October 2024

World Premiere Review!
PS Audio Aspen FR5 Loudspeaker Review
High-tech innovation and true-to-life sound.
Review By Ron Nagle

   PS Audio was founded in 1973 and shipped its first products in 1974. The company began life with audio designers Paul McGowan and Stan Warren, with Paul now at the helm. While most may already know, for those unfamiliar, PS Audio is a company specializing in high-end audiophile equipment and the sound recording industry. It designs and ships audio amplifiers, preamplifiers, power-related products, digital-to-analog converters (DAC), streaming audio devices, plus music management software and cables.

The Latest News
Each weighing 26.62 lbs, the PS Audio Aspen FR5 is a new compact two-way stand-mounted loudspeaker. At $3500, it represents the least expensive of the four speakers in their Aspen series. The speakers and stands are shipped in two separate boxes with a total weight of 98 lbs. Manufactured by PS Audio in China, they are an in-house design by Senior Speaker Design Engineer Chris Brunhaver.

Nuts And Bolts
There are so many advanced materials built into the FR5 that I can look back 30 years and marvel at the evolution of the science of audio. Contemporary designers' tools might employ high-tech tools like Fourier Analysis. Believing it was less obtrusive, I chose the black FR5 speaker over the alternate white finish. Starting with the 14.5" x 8" x 12.25" (HxWxD) enclosure we find a two-part molded case. The separate front BMC baffle is made of fiberglass-reinforced Thermoset resin. The molded body has internal bracing and the necessary bulkheads and reinforcements have been placed inside the speaker cabinet, there are no visible screws on the cabinet. Additionally, the internal housing of the PS Audio Aspen FR5 employs viscoelastic damping sheets between the bracing and cabinet side walls.

At the rear of the speaker housing, there is a feature I have never seen before. Instead of a rear port, there is a 6" x 9" oval-shaped passive radiator panel. The passive radiator is made of carbon fiber and Rohacell foam. It covers most of the back of the speaker and it has a flexible surround enabling it to react to internal (bass) cabinet pressure. Additionally, there are four speaker binding-posts to enable bi-wiring for the tweeter and woofer.

PS Audio provides four jumper cables, two for each speaker. Without the jumper cables, you can use all four of the binding posts for bi-wiring or bi-amp'ing. Drivers within the FR5 include a 2.5" planar -magnetic ribbon tweeter with a Teonex diaphragm. ("I love ribbon tweeters."). The woofer is a long stroke 6.5" diameter cast frame driver made of ‘Curv' woven polypropylene. The motor has a split-gap magnet structure using dual Faraday rings. The crossover is constructed with custom-made film capacitors and high-quality air-core coils. The air core and film cap crossover are designed as a 6^th-order Linkwitz-Riley filter; with the crossover frequency being 1.75 kHz. All this innovative technology comes at a price of $3500 per pair. PS Audio's Aspen  FR5 monitor speaker stands add $500.

The Speaker Stands
When you are evaluating these speakers you need to follow the manufacturer's specifications. Many small details go into setting up speakers to optimize their performance. One of these is speaker height. The height with spike feet is precisely 28.25". As I mentioned previously, the stands arrived in a separate cardboard box. The top plate and bottom floor plate have to be bolted to the center post, not a big project since there are clear instructions provided. Only two bolts are needed for the top plate and two more for the base. Everything you will need comes packed with the stands and the speakers. And incidentally, I really like their black steampunk modern look.

Placement
PS Audio's ad copy for the Aspen FR5 tells us, "A speaker for small and mid-sized rooms." My listening room is 12' wide by 19' feet deep measured from the front wall. For the past few years, my reference system has used another two-driver stand-mount speaker. My Arum Cantus V30 M is roughly equivalent to the Aspen FR5. It is slightly bigger, but like the FR5 it has a ribbon tweeter and a mid-woofer a half inch larger. The literature that comes with the Aspen FR5 shows a setup position using the classic equilateral triangle. That's basically what I did; over the course of a few days, I needed to shift them and do some fine-tuning. The best speaker position is highly dependent on your room and everything in it; no two rooms are exactly the same.

The FR5 speakers are now positioned 5' from the back wall and both left and right speakers are 3.5' from the side walls. As you might suspect, when setup correctly these small two-way speakers have the ability to disappear and become part of the immersive sound image. Over many days and many types of music, I experimented with the FR5 fabric grills. Eventually, I just removed the magnetic grills and went bare to the air. Without the grill covers It helped to open up the image and locate small details in the soundstage. You'll have to decide what works best in your room.

Calibrated Sound
For almost 30 years now I have looked for a theoretical audio component, a device without faults. Doing my required pre-review research (snooping) I found a few chatroom Philes talking about the Aspen FR5 Axpona demonstration. They said this smaller Aspen, could fill even large rooms with music (paraphrasing). Interestingly the manufacturer's rated speaker sensitivity is a bit low at 83dB/W/m. Many high-quality home speakers typically have sensitivity ratings between 84dB and 94dB /W/m. An interesting specification, but it's not that simple. There are many factors involved in determining perceived audio power. There is a logarithmic relationship between amplifier power and sensitivity.  I have a Rives Audio CD, called, testing for the home environment. This may be a very unscientific test however I am curious to see how much bass extension I can get out of the FR5 in my system/home.

