First delivery of PS Audio's FR30 loudspeaker

PS Audio's long-awaited loudspeaker, the Aspen FR30 is delivered to its first customer. Join its designer, Chris Brunhaver, and CEO Paul McGowan as they travel to Illinois to help with setup. www.psaudio.com/product-category/aspen/

[@randallmilton]

It must be so epic to sit in that chair, listening to speakers that you created, via components that you created, with songs recorded in your studio. Amazing stuff. Cheers Paul!

[@orronoco524]

And it is all in his customer house 😊

[@robertwyczokowski9343]

But... this "room" is too small to this loudspeakers

[@teddine7366]

I want to hear his gear in person. None of these videos would ever do justice. I wonder where his factory is. I'm from New York so I went on the McIntosh tour years ago and got to play around with all their gear and see how it was being made.

[@yanivshef]

What an amazing journey from an idea of creating a high end loudspeaker to actually listen to your creation at a customer home.

[@EduardoCruz-ur4wq]

The problem lies on the rear of speakers, just put a heavy curtain to cover all the wall till the rack that covers the cd shelf, no need the bass trap, lateral walls just a painture with no frame and no glass on the rear just close the door if they are in wood.

[@steveodian6008]

What a thrill it must have been for the customer to take delivery of these speakers then have Paul and Chris come and set them up. Someday I want to visit PS Audio and listen to the FR 30’s and the IRSv’s. Also would love to meet Paul, Chris, Darren, Bob and Scott.

[@thefloop2813]

you can just show up any day theyre open, and they'll let ya know when and where to go to meat up with someone (probably Paul still i believe) for a tour and a trip to the listening rooms. I wish i knew about PS Audio last time i was in Boulder. I had all day in town, and just ended up getting stoned with a homeless Deadhead under a bridge while fishing all day.

[@mikimike]

I love the fact that we're hearing some music for once instead of always just talking about it. Please Paul and Chris give us more.

[@ranbymonkeys2384]

We aren't hearing the music as much as hearing the process.

[@sidvicious3129]

This outstanding to get the Delivery and have the owner of the company later show up after the delivery and help with the setup is beyond good customer service. Paul is developing an Extended Family here. Great job Paul and the PS Audio Family!!!

[@thunderpooch]

It's so cool. And all you have to do is pay at least double what other companies are offering. Hahaha PS Audio is a cool company and I'm busting chops here. And I'm for anybody who enjoys the PS Audio sound to purchase any of their products. But it should be known, and largely it is, PS Audio products don't measure all that well. Clearly their engineering department are going after other qualities in sound reproduction. And that's fine by me. But if PS audio isn't your cup of tea, oh my God, they're a total rip off for that particular individual. PS Audio is a company you should consider if you dig dynamics and capturing that live music feel. If that's not for you, forget about them.

[@genkifd]

love seeing how acoustics in other people's homes are resolved (especially in small rooms like this as mine is similar size)

[@reginaldburnbridge2217]

Fab,. Speakers, through they are big. Its sum system.

[@genkifd]

@Lloyd Stout in my room i need to absorb my first reflection. using your ears imo should always be the final judgement. no some objective data.

[@mysock351C]

@Lloyd Stout These have controls in the rear of the speakers for the second tweeter that sits in the rear of the upper module. These will work as de-facto "audiophile approved" tone controls of sorts and I'm pretty sure that was what was doing much of the heavy lifting in fixing things. Looks like they are adjusting those at 28:32 (edit: and here kzbin.info/www/bejne/j6PTinSDm6dmZ5o). In a way that makes the rear tweeter a stroke of dubious genius on Paul's part since it can be used to butter up the sound a bit with some additional brightness and air. FWIW the speakers are fairly neutral after that point with respect to the vocals, anyway.

[@mysock351C]

And I would like to think this might be a new chapter in PS Audio actually providing gear that's worth its salt, but judging by my other more probing comment apparently having its likes stripped away, I don't think much has changed.

[@roncastro6703]

@@reginaldburnbridge2217 nk

[@scottrussell2281]

The subtlety required to get the most from the room is almost daunting. I've love to see more videos like this one. This was very informative for me as someone who is trying to learn how to optimize my room and get the best sound possible from my gear. The room is a huge piece of the puzzle, but the location of the speakers and particularly the tweaking of the settings of the gear seem to yield amazing results.

