This video makes the argument that the bass sounds different with passive radiator speakers compared to sealed box or vented speaker designs. Can anyone who has heard any of the FR series comment on this? My impression, based on what I’ve read is that, the FR series tends to lean towards the warmer, bassy side of neutral. Also, anyone care to offer a opinion as to where the “sweet spot” in the speaker line is?
That “warmer side of neutral” is not the FR20 itself, but is the electronics powering the speakers. I like the FR20, and when I say I like the FR20, I really, really, really like the FR20. I have zero interest in other speakers.
The FR speakers are so clean and so open sounding. I just love the midrange and tweeter of the FR20 & FR30. I only heard the FR5 & FR10 at Axpona, so I really cannot comment on their sound. But I have the FR20 at home and have heard the FR30 on multiple occasions in a house setting. Both are fantastic.
I personally think the FR20 is THE speaker to get, as it has the same midrange and tweeter of the FR30 but is priced much nicer. I also have a subwoofer so do not need the 4 woofers of the FR30, and the 2 woofers in the FR20 are good for me with a sub in the system.
Another reason to prefer the FR20 is the height of the tweeter is physically aligned lower on the FR20 than on the FR30 and the FR10, and I feel that having the tweeters aligned at ear level is a MUST, and the FR20 is more in alignment with the height of my ears when sitting on my listening couch.
Getting new speakers is fun, and the FR series speakers are especially fun speakers to own.
My previous speakers are two giant 7’ tall, sealed boxes. Each has two 10" woofers (one in front and one at the back). I much prefer FR30’s bass, it sounds tighter and faster. It sounds more accurate too. I do not feel they sound warmer than my old speakers either. They just sounded right with my system and room.
FR30 needs a lot of room to breathe, so FR10 or FR20 may be the sweet spot for most.
The fact a “passive” radiator may sound “warmer” than a sealed one, which I think may certainly be able to respond faster does not surprise me. However I think the main concern to how they sound to anyone in particular comes down to dchang05’s comment:
“They just sounded right with my system and room”
There is a lot more going on room wise with bass than the woofer design…
I wonder how the FR10s smaller tweeter and mid range ribbons affect the sound compared to the FR20s. Seems to me there could be a strong argument made that the 20s could be the “sweet spot” of the FR series but I think their weight would disqualify them in my particular case. Can’t imagine myself wrestling them up the stairs to my listening room.
Im betting PSA has all of them in thier audition room. Ill find out next week. I should be able to discern what i need in Boulder. I dont expect any bass concerns but will be nice to hear.
Luckily I had a dolly to help move the FR20 speaker boxes, one at a time, and no stairs to maneuver. They do weigh 120+ pounds each.
The developer may be able to say something about the tuning of the passive membrane. At an event I had a brief conversation with Mr. Fink, who has excellent knowledge and the ability to carry out all kinds of measurements on the subject of passive membranes. I was interested in a concept with Purifi speakers and they also offer passive membranes.
There are different weights that can be attached to the membranes. Depending on this, the type of bass can be determined. If it is too light, the bass will resonate. If it is too heavy, etc. … it is something that needs to be tried and fine-tuned.
Every design has its advantages and pitfalls, whether passive radiator, closed or bass reflex.
Slow or imprecise and too full bass can also be due to the electronics. I was told that the more resolving a signal in the chain, the more precise the bass.
I was told this when I was choosing my DC cable for my new Farad power supply. I mentioned that the bass range can quickly become a bit too much for me if changes are made. The sound of the speaker is strongly influenced by the tweeter and its resolution. The first thing we hear from a signal, whether bass or midrange, is the tweeter. The cleaner the signal, the more precise the other tones are.
Of course, the room and the setup can also have an influence on the sound heard.
I noticed that every change that gave me a higher resolution of my system also represented the bass more precisely.
Greetings Andreas
Our demo room here has some bass issues (large modes/dips at 30 and 55 Hz), so I found the bass I had at home with the FR20 far superior to what we are getting here. We have some plans in the works to try to remedy that.
Regarding audiophile junkie, I’m not a big fan of his analysis. PRs function like port and are very similar in performance (except side stepping some of the issues with pipe resonances, and non-linearity at low tunings and high output).
The FR20 is tuned very low and kind slowly falling bass response that sounds awesome in domenstic sized listening rooms when places fairly close to the wall. I was getting flat response down to below 20 Hz in my room. However, in a big trade show room placed way out from the wall, you lose a lot of bass reinforcement.
In a smaller room, there is both the boundary gain and vessel gain of the room (where below the half wavelength of the longest dimension of the room, you get a 12 db/ octave boost in the deep bass). that just isn’t present in a ballroom and so I don’t think the speakers show well in these rooms because they are designed with different boundary loading in mind.
I would are the leaner/tighter end of the bass spectrum but quite extended (tuned lower than most speakers on the market). FR5/10 and voiced a hair richer in the mid/upper bass and have slightly more “fun” bass but less resolving and tight as the bigger models.