Radice 101A | MR Speaker

MR — Musician Reference

A flat 20–20,000 Hz response doesn’t exist on a stage. An MR does.

116 dB SPL · 42 Hz – 20 kHz ±2 dB · 400 W Powersoft

One speaker. Every context.

There are instruments built for a specific purpose, and there are instruments that redefine what a purpose can be. The Radice 101A belongs to the second category.

Designed and built entirely in Italy, the 101A is a speaker covering the full frequency range of any instrument, conceived around a single idea: the musician in the act of playing. Not the stage alone. Not the rehearsal room alone. Not the modeler chain alone. All of it — with no compromises between one context and the next.

Engineered around the musician, not the other way around

The front panel is angled at 20 degrees. This is not an aesthetic choice. It means that whether you are sitting or standing, at one metre distance you are already in the direct emission axis of both transducers — woofer and tweeter. You do not need to raise the speaker, tilt it on a flight case, or search for a sweet spot. The 101A finds you.

At the same time, keeping the enclosure on the floor is not a compromise — it is a deliberate acoustic decision. Below 500 Hz, the floor becomes an integral part of the speaker's radiation behaviour. A speaker designed to work on the ground behaves consistently across different rooms. Raise it or tilt it, and the low-mid response shifts. With the 101A, it does not.

Transducers and crossover: no shortcuts

At the heart of the 101A are a 10-inch neodymium woofer and a compression tweeter with a 37 mm diaphragm — both designed and manufactured in Italy. The frequency response is linear from 42 Hz to 20 kHz within ±2 dB, measured on the tweeter axis at one metre.

The decision to use a passive analog crossover — rather than the more common approach of separate amplifier channels with digital filtering — is rooted in emission quality. The passive crossover in the 101A uses Hi-End grade audio components, the same specification found in high-level Hi-Fi and professional studio monitors. An L-PAD attenuator on the tweeter allows fine adjustment of the high-frequency balance to suit the listening environment without altering the crossover's phase behaviour. The result is a phase and transient coherence that digital crossover implementations rarely achieve at this price point.

There is no protective metal grille. Grilles resonate. They diffract. They alter the response. The 101A ships with a fabric dust cover; optional magnetic wood-and-fabric grilles are available for environments where physical protection matters more than last-tenth-of-a-dB accuracy.

Powersoft amplification — Italian, by design

The active section of the 101A uses a Powersoft digital amplifier — 400 W per channel into 8 Ω. Powersoft is the Italian benchmark for professional amplification, the same technology found in large-scale touring systems and installed audio at the highest level. Inside the 101A, it drives two independent channels with the headroom and control that the transducers deserve.

The 101A is simultaneously an active and a passive speaker. Without power, it operates as a passive cabinet via its Speakon input connector. Powered, it is fully active. An external footswitch — included — activates a relay-based hard mute that disconnects the speaker from the amplifier completely, both positive and negative rails. For any musician who has ever needed to silence a rig instantly without touching a volume control, this matters.

Input architecture for the modern signal chain

Two balanced/unbalanced TRS line inputs at +4 dBu. A level attenuation potentiometer from 0 dB to −50 dB. A function selector: 1+2 (both channels summed to mono) or 1&2 (independent stereo or for pairing with the passive Radice 101P). A balanced/unbalanced DI output that sums both inputs. Two Speakon connectors — one passive input, one power output for driving an external cabinet from the second amplifier channel.

The second Speakon output powers the Radice 101P — the mirror-image passive companion to the 101A. The 101P shares the same transducers, the same Hi-End crossover, and the same enclosure geometry, but in a specularly reversed cabinet. Together, the 101A and 101P form a perfectly symmetrical stereo system, each cabinet the exact reflection of the other. The 101A drives both sides; the 101P requires no additional amplification.

The 101A connects directly to any digital device with a line output: Fractal, Kemper, Tone-X, Line 6, Headrush, Quad Cortex, and any preamplifier or analog chain. Sensitivity is calibrated for line level. No pads, no workarounds.

Construction

The enclosure is built from 20 mm poplar plywood. Poplar is mechanically rigid, low-resonance, and light — chosen for acoustic reasons, not cost reasons. The internal geometry is optimised for structural rigidity and standing wave control. Three distinct sound-absorbing materials are used for internal insulation. The bass reflex loading is tuned to work with the woofer's characteristics, not against them.

Weight: 12 kg. Dimensions: 466 × 340 × 495 mm.

The 101A is an MR — Musician Reference. What does that mean, exactly?

Patented design. Engineered and produced in Italy.

• Active/passive Cabinet speaker FRFR with Italian digital power amp
• Cabinet optimized for use with digital devices (Fractal, Tone-X, Kemper Amp, Line6, Headrush, Quad Cortex, ETC...)
• Frequency response +/- 2dBspl 42Hz - 20kHz
• Power (active mode) 400 Watts stereo Powersoft digital power amp per channel
• Power (passive mode) 550 Watts into 8Ohm load
• 2 line inputs +4dBu, balanced/unbalanced with TRS jack connector, switch for 1+1 / 1 & 2channel function and Hi-Fi grade potentiometer for level attenuation
• Passive power input on dedicated Speakon connector and power output on dedicated Speakon power connector
• High quality features and components, top audio performance for electric and acoustic instruments
• Front panel inclined by 20° to use the speaker both standing and sitting
• Foot switch for active/passive mode control included
• Mono line output (Ch. 1 + Ch.2) balanced/unbalanced with TRS +4dBu connector
• Passive crossover with Hi-End grade components selected for audio
• Woofer with 10" neodymium magnet loaded in bass reflex and compression tweeter with 37mm diaphragm and ferrite magnet
• 116dB-SPL@1MT AES rated power
• 20mm plywood poplar wood construction with internal acoustic geometry optimized for structural rigidity
• Three different types of materials selected for complete internal acoustic insulation
• Weight 12kg