[@brad7358]

"The room is a huge piece of the puzzle, but the location of the speakers and particularly the tweaking of the settings of the gear seem to yield amazing results." correct. and just moving the speakers a few inches can make a huge difference. just curious.... do you hve room treatments ? what do you have for equipment ?

[@scottrussell2281]

@@brad7358 My room is 16x24 with a 9.5" ceiling. Yes I do have some dampening on either side of the seating area, bass traps in the corners, and some dampening over the listening area as well. I'm just learning about quadradic diffusers and plan to build quite a few of them for this room. As for gear, I have PS Audio BHK pre-amp with a pair of PS Audio M1200 mono blocks powering Klipsch Cornwall II's. I have an Arcam CDS50 SACD player/streamer, and a Rega P6 turntable with the Aria MC cartridge. So far I've learned that really want to keep dampening to a minimum and use a lot of diffusion to try and attain the best performance from the room itself. I'm hoping that several quadradic diffusers on the back wall (in particular) will be a game changer. I have a pair of SVS PB4000 subs as well, but I'm not using them until I can get the room better optimized to handle standing waves. Eventually I will likely experiment with 3-D diffusers to deal with mid and high frequencies, but managing bass is my first priority.

[@AS-gp9kg]

What awesome service. -My biggest take away is we need more Chris. Chris is on the highest level and his words could easily be the best source on KZbin.

[@BrianNavalinsky]

Thanks for inviting us in. Nice job on some nice speakers.

[@joshlevy9696]

Paul, these real-world, in-home scenarios are really informative. I know you've got the Audiophile's Guide, but seeing you and Chris work through these challenges in real time on video is pretty cool. Keep up the great content. I hope to be a customer some day.

[@ranbymonkeys2384]

I agree.

[@realNikoCousin]

I can’t wait to be in this scenario, receiving these epic speakers and talking with Paul. Goals

[@buildflow]

This was a fun video to watch normal home adjustments and how complex it really is. My own opinion is… the room is to small and ceilings to low, but we work with what we have. Good job Paul!

[@thefloop2813]

It would have been wise for this man to wait on the FR20s. Honestly, in that space, the FR10's would have been perfect.

[@stonecoldcustoms]

This is awesome, what a great experience for the customer. Well done.

[@ranbymonkeys2384]

It's such a delicate balance of not wanting to hurt somebody's feelings and trying almost everything to get the best sound. It reminds me of the time when I was thinking, there is just something off and and I can't put my finger on it. I looked down I said get rid of the coffee table, DUHHHHH

[@biketech60]

Thanks to everyone , including the camera person . You made me feel like I was invited in and welcome to share this experience .

[@thefloop2813]

cant tell if sarcastic about camera person or not. It's on a tripod lol

[@billcarson7548]

This was a GREAT video that you folks put together. It is abundantly obvious the customer is without question a real perfectionist, everything about his room has been meticulously thought out and executed. His little PS Audio nook is nothing less than fantastic. I loved it! I want to just point out my thoughts about this endeavor. These new PS Audio loudspeakers are just very interesting, I believe Paul and his engineering team put some real work into this loudspeaker, but I do not think this is the best fit for this particular application, and why do I say that? This loudspeaker is the hallmark PS Audio product, it just needs to be in a large room, period. If there is not adequate space on ALL SIDES, in front and in back, it's just not the optimum acoustic fit. PS will probably be coming out with smaller bookshelf size loudspeakers that sit on stands, which would be so much better in this particular room. Let me say, I in NO WAY wish to criticize this gentleman's set up, he has created a "fantastic" listening room in his home and it looks magnificent, as do those loudspeakers, I just think they are a bit much for the install. One final suggestion, when doing your test, how about something that is not so mellow, how something symphonic, like Reference Recording, John Williams, At the Movies, a killer SACD disc to evaluate any system. When listening to the music on this video, I am just thinking a real large oriental rug or any type of heavy duty "large" rug would kill a lot of the close boundary side wall reflections that are present in the presentation. I would love to hear Paul's reactions to the set up. I want to close by saying, more companies need to do EXACTLY what Paul has done here, it was a great effort. Thanks so much!

[@jimbower4249]

This is one of my favorite videos so far. It was helpful seeing the diffusers removed and also adjusted. It's easy to second guess yourself and it's really helpful having multiple sets of ears. It sounded really good. I can only imagine the in person response. This was the first time I've actually heard them. I'll be looking for your next video in this series.

