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aspen FR30 Loudspeaker

aspen FR30 Loudspeaker

Absolute Sound Magazine's Ultra High-End Loudspeaker of the year!
Our goals for the FR30 were to design and build a state-of-the-art full-range loudspeaker with extraordinarily low distortion, effortless reproduction, seamless tonality, and exquisite beauty.

Our highest expectations have been exceeded.

The aspen FR30 represents the culmination of 50 years of industry experience; learning in intimate detail what works and what does not; what it takes for a loudspeaker to disappear and leave only the magic of the music; designing a no-compromise phase-correct crossover; constructing a cabinet that does not color the sound; crafting a near-flat impedance curve for driving the speakers with any power amplifier, and when not even the most advanced driver manufacturer's products are good enough to meet our exacting standards, designing woofers, radiators, tweeters, and midranges from scratch. In all respects, the FR30 will transcend your expectations of what it means to be called a reference loudspeaker.

No longer do you have to compromise.

Breathtaking to listen to, beautiful to behold. The aspen FR30.

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Literally Nothing Like It

If you want to make uniquely beautiful art, you have to start by creating your own paints. That’s why for the FR30’s, the decision to custom build every component was an easy one. The result is something that is truly a one-of-a-kind listening experience.
  • Design

    Designing and building a new loudspeaker is both the easiest and hardest engineering challenge in all of high-fidelity. On the one hand, anyone can go online and buy a few drivers and bang together a box to make decent sound. On the other hand, the most difficult task in all of high-performance audio is crafting a seamless phase-correct output from two or more driver technologies. Over nearly a century of loudspeaker designs, few models have ever achieved legendary status. The FR30 joins the ranks of a rare handful of true full-range speakers that can honestly cover the frequency range of 28Hz to beyond 20kHz with grace, dynamics, slam, and low distortion. What's captured on the disc is exactly what you'll hear with a greater resolution than most have ever experienced. Grace, beauty, PRaT, power, and a musicality that is rare amongst 6 figure offerings from other manufacturers await owners of the aspen FR30. That this speaker is financially within reach of many makes it a miracle.

  • Application

    Loudspeakers are part of the family. With their presence, they grace our homes and living areas by bringing the joy of music into our lives. Unlike the electronics that drive them, to perform their best most loudspeakers depend on proper placement and optimized room parameters. The aspen FR30, however, is designed to more easily fit into any living environment and perform at their best with a minimum of setup hassles and a maximum of options. Using the rear-panel adjustments, FR30 owners can place their speakers where they best fit into the decor with nothing more than the flick of the baffle-step switch, or the turn of the rear tweeter control. While the FR30, like all high-performance speakers, appreciates some breathing room between them and the front wall, these unique rear-panel controls offer users greater flexibility of placement without sonic compromise. Using the included step-by-step guide and CD, setup, from unboxing to playing music, happens easily in a few short hours.

    Technology

    By far the most important piece in the HiFi chain is the loudspeaker. If the speaker cannot reproduce what's it is fed from the electronic chain, the missing musical information is forever lost. To achieve all that music demands, over the years loudspeaker designers have tried to leverage every trick in the book: electrostats for details, conventional drivers for dynamics, planars for transparency, ribbons, domes, horns, open baffles, bipoles, dipoles. The list is endless and the choices and their inevitable sonic compromises daunting. With close to 50 years under our collective belts, we at PS Audio determined to design the perfect loudspeaker. Our strategy would be to combine the best of all possible driver and crossover technologies in a single coherent design. We would call it the FR30. It would have unquestioned dynamics. It would be full range and capable of being driven by just about any amplifier. Its high-frequency drivers would have lower mass than the air they were driving and the speed and clarity of the best electrostats. Its midrange driver would be so transparent and uncolored as to be unnoticeable. And our FR30 would never be shy when it came to the low end. With 8 woofers supported by 8 high compliance passive radiators, in-room bass response would be nothing short of legendary.

    • FULL RANGE 3-WAY SYSTEM
    • 88 dB SENSITIVITY
    • TWO 2.5" PLANAR RIBBON TWEETERS
    • 10" PLANAR RIBBON MIDRANGE
    • FOUR 8" LOW DISTORTION HIGH EXCURSION WOOFERS
    • FOUR 10" LOW DISTORTION HIGH EXCURSION BASS RADIATORS
    • REAR TWEETER LEVEL CONTROL
    • BAFFLE STEP ADJUSTMENT FOR BEST SPEAKER PLACEMENT
    • FLAT IMPEDANCE CURVE FOR EASY AMPLIFIER LOAD
    • SMOOTH AND FULL OFF AXIS RESPONSE
    • IN-ROOM BASS RESPONSE TO 20hz @ -6db
    • TWO PIECE CABINET FOR EASY SETUP
    • ADJUSTABLE FEET
    • EASY TO POSITION FOR BEST PERFORMANCE
    • HEAVY INTERNAL BRACING FOR LOW CABINET VIBRATION
    • CUSTOM FILM CAPACITORS & PREMIUM AIR-CORE INDUCTORS
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    Specifications - Aspen FR30 Loudspeaker

