Hi all -
I’m considering making the move and at least trying out the FR20’s. I’d like to hear from those that have, and what their prior speakers were, and how they differ.
Thanks so much in advance.
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I have had the FR20 over a year and a half, and if you’re thinking about getting them, just get 'em.
By far one of the best audio decisions I have made.
My previous speakers were the Sonist Audio Concerto 4’s. The midrange and upper frequencies of the FR20 are especially nice, clean, open, wonderful. I was surprised that the bass was much cleaner also versus the Sonist speakers. The Sonist speakers had a ton of magic, and once I finally found the right location for the Sonist speakers, I bought the FR20. It did take some time to get the FR20’s positioned just right, and I am not using speaker feet on them to keep the elevation of the tweeters even with my ears. (the 1st & 2nd photos are older photos)
I also have a pair of Magnepan LRS+, which sound suprisingly good from the sweet spot, but when I reconnect the FR20’s I am reminded of just how good the FR20’s are.
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Sonist Audio makes nice speakers.
Yes, they did, as in the past tense
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I like this question and I am looking forward to the answers.
Should be interesting…
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Wait, how about FR 30 owners? 
just kidding, but I 
FR30, and my previous speakers retailed for $50k.
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I had talked to Paul about the FR30, and he felt for my size room that the FR20 would actually perform better.
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If you didn’t get the vibe from my last post, the FR20’s are fantastic. 
I do have a subwoofer that I use with them, allowing me to place my FR20’s out in the room for best imaging.
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how would you have compared your Sonist speakers with b&w 802d’s?
I recently listened to some music that I am familiar with on the 800D4 driven by McIntosh gear, and I much prefer the FR20’s at home. While music sounded better with the FR20 on my system, music still sounded very good on the B&W.
Comparing the Sonist to the B&W, the B&W sounded much cleaner at the time, though the B&W was driven by cleaner solid state amplification. Though with the Sonist, musical instruments sounded real.
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I have the 1st generation Diamond, the 802d, but have spent time listening to the 802d3, and found them very irritating. Even the 8001d3 with McIntosh gear. Both myself and my son felt you could hear the individual drivers, woofer, midrange, tweeter, and not the music. Have not spent much time with the 800 d4 series.
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The flat panel ribbon midrange and tweeters are why I purchased the FR20, and are the reason why I have no desire for other speakers.
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I had Vandersteen Model 5 (original version) for about ten years prior to getting the FR20 eleven months ago. I haven’t listened to the Vandersteen’s since, so can’t give a detailed comparison but even new with zero hours the FR20 sounded better than the Vandersteen’s. In the ensuing time they only gotten better. They have a nice natural sound to my ears. Surprisingly good bass considering the Vandersteen’s have a built in subwoofer and very detailed and clean mids and highs. The Vandersteen’s were great speakers in the early 2000’s but the planar midrange and tweeter drivers in the FR 20 are much better. And I really need to do something with the Vandersteen’s, they’re in a closet right now.
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Hello, I owned the Thiel Audio CS3.6 for 25 years until I replaced them with the FR20s.
Somehow, I like Passive Radiators.
I remember when I placed the FR20s and started to listen. Everything is “upgraded”. Deeper and tighter bass, wider/deeper soundstage and so on. More natural, realistic sounds. Is that what we call “organic”?
I loved the Theil speakers so much hence I kept them for such a long time. But FR20s are simply better speakers, IMHO.
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