[@robertwyczokowski9343]

Not diffusers were removed but absorbers

[@Projacked1]

Much joy watching this video, as I love setting up speakers right myself. That's where the magic truly happens. It might take a while but, man is it worth the time. Even switching cables needs a slight adjustment on your setup. And , no I'm not crazy haha

[@todddembsky8321]

What an absolute pleasure to watch and hear how small adjustments can make a difference. Even on my Klipsch Reference speakers, I could hear the difference. I can not imagine what real life would sound like. I have to say that I really miss my Mag'ies. Had the MG 2's back in 1980.

[@peterw2714]

I love that they have boundary switches for the crossovers. My Revel speakers have those and placement was not ideal in a home theater situation and that really helped for two channel audio. I found it helps best with mid range.

[@Schnauzer-2]

Congratulations PS AUDIO and PAUL. You have a 5 Star Service. Fantastic!!!

[@screamallyouwant]

I love this video. More of these longer videos and more Chris!

[@musiholic6360]

This is what I used to imagine customer support was before I worked in sales. Truly amazing that this is being done.

[@mrronenza]

What can I say, This video gives me major information and impressions about real audio life. This video is above 1000000 theoretical videos and I certainly find myself in the room enjoying every moment. Thank you!

[@luisrodrigonunezolguin7038]

My congratulations Paul, excellent video, this is the reality of the consumer, the window to the non-theoretical in the construction structure and in which many of us are immersed. I think showing how a speaker can be adjusted to your reality and made to work better day after day with patient and detail is the journey that we love this for.

[@leqin]

Thanks for showing us what the gorgious music you forced us to listen to was. Much appreciated Paul.

[@scottscottsdale7868]

This is the best sales video and instructional video I have ever seen. Just wow. How you take the time to video all of this work! Just tremendous.

[@truman4956]

I appreciate that these speakers went into a real world room.

[@deangale4496]

They look great and sound so coherent and alive well done Mr McGowan , love them cheers from Aus

[@salliemorrill2671]

Amazing the difference you hear w/ small adjustments. Great vid.

[@D1N02]

Added the track to my test track playlist. The ultimate goal of any audiophile is forgetting about the system and just listen to the music without a worry about anything not being just right in your setup.

[@yerfdogjohnny]

Excellent an informative video. What a treat to have Paul and Chris come to your house to help dial things in with the AR30s. Cool he has all PS Audio gear too.

[@BTom16]

Mr. Straightwire has a beautiful setup. Thank you for the nice video.

[@thomshere]

***I think that Paul is absolutely by far the coolest guy in audio!*** I mean when does a CEO of a company come out and crawl around the floor to adjust your new speakers! Those Aspen FR30's look as good as any speaker I have ever seen and I bet they sound amazing, especially being hooked up to all that awesome PS Audio gear. . I will never be able to afford a pair but I would LOVE to hear them someday (bucket list)!

[@anandshah71]

Congratulations to the first proud owner of the FR30. Nice video seen something like this from a vendor first time shows confidence. Hope PS audio can have a dealer in India my friends and me wouldn’t like to hear them one of them should surely buy a pair. I have a feeling this configuration is perfect. Looks wise much better than a Wilson audio. And my gut says will beat them easily.

[@wolfman007zz]

I could actually hear the changes in the room as the speakers were repositioned, and also room treatment moved or eliminated! AND: I can actually hear just how incredibly these FR30s performed! Just AWESOME!

[@iancanuckistan2244]

You either have incredible hearing or an extremely vivid imagination. All of the sound is coming through a 10 cent microphone (or two if it's stereo) built in to the camera then run through KZbin's compression and whatever speakers you have at home to listen to.

[@wolfman007zz]

@@iancanuckistan2244 No imagination needed. I can hear it! You have to have trained ears. I’ve listened to hundreds of KZbin videos of speakers and cartridges. Through that, you train your ears/brain what to listen for. That’s why/how I can hear the differences in placement of the FR30s, hear the change/removal of the traps/diffusers, and change in placement. There is a certain amount of “colorization” of the sound picked up by the mics that is very audible in the video. Plus, I can hear the difference in first arrival sound these FR30s produce that is different from the MANY speakers I’ve heard on KZbin vids. You lack the training of your ears/brain. You’ll never be able to appreciate the FR30s with your current listening skills.

