar driver for two jobs: to act as a second cab powered by the Activier (with signal routing so the IR/Cab sim is bypassed for the second input etc), and as a main speaker for a 100w guitar amp. I am thinking of the Celestion Redback, because of the power handling and because I prefer a darker sound.
My existing cab, Orange 1x12 with V30 has some harsh high mid frequencies (I think) that I just can't dial out and have the tone that I like. I have watched your YT vids on the Redback, and I do like the sound.
Main types of tones are clean/teensiest edge of breakup to higher gain rock.
Just wanted to check if you think the Reformer with Redback suits the bill? Can you build this as an 8 ohm driver as well?
Thanks!
Jules
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Hi Jules,
Glad you're enjoying the Reality!
This sounds like a great plan!
We're big fans of the Redback - I think it's one of those drivers that sounds MILES better in an AVD cab because the big voice coil and stiffer cone (for the high power handling) give it narrower dispersion in a normal cab. The AVD fixes that and lets it really sing in the mids.
Best regards,
Alex
03/11/25 - Reality 112FR (Activier 2) - UK
The cab was absolutely outstanding on the road. I have been happy with it for home use for a while, but getting it up to gig volume in medium sized rooms was a revelation. The uniformity of the sound at different points in the room is an absolute gamechanger, and the clarity and accuracy is a league above my previous cab. Everyone we showed it to was blown away and I'd like another passive unit to complete a stereo rig.
Glen
29/10/25 - Reality 112FR - UK
Hi, I've been considering the Reality 112FR cab for a while now, ever since a friend of mine transitioned from the Laney FRFR (x2) to the Reality 112 (x2). They sound awesome!
Piers
06/10/25 - Activier Reality 112FR - Spain
I just received the Reality and have to tell you that after trying a little bit I'm amazed by the clarity and dynamics of cabinet. I like it very much and it's very quiet something I also appreciate a lot.
Today I'm taking it to my first gig so I'll see how it behaves in a stage.
I'll let you know how it goes
Thank you very much
Marc
02/09/25 - Activier Reality 112FR - USA
I have had mine (two amp version) for a few weeks now. It is mind blowing how good it is. Even had the drummer in my band saying how good it sounds!
Jules
07/08/25 - Activier Reality 112FR - UK
Absolutely stunning cab/amp may I say
Danny Page
11/07/25 - Activier Reality 112FR - USA
Well, my friends, you f*%king did it! I’ve installed the new Activier module today, and am very happy to report that your new design has essentially solved the EMI problem! The unit is now quite amazingly quiet, as you have proudly and rightly advertised.
EMI is gone, and the hiss is much much lower - overall, this is a much improved circuit layout if you ask me.
I would like to thank you for sticking with me as we worked together to improve the situation. You took me seriously and I’d like to think I did my part in providing good, actionable data.
How this was handled speaks quite a lot to your values as a company and something I will be sure to trumpet to those who ask my opinion. This Reality with Activier, I believe, is such a fantastic solution for us guitar modeling enthusiasts. I’ve played the Fender FR-12, which seems to be the king in everybody’s mind, and this one is just better all around. It’s a great bit of engineering, and the cabinet design itself has always been a game changer for me.
I believe that for the first time since I bought this product way back when, I’m truly experiencing what you want me to experience.
Thanks again to everyone at Barefaced, and please be sure that others on the team see this email. You've made my day.
CJ
11/07/25 - Activier Reality 112FR - USA