    Color Options Pearl White, Sable Black
    Enclosure Type Two piece – Sealed upper cabinet mid-tweeter module, Passive radiator lower cabinet (4 10” side-firing passive radiators)
    High Frequency Transducer 2 x 2.5” planar magnetic with Teonex diaphragm
    Mid Frequency Transducer 10” planar magnetic with Teonex diaphragm
    Low Frequency Transducer 4 x 8” woofers, cast frame, aluminum cone, 12lb advanced magnet structure
    Crossover Frequency 400 Hz, 2500 Hz – LR4
    Sensitivity (2.83V @ 1M) 88 dB
    Nominal Impedance 4 ohm (3.6 ohm minimum impedance)
    Recommended Amplifier Power 100-600W
    Frequency Response 23Hz-20kHz (-6dB) half space, 20 Hz (-6dB) in-room
    Dimensions (HxWxD) 60.5” x 16” x 25.75” with base (10” width not including base)
    Net Weight 230 lbs (104.5 kg)

    Reviews

    Really amazing speakers

    I have to say, that was the most beautiful sounding room at the whole event. The PS Audio FR30 were filling that big room perfectly, full, precise, never bright, great imaging. Really amazing speakers for 30k. At the same event there were even more expensive speakers, some were ok, some pretty bad. Some were so bright and sibilant that I couldn't stay in the room more than 10 seconds!

    They sound just as elegant as they look!

    Absolutely amazing, they sound just as elegant as they look!

    WTF?

    I just heard the FR 30 at the excellent Mala Audio here in Norway, and my jaw dropped. It was one of those “WTF is that?” moments, pardon my french. The way those speakers grabbed your attention was something else. Probably the most impressive speakers I have heard, also compared to much more expensive offerings. They didn't seem to be super dependent on room treatment either to sound good since the room they played in weren't treated much yet - but it was a fairly large room. Though they looked a bit too big for my listening room, especially being in Europe where our listening rooms/houses are a bit smaller compared to the US typically, so I am hopefully looking forward to try out the FR20s. I usually don't buy into hyperbole but well done Chris, Paul and rest of the PS Audio team. I hope you continue to bring out products down the line so many people can enjoy your offerings.

    I haven't heard much that can.....

    The stories of the development, and all of the hyperbole that Paul seems to mention about them are absolutely deserved. These are truly world class speakers, capable of awesome dynamics, completely full range, detailed, and really disappear in the room. They were revealed delicate details in the middle of a mix while being powerful at the same time. I haven't heard much that can do what these do, even for 6 figures. Very well done PS audio, congratulations on a great new product!

    They look even better in real life

    I listened to the FR30 for half an hour, playing different tracks, and I can tell you right away that this is an amazingly good sounding and balanced speaker. All instruments and voices sound very natural, there is nothing pointing out, and the sound is seamless from bottom to top. When I sat down in front of the speakers I immediately start listening to the music instead of listening to the gear or any defect in the sound. This tells me that the design of the speakers is very balanced and natural sounding. Not too much/less bass, midrange and top was airy and open with no edge. Speakers disappeared and the sound stage was wide and big, between and outside of the speakers. The system together with the FR30 sounded amazing, it was just like I had a band playing live in front of me.

    They look even better in real life

    Very impressive! They were extremely clean sounding with exceptional imaging/soundstaging. Instruments sounded truly like the real thing. There was a true to life relaxed quality to the sound rather than the tendency of hyper detailed speakers like Magico to sound a little sterile. They certainly sounded a lot better than my 20 year old Vandersteen 5s (it would be fun and more appropriate to compare the FR30 to 5A Carbon or Kento). We even cranked it very loud on one or two tracks, not something I normally do, and there was no compression or distortion. A good demonstration of the clarity and lack of distortion.

    Absolutely stunning

    CONGRATULATIONS!!! They look absolutely stunning and 'OMG' bass is something you PRAY to come out of a reviewer's mouth! Congrats.. I imagine this product had a long, meticulous gestation period!

    Music just explodes out of them

    They are also remarkably unfazed by placement and room nodes. They just don't seem to interact or excite a room at all, almost as if they exist in their own void. I've played around with a lot speakers around this price point and only the very best designs are able to achieve this. The other thing that amazes me is the way they untangle complex strands of music, enabling the listener to focus in on individual lines, whilst still maintaining the overall coherency of a musical piece. They are not in any way “boxy”. Music just explodes out of them way beyond the confines of the box and they are very “tuneful”.

    Questions?