[@cbcdesign001]

I could not but I could hear the top end difference when those side wall absorbers were removed. I was surprised by this for the reasons Ian mentions, cheap mic on the camera, KZbin compression etc.

[@markstewart1807]

What an incredible company PS Audio are,they have taken us right from development to this incredible 💜👍

[@rcmoot]

I would love also to hear them. Looking at what this man has invested in total equipment is daunting. Us po folk have to settle on what we have . Great job, Paul and crew.

[@warrenmullett]

Lovely listening room 😊

[@Kx110x]

Very eloquent and knowledgeable gentleman, I have like many been waiting for the new speakers to prove themselves . Well as is self evident they have done so and more besides , this is a great achievement by Paul and his company to pull this off . I like many was intrigued with the room and it’s challenges , obviously this was easily overcome with the knowledge of Paul and his team . I’m sure the forthcoming smaller version will also appeal to many in the high end world of hifi , so will look forward to a similar video in the future . Best wishes and kind regards as always. 😀👍👍👍

[@mikenorris812]

Awesome video. This should benefit anyone with room problems and some steps to improve it. No affiliation or purchased PS Audio gear in my house but kudos for Chris and Paul being onsite!

[@stanislavmilovanovic1732]

I really don't understand. Buy such sophisticated and super quality audio equipment like PS Audio and place it in a room the size of a rabbit hole !!! If I were lucky enough to own something similar, I would pay drastically more attention to the dimension of the room. Great respect for the gentleman McGowan and his contribution to the audio industry.

[@genaishivatov1737]

Wife factor ))

[@joeythedime1838]

Paul - one of your best video's ever! Thank you.

[@Kah0ona]

just wanting to echo the general sentiment: i love these kind of videos! Just being a fly on the wall getting a room dialled in with the new speakers. Very nice gear Greg has too :-)

[@justanobody4983]

Damn, what a treat! paul and chris showing you different ways to make your sound system better. Ill bet they sound amazing! Someday, i hope i could afford those. Great video, watched the whole thing.

[@StephenBrennanGuitar]

This is what separates and greatly differentiates PS Audio as an audio institution rather than a manufacturer or resller. And it's done out of love of what they do which is the most important aspect of any business but especially one related to the arts. That room looked impossible to really work with however and I was conscious of the narrow imaging. I was relieved to see the panels behind the left speaker moved - they made little sense to me as only one side was 'treated' and that wasn't a bass trap per se unless you could show measurements - which I doubt If it were my room I'd build a panel in front of the CD area to give symmetry to the back wall. I'd then wall mount flat dispersion material at POFR (this would take a couple of repositioning attempts). I'd also put in a two seater sofa for comfort! but to increase the point of listening reference also. Incredible work by PS Audio I can't wait to hear them.

[@guywilloughby5443]

Those speakers are incredible. Way to go Chris.

[@greganderson1681]

Great explainer on lower-mid acoustic treatment. My room needs it! Very nice setup. Bravo.

[@Connectronix]

Saying that it’s a “cozy“ room is a nice way of saying, “OMG this room is way too small!“. Not to mention all of the asymmetrical surfaces and unpredictable areas. Yikes. But you do the best with what you have. No one needs to wonder why this guy is the first customer of the FR30. Definitely a big PS Audio fan boy. Looks like he bought the entire demo system. Only missing PS Audio cables. Jokes aside, Greg seems rather knowledgeable all things audio and he obviously gets a lot of enjoyment out of this awesome hobby. Props to him!

[@ryanray6215]

Did he get also the Noise Harvester too ? LOL

[@Roof_Pizza]

Terrible room. What a waste of money and effort.

[@Connectronix]

@@ryanray6215 There may have been one plugged in behind the gear, but he probably bought a 5-pack. Surprisingly they didn’t do a system walk-through to show what he has for equipment. They talked more about the closet. I mean, the room. (I thought the entire audio room was the closest) Anyway, it’s all PS gear so why not talk about what’s there?

[@scottyo64]

Key board cowboys

[@bengagliardo1080]

having the designer of your new speakers help you set it em up in his socs. that's a good memory for sure..

