Enjoying my FR20 home demo!

Absolutely fantasmic!

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I have decided to purchase these speakers instead of the FR20s at a significant $10k premium:

Totally different design than the FR20s, although interesting they weigh almost exactly the same 130lbs each.

The horn tweeter provides a little more immediacy and excitement, the paper-based 12" woofer a little more natural/full/rich bass response and texture. They also fit my living room better aesthetically, and happen to have a cabinet made from nicer non-MDF materials and finished with higher-quality piano lacquer finish (made in Italy). I can’t say they are missing anything that I was hearing from the FR20s, although a direct comparison would favor the FR20s in terms of ultra-clarity in detail, tightness of bass response, and precision in imaging, all of which are apparently secondary attributes to my taste.

It was a pleasure dealing with PSAudio and an enjoyable demo all around. If I hadn’t been offered a demo of the M7s from a new local dealer and found them even more to my liking, I would not have hesitated to purchase the FR20s based on 3-4 weeks of heavy listening.

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It’s good to have choices.

And this addresses a previous post about the Townshend Podiums under FR20s…

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I’m a Podiums devotee. Was using Gaia II under Kanta 2, but now Podiums. Even on a concrete slab floor they make a difference.

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I have Townsends for my Spirits. I have never tried them. They are out in the garage. I should bring them in.

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They could improve one of your speakers, I think!

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The Spirits are oval at the bottom, with six feet. Four in a rectangle shape with two outriggers in the center. The speaker connections are underneath in the center of the speaker so you have to tip it on its side to access them. That means the outrigger feet have to come off first to have any chance to tip them on their side. Long story short it’s a pain in the bottom to deal with speaker connections.

So I have to tip them on their sides, disconnect the cables, put them on the Townsends, find the balance point, Tip them on their sides again, hook up the speaker wires (4), and then get them back to the balance position and then lift them so I can get the cups underneath the points for all six points.

It will not be fun.

I am thinking of asking Stealth to make some 1.5 foot long speaker cables that attach to the binding posts under the speakers and allow me to attach the speaker cables from the behind instead of underneath.

Or, Or, Or, I can just leave everything as is and listen to music instead.

You choose.

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:+1:t2:

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Too much work. Go for the tunes and enjoy

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You just need a bridge crane in the room.
That way you can pick them straight up with the hoist and place the platforms underneath.

Easy peasy.

The platforms really are all that and a little more.

I have the correct sized Townsend platforms. They have been living in the garage for a long time. My dealer said under no circumstances should I put them under the Vivids. He loves Townsend, Likes the platforms, he just believes they are wrong for the Vivids. He has been correct about many things.