The Rives Audio Test CD contains a frequency sweep that begins at 20 Hz and ranges up to 20 kHz beyond my ability to hear. Beginning at 20 Hz there is no audible sound. Not until step 5 at 25 Hz can I hear appreciable bass sound. The very next Rives band is significant, at 31.5 Hz the bass level opens up and becomes part of the overall speaker response. The manufacturer rates the bass response at 35 Hz. This is very close to the 31.5 Hz I could hear on the test CD.

Not insignificantly, I found that the midbass driver and tweeter can handle a lot of power and play loud without breaking up. I believe this is made possible in part by the molded speaker enclosure. I found the system of internal cabinet bracing and reinforcement inside the molded case makes the speaker exceptionally inert to distortion at higher decibel / volume levels.

Enjoying The Music
At times there are so many emotions and micro-dynamic aspects of music to describe that the English language can run out of words. A part of my reference CD Series consists of Basia, Time and Tide Epic EK-40767. and that led to my CD of Nils Lofgren, Live. Then to the Diana Krall CD, Stepping Out. You find yourself immersed in the power and dynamic contrasts of Basia singing, Promises. In the very first track, the word Promises starts at a low volume directly in the center between the speakers. Gradually the sound level grows louder producing an effect much like an optical zoom.

Then you can lose yourself in the clarity and warm intimacy that is especially part of Steppin Out with Diana Krall and her jazz ensemble. The resolution and textures of the album are so microscopically detailed that you can hear the resonant sound of fingers sliding on the bass fiddle's strings. I can hear her enunciation and the timbral shift from chest to head and back again. The Diana Krall sound stage is so intimate you can take a step forward and join the performance. Listen with the lights turned down low. What I needed was all there, painting the back wall of my room with height, depth, and width; these speakers do what I love.

I'll say it again, when you have the PS Audio Aspen F5 monitor loudspeakers properly set up they can disappear into a wide-open immersive soundscape capable of both intimacy and large-scale contrasts. The 6.5" mid-bass driver likes solid-state power. It can be driven like a much larger full-range driver. And yes, I do play these speakers at higher decibel levels than most two-way speakers I have auditioned.

Bottom Line
These speakers are capable of harmonic nuance so I would call them slightly warm. By a large margin that quality works exceedingly well with the sound of a human voice. Ultimately it is the human voice that is the thing I know best. Listen to Bob Dylan or Willy (nasal) Nelson, you can hear just how much of their voice is projected off the bridge of the nose. Through these speakers, you can easily define the vocal enunciation and timber. It's one thing to design a speaker and sell it for thousands of dollars and quite another to do pretty much the same thing and sell it for 3500 dollars. This has been a kick for me, I almost feel like I discovered them.

Yes, I know $3500 for many people (plus $500 for the stands if you require them) is still not cheap, but if you consider the high-tech innovative build quality and the true-to-life immersive sound they render… then they are indeed a very good deal.

Many years ago the NOLA loudspeaker designer Carl Marchisotto told me, "The sound of a speaker is the designer's idea of what music sounds like". Remember speaker designers tune and voice their speakers as close as possible to what they consider accurate.

In the real world, I believe audio speaker design is largely an art form. Ultimately the decision will come down to a matter of your personal taste. I do not doubt that this versatile little PS Audio Aspens FR5 will render moments of immersive musical enjoyment into your life. Go forth and listen.

Remember to enjoy the music. And from me Semper Hi-Fi.

Specifications
Type: Two-way stand-mounted monitor loudspeaker 
Frequency Response: 35 Hz to 20 kHz (-6dB half space), 30 Hz @ -6 dB in-room
High-Frequency Transducer: 2.5" planar magnetic with Teonex diaphragm
Low-Frequency Transducer: 6.5" woofers, cast frame, Curv woven polypropylene, advanced magnet structure
Crossover: Linkwitz-Riley 6th order acoustic at 1750 Hz
Sensitivity: 83.5dB/W/m
Nominal Impedance: 6 Ohm (5.6 Ohm minimum impedance)
Recommended Amplifier Power 50 to 150 Watts
Dimensions: 14.5" x 8" x 13" (HxWxD speaker only)
               28.25" x 11.75" x 14" (HxWxD stand only)
Weight: Speaker is 26.6 lbs each, stand is 13.71 lbs. each
Color Options: Satin White and Satin Black
Price: $3500 per pair, add $500 for stands.

Company Information
PS Audio
4865 Sterling Drive
Boulder, CO 80301

Voice: (720) 406-8946
E-mail: service@psaudio.com 
Website: PSAudio.com