[@budgetaudiophilelife-long5461]

🤗 GREAT EXPERIENCE …GETTING TO GO ALONG …AND THANK GREG FOR OPENING HIS HOME SHARING THIS WITH US 🤗 BTW …I could hear the cymbals 👂😎😍😍😍

[@yerfdogjohnny]

Exactly

[@nodaysback1]

Those look like fantastic components and speakers! They must sound phenomenal.. The left speaker having a wall next to it and the right speaker not and the lower soffit ceiling above the right speaker, throws off the symetry of the acoustics though. There's essentially no first reflection occurring on the right side and an earlier first reflection arriving from the soffit than from the ceiling on the left side. Ideally, the three points of the speakers and the listening position should form an equilateral triangle, with the same center to center distance between the speakers and from the center of each speaker to the center of the listener's head. All of those being different will produce timing issues and phase cancellations and blur the stereo spread..

[@alejandrobusquets6214]

What a privilege for this end user: the owner of the company and the designer of the loudspeakers came to his house to make the final adjustment. Wow...

[@bshah4831]

What a very informative explanation of speaker and room interaction. Explains why I can distinguish better between kick drum and bass guitar/ double bass after making some changes in my room.

[@teddine7366]

Do you do factory tours Paul? I would love to see the place and get to hear the audio gear you and your folks design. I'm from New York so I got to go on the McIntosh factory tour years ago and it was so fun seeing all the gear up close and in person hearing it and touching it. It was neat seeing them hand assemble their amps and what not. They were cool people and it was a pretty laid back tour. I wish there was more brick and mortar stores like there use to be. What keeps me from buying a lot of stuff is I can't try it out in person at a store and shipping stuff back is a pain in so many ways.

[@jamesgilmore-thewaterplusg5470]

Really nice going to the customers house. Really great service and a good teaching example. A ****

[@Nephilim-81]

A very fun, yet sweetly technical video. So interesting and I’m very happy for the owner. What a great luxury. :)

[@No_Limits_411]

Wow, that's so great! Congrats, Paul!

[@bobbg9041]

Going out to set up speakers in a home as the manufacturer gives you a perspective of what your dealing with and ideas how to change things to match the room. You can get good bass in a small room, fire a subwoofer into a conner at the wall. The celing in that room closes it in because of the drop down on one side for mechanical items like hvac duct work and pipes.

[@Channel-cm7yc]

What a delightful presentation!

[@camerasutra247]

Great job PS Audio. Paul you are a legend my friend.

[@miketel01]

I wish I could have had some chair time too. Very amazing you all must be very proud. Cheers they are finally out there

[@jked7463]

Been doing acoustics and audio design for years. First of all, love that you have used planar drivers. I have 40" commercial B-G's myself. There are some immediately obvious issues with the room. The lack of symmetry around then speakers are an issue. The lack of diffusion behind the listening position is going to really hurt imaging. I am more of a fan of side wall absorption (depending on the whole setup) but controlling the amount of absorption is important and can be tailored for the listening level the listener typically listens at. Also I am a fan of a combination of controlled speaker (front) wall absorption and diffusion. The correct combination can do a great job of controlling imaging without destroying room balance.

[@brianbauer3148]

I appreciate you comment. I didn't think there were people around here that actually use real acoustic understanding. it's all feel like catch phrases and feelings when there are actual reason, best practices and often compromises. it stuns me how the equipment is " no compromise" while everything around it is just feelings. even to the power cables while the house has standard wiring. I would much rather have a proper acoustic set up than the highest end speaker and amp.

[@jked7463]

@@brianbauer3148 Decades of real world acoustic experience means a lot, along with an excellent teacher in college that explained things simply but well. A general understanding of physics combined with trained hearing that you correlate between the two also goes a long way to understanding. Finally creatively using physics can lead to new ways of dealing with the acoustics such as creating each wall with a different resonant frequency to even out RT-60. In these comments, my ideas are usually scoffed at so thank you for your appreciation.

[@brianbauer3148]

@@jked7463 Yeah, it's almost like a Dunning Krueger thing. But they don't want to learn more because some ideas end up exposed as false and there would be a lot of time and money wasted.

[@jked7463]

@@brianbauer3148 In my case I have multiple examples of executed ideas that prove the hypothesis. If you base your ideas on simple known physics principals,, they will almost be correct.

[@MuzikSonics]

Congrats to the owner. A recommendation if I may - In that small of a room toe the speaker in and employ absorption at the first reflections. You'll gain clarity, depth and solidity of spacial cues.

