What were some of the sonic differences between them that you found FR20 to be more preferable?
I found both of them to sound very good. There are bass boom issues in that kind of room, and some preferred the FR20 and others the FR30, and i think was more music-choice-related versus speaker-related. The midrange and upper frequencies were not affected by the room and sounded just wonderful
Can’t believe it’s over already! It was a fantastic time spending with friends and fellow forum members. I was able to hear the FR 20’s playing the Pipe organ music from the octave label. Then they switched to the FR 30’s before the song was over. There is definitely more meat on the bone with the FR 30’s but the FR 20’s were surprisingly close as far as the low end. If you own either you will be very pleased! As we all know it’s difficult to hear what most these components are capable of in their actual environment but for me best sound went to the Cat room with Magico speakers. I’m not the biggest Magico fan but this room sounded amazing! The MBL room was great sounding like it was last year. The Bacch SP may of been built for hotel rooms how it takes a modest room and makes it sound like a large venue is pure rocket science! Bacch with the JanZen speakers, Dutch and Dutch, and Grimm had the very best small box simple systems solution I ever heard! @jkrichards modded Directstream was sounding very nice at the @richp Treehaus audio speakers great stuff!
Thanks to all of you for great Axpona posts n pics! Keep em coming. Sounds like PS Audio room was success.
I love my FR30s in 15x21 home office! Its a great way to work…
I am looking forward to THE SHOW! PS Audio - will you be there?
Wsan’t planning on it. When is THE Show?
Each day the system, both 30s and 20s, sounded better. By a lot. Might also have been the music selection or the volume level.
Glad you had a chance to hear them.
I regret that I didn’t have a chance to hear the 20s. The first time I stopped by Chris was sliding the 30s into place and started demoing them. The second time, the 30s were still being demoed. I also didn’t get a chance to sit anywhere close to a sweet spot, but even considerably off-axis, it was clear there was something very special going on with the highs. The bass was also impressive, though like in every other room I visited, it was overblown, probably because of room nodes. At least it wasn’t bloated-sounding and uncontrollably woolly like almost every other speaker I heard.
I noticed that too. My first thought was that speaker position must have been tweaked slightly. But I am now thinking that volume level made a difference. There was MUCH less background noise on Sunday, allowing for music to fill the room nicely at much lower volume levels, and seemingly eliminating room node issues. Both the FR30 and FR20 sounded exceptionally good on Sunday.
I was sitting next to @pmotz at the time and he had control of music choice (@minnesotafats also stopped by at the time) There were 2 songs, back to back that i have heard a million times at home, and through the FR20 on Sunday? By far the best I have ever heard.
A photo from a Decware forum member who visited the Wathen/Cryotone room at Axpona–the Decware SEWE300B.
Here it is outfitted with Cryotone tubes. I have not been as impressed with the Cryotone tubes I bought (two pair, none of which are types in this amp) as others have been.
How was the reported sound with the Cryotone tubes? Sorry I missed the room, but only so much time. Had I known I would have dropped in for a listen. The prototype sounded good at Decware’s mothership in E. Peoria.
The only word I had about the sound was “the amp made the Benchmark 300B sound somewhat lifeless.” I don’t believe they were side by side at any time so the comparison is light and dubious.
The Show is June 9-11th, Costa Mesa, CA (near OC Airport)
@jamesh - grow the hair back @aaronm - lose the beard, grow the hair back.
Seriously though it was always fun to visit you Guys. Meeting Paul face to face for the 1st time was a pleasure. It was fun watching Paul’s “Roadie’s” swap the Speakers out.
Finally getting some talk time with Frank Doris was a pleasure. I kept running it to him at previous shows both of us were always preoccupied with something at previous shows.
Meeting @JessicaCarson was an honor being a fan of Clandestine Amigos.
I wonder if he sent the picture he took of me to Fremer ? I hope so. ![]()
Haha when it doesn’t grow on the top of your head you have to grow it other places. I’m just trying to keep it out of my nose and ears.
It was great to meet you!!
It was Roon streaming Qobuz. It worked REALLY well. Except the time I turned off the p20 by accident…
Aaron, was Paul’s playlist actually Qobuz, not stored on a local computer? If yes, it’s a good thing I didn’t know that cuz I would have started searching for “now for something completely different”. Also, I seem to recall a moment of silence during my demo! ![]()
And in support of the “crew”, get some better connectors for those speaker cables!
How in the world did I (and Rick) miss this???
What a great time Axpona was.
And I feel so good about having heard the FR30s with the synergy of the full PS Audio kit and coming away feeling that this could surely be an end game system.
Sadly, the Inakustik vs. Stealth shootout did not happen. It will some day.
I was shocked that the very best sounding room in my humble opinion used Magico speakers!!! Normally I would rather listen to anything but.
Weird.
I loved the show and all the participants! Normally when I start talking audio people frown and move away. I really felt like I was in my element, surrounded by my people. It was immensely enjoyable! Let’s do it again!!
I missed it also. ![]()