[@louisperlman8030]

That must have been a really great audiophile experience. As I have no choice but to put my speakers on the long wall of my living room, I'm hoping that future models will allow for closer than eight foot listening distance. And the music sounded so good, even over my phone and ear buds, that I purchased the Temporal Circumstances LP and Audio Masters Vol 3.

[@jammuu]

What a dream setup. One day gonna have a system like this.

[@williampearson4968]

Great customer video. We finally got to hear a few snippets of the FR30 sound. Room width is a bit small for these speakers, but in the end and all that matters is PSAudio has a very satisfied audiophile with a slightly lighter bank account. Very impressive as all PSAudio gear = synergy of sound and loyalty to a leading HiFi brand.

[@thunderpooch]

A bit small? Hahahahahaha You're way too nice, bordering on dishonest

[@alainbao3604]

Man!!! These gentlemen are so good .

[@michellonergan8517]

What a nice documentary in a realistic situation, not everybody have the chance to have THE room. The owner is articulate and passionate, and having PS audio team doing tuning and in the same time learn about there speaker in real life situation bravo more R&D.

[@thunderpooch]

The guy put his $30,000 speakers into what is essentially a walk in closet. Yikes First rule of audiophilia: have enough house 🏠 Oh right, you blew all your money on gear and speakers which now don't fit. Here's an idea. Make the rules in your own home. Bring then upstairs. People are impossibly weird 😕

[@thunderpooch]

The owner doesn't know what he's talking about. He kept confusing diffusion and absorption.

[@63esl]

Fantastic video but with a room next door I would definitely be thinking of knocking this fully in to one even if it did mean big modifications and especially with all that fantastic gear. But then again it shows the speakers still perform well in a smaller room environment.

[@mrpositronia]

Would be interesting to see how the smaller speakers fair in that room. I wonder if the multiple woofers and side mounted cones are tempering the smaller room size. Could be with fewer mid-bass components there might be more noticeable bass characteristics. But I guess we won't know. 🙂

[@googoo-gjoob]

what ^^he^^ said

[@steved2667]

True dedicated listening room should have only one set of speakers. I own several different speakers yet only one pair is ever in my dedicated listening space.

[@googoo-gjoob]

@@steved2667 , what about mrpositronia's post inspired this comment? it seems disconnected. i _agree_ with your comment.... it just doesnt fit here.

[@sickjohnson]

FINALLY! Those mids are on their own level Paul. The room changes were even noticeable when you were talking at the end of the video.

[@ryanschipp8513]

Lol!!! Through a KZbin video? You can't get the Sonic signature through a KZbin video

[@sickjohnson]

@@ryanschipp8513 Right, but you can tell subtle differences...the difference was like someone talking to you through say a car window, to opening the window, and it wasn't very subtle as it was apparent. I don't know, maybe I am crazy, but it reminded me of seeing Chris Cornell (rip) live unplugged over 10 years ago. The experience was haunting to say the least, as I was front row 20 feet away, in one of the best auditoriums in the world. For over a decade I worked at a different large concert venue, one time I had to turn off some air handling units because your could hear the belt noises in between Lenard Cohen's words, and that experience was also quite different from the normal too...I wasn't a fan before, but after I sure was, just shockingly impressive and totally different live, but not the tonal detail as unplugged. Maybe I am just reading into it too much, from what Paul mentioned about the mids in the P30s; but I am not a mid guy, till now I never really got it at all before; and just saying that makes no sense to me either! Everyone says it shouldn't be possible.

[@ryanschipp8513]

@@sickjohnson yep.....subtle differences that dont give the entire picture. At 30k you better hear them in your room with your equipment. I'd give KZbin a 10% feeling of what you'll get.

[@thepracticalaudiophile]

Amazing video. Gives me chills wishing it was mine.

[@davidtomsett]

Whatever the diffuser set up it sounds great

[@Nonsense62365]

Very Impressive! Loved the musicality of your FR-30! You were correct about the round absorption columns left and right a few feet in front of the listening position! Removing them and replacing them with his diffusers had a much better work cohesive result!

[@RockyScholz]

Paul, I'm enjoying watching your video sitting on a beautiful Hawaiian beach. I wished I could afford some of ps audio equipment. Rocky

[@ARGBlackCloud]

I thought my room was small , holy crap that's a small listening room ! . Oh well the equipment will make up for it !!! Nice system for sure !!

[@bikdav]

@ARGBlackCloud: Agreed. Those FR30s look way too big for my own rooms. Also, my rooms are nearly square - which really complicates matters.

[@msmith4907]

Wow these speakers are great sounding and how the rooms sound changes When you move the absorbers and the diffusers Are put in their place. Even over KZbin there is an audible difference of the sound stage and the upper mid range clarity and spaciousness and ariness around the music

[@carlosoliveira-rc2xt]

Those diffusers are too thin to do any real diffusing.

[@mikewinburn]

I was surprised actually i could hear all the differences quite clearly with each change. For me, of all the iterations, i like the one without the diffusers on the side… result was definitely cleaner, solid, and weighty. But, maybe its based on where the microphone is in relation to the speakers. As long as the owner is happy, then job well done.

[@Audiorevue]

Even through youtube you can hear the sound open up when those sidewall acoustic treatments are removed. I could be wrong but I imagine they came in handy to help tame the magnepans in that small of a room. I mean I don't know about you guys but my experience with magnepan is give them proper amplification and they can move air. That coupled with the diapole nature of their design means that room was getting charged up. I just realized another thing as well if it was my room or my house I would tear out that wall separating the family room in the basement from the listening room creating one large space. Then you would have a proper full-size listening room although on second thought I'm not sure, because some of the best sound I've ever heard not only in my systems but others as well is in smaller listening spaces.

[@sgthjennings]

this was an awesome and very informative approach. I like it.

[@Justwantahover]

Your speakers sound great through my home hacked semi open FR driver plus woofer speakers. Your speakers have that "hih" in the voice sound on the first track. What my B&W 706s don't have! But my made speakers do.

[@michaelwesterlund5729]

Great! My kind of reality show.. Speakers are beautiful. Great lesson on application (or not) of absorption/diffusion and bass traps.

[@beeeah2548]

A good adjustment always start with a glass of whisky, you should know that! Is in the manual!

[@joz411no8]

While the listening room may be small (as some have mentioned), it's also that one room we've seen that no one would reach by accident or traveled through to get to somewhere else in his home. Very well thought out.

[@MC-ht6lw]

I was curious what Mao thought of the dynamics.

[@mysock351C]

Nice to finally see these out in the wild. Kudos for Paul for leaving the listening demos in there so we can see them do their thing. Naturally I couldn't help but pull out the heavy artillery and see how much information could be recovered. Since the microphones are set up for dialogue the bandwidth is limited, so no joy on the part that I was most interested in: The lower bass modules. The use of planar tweeters and midrange means the sensitivity of the upper module is quite low at 87 dB, so with four woofers and four passive radiators there's a lot of sensitivity to burn down below. Be interesting to see what trade-offs the CM made (or if they were made) with regards to additional bass extension. So many questions! As the music selection implies, where's a forklift and a Klippel when you need it?

[@marcusm5127]

I don't know how the tweeter and midrange ribbons in question are but I have seen 95 dB ones I believe.

[@mysock351C]

@@marcusm5127 I have seen people floating that they are using B&G Neo3 and Neo10 for the tweeter and midrange, respectively. Those were what they used in their AN3 speakers: kzbin.info/www/bejne/e4PFk2CVhLNmm8U. Although from looking at the website the ribbon itself is visible in a recessed waveguide that continues behind the protective screens. I think the Neo series had QC issues so not sure if the contract manufacturer that built them for PS Audio used modified versions of them without the metal grillwork, or they went with another supplier entirely. Erin's Audio Corner measured the Neo10's and they look decent when they work: www.erinsaudiocorner.com/driveunits/bg_neo10/ Regarding the low sensitivity, I recall Paul mentioning the virtues of tweeters with broad dispersion patterns, so that would tally up with the 87 dB as the midrange has fairly low sensitivity until it starts to beam above 1kHz. Below that the response is actually pretty good, and the design probably shoots for a listening window of about 100-120 degree width. If they got them crossed over properly with the tweeter they probably sound fairly good. Although the SPL capabilities might be limited if the THD measurements are an accurate indicator.

[@cbrunhaver]

Well, the midrange and tweeter are nominally around 95 dB sensitive but need to be integrated with the woofer section and have balanced sound and so are padded down in the crossover to match the woofer section. It's essentially the opposite of what you describe. The woofers are moderate in sensitivity but this is a function of how we designed them to play low bass in this enclosure size. Also, this is our design and not something engineered by our contract manufacturer for the speaker box.

[@mysock351C]

@@cbrunhaver Thanks for the info. So I assume that the rumors of them using the B&G drivers are incorrect? That was the initial assumption given the AN3 and those are only of modest sensitivity, but also have QC issues. The bass extension would be he natural expectation for the reduced sensitivity in the absence of that, though. Also I assume PS’ facility has an anechoic chamber or at least some form of instrumentation for making the measurements?

[@mysock351C]

@@cbrunhaver Also maybe I’m being a bit nosy but the impression I had was that these came as turn keys in the box from the manufacturer. My initial thought was that PS contracted out the enclosure and final assembly was done at the facility in CO. But this seems to contradict what was said by Paul.

[@JR-ho5qm]

Great video! Would like to see more of these. But man, I would sure like to see that speaker in a matte finish instead of the glossy.

[@Roo-n9j]

I'm sure a competent automotive paint protection film installer, could apply Matte PPF.

[@JR-ho5qm]

@@Roo-n9j that’s actually a good idea. The 90 degree angles would need a cut line though. I’m also a automotive painter so it’s easy for me to get my wish. 👍🏻

[@greganderson1681]

And… the back of my head looks pretty much like Greg’s! And I love my .7 Maggies (1.7s are a bit too big). And my name is Greg! We must be brothers from another mother. And I need that awesome SACD - oh look, just ordered it! Thanks for this brilliant video.

[@tomoxfford]

You should do a lot more of this kind of thing - and only use music we can all listen to (like specially chosen Octave samples) to make it easier to apply any thoughts & advice from the videos. Put them all in a playlist with the titles being room descriptions so people can look for ones similar to their own.

[@caoc529]

When i put my old transmission lines into my workshop- about 30 foot square- i really heard bass propagated fully- and if you listen 100 -200 feet away the low frequencies just are soft and warm. Our homes are just too small

[@MaxiMovier]

for room of this dimensions i think some pair of small monitors would be better as now U hear mostly reflections of the left wall and huge low range bump due to the left corner. I suggest to put speakers as close as possible but not in the mid of the room, place some traps at the ceiling and of course walls have to be covered too if possible.

[@mikebrookshire3464]

Thank you so very much for actually playing the system. Yes, I know they don't sound the same as they would if I were there 26:37 was probably the best vedio ever because I could actually here the speakers. And no I wasn't listening on a set of I phone speakers or something like that. Also I can't believe the constant carping about the small room. I am pretty sure he understands the limitations. I applaud buying the fine speakers. Iget pride of ownership, kind of like a person finally getting a fine sports car and everyone telling him that on the roads close to his house, he should have bought a Toyota prius because it gets slightly better mileage, and looks almost as cool.

[@MaxiMovier]

​@@mikebrookshire3464 Sure we do everything for our pleasure so it was not criticism but just we audio entusiastic people want to share as much of our experience as possible. I personally love direct sound of speakers so thats why i mentioned about size issue - in room like Urs U will hear a lot of reflections and it doesnt mean if its bad or not for U. Its always the journey and step by step as we improove our hearing we rralise that we want changes and they never end. Cheers and enjoy this beutifull speakers!

[@ZERO-CAPACITANCE]

What a pleasant visit

[@kirkbobo1363]

Wow a total PS audio customer end to end. Hopefully PS audio provided discounts. I’m a believer in line source dipole , servo controlled woofer columns. Point source is ok but not as good as above. I have both types and by far and away the earlier speaker source is excellent. Some day hope to listen to these rs30 in Boulder and again the Irs v’s.

[@djkbrown]

Cool video. You should do more like this! Enjoyed it.

[@dwaynefisher1348]

That closet sure did make it challenging to get those to sound right fire that fell I'd probably do some to get rid of that hollow spot.

[@desidesigning]

Amazing room!

[@Venus_Isle]

Thanks for sharing some of the wealth of your knowledge, Chris & Paul. Great to watch two experts plying their trade. Hey, you're both cordially invited to central France, should you ever feel like helping optimise my Sonus Faber Extremas...

[@dougg1075]

Best system I had was a nearfield with Focals, not because of the speakers but because it was nearfield. When I expanded out it was never the same … good but not the same

[@timmotel5804]

Excellent. Thank You