Also, out of curiosity, have you tried scooting in the left speaker and moving the right speaker over a few inches and making them symmetrical with the side walls on both sides? Generally, this is a very good thing for imaging.
Well, inching it around from that starting point. Sometimes asymmetric setups work well too but I think it’s worth trying.
Here are my new FR5’s. Upgrading from the LS50 metas. Massive improvement at all levels, mostly bass and soundstage. Still breaking them in. I may have to pull them out more but space is limited. The FR5’s are amazing!
I like your set up. Cool speaker stands! I’ve never seen tripods used that way.
The solid steel tripod stands are a favorite of mine
I am the proud owner of a pair of FR5, with that being said, i am also new to PS Audio products. My system is simple and old fashion, but time tested and now has a modern pair of speakers.
POWER SOURCE: Accuphase Integrated Amplifier 270 watts 4 ohm
Acoustic Revive RTP-4 Ultimate Power conditioner
SOURCE: Technics SL-G700 SACD, MQA, UHQCD, CD, STREAMING PLAYER.
Arcam DVD audio, HDCD, DTS, CD PLAYER
WIRES/CABLES : MORROW AUDIO SP7 SPEAKER WIRE.
AUDIOQUEST WATER INTERCONNECT CABLE.
PS AUDIO : FR5 state of the art STAND MOUNT SPEAKER.
No Vinyl Record player in this system.
TIP OF THE DAY: After Jumper connection is completed: Connect positive speaker wire to positive HIGH input and negative speaker wire to negative WOOFER Input. Repeat the same for both left and right speakers. This is not what the Doctor will say but you will feel much better, try it.
I am now 65 years old i have been a poor audiophile for 40 years these speakers are the best i have ever heard congratulations to Chris and PS Audio.
Welcome!
The ELACs were closer to the front wall and slightly closer together. I was concerned about the FR5’s being further out, but they are giving me great bass from my listening position and that beautiful soundstage is fully developing. Most impressed!
I tried the symmetrical positioning but the right side speaker blocks the passageway to the rear of the apartment. Just not practical. I have tried to mitigate the close proximity of the left speaker to the side wall with improvised absorption/diffusion. See the pic below. Thanks for your continued input, Chris.
I curious; is that the permanent speaker location or do you move them to allow for use of the room other than listen to music?
It is their permanent location. I swivel the listening chair around to watch TV. I rearrange things somewhat for guests coming over.
Off Topic: What a beautiful, classy chair.
Steveleen- I am contemplating replacing my ELAC Reference UBR62’s for the FR5’s and am interested in your listening observations comparing speakers. I run a hybrid Vincent 237 MK2 integrated amp, Well Tempered Table through Bob’s Device’s SUT into a Hybrid Vincent PHO-701 Phono Preamp…while the FR5’s seem to be a STEAL for $3500- even less with ELAC trade-in, I am left wondering if the upgrade will be sufficiently noticeable from the ELACs to the FR5s?
Welcome!
If you can afford to, order a pair of FR5s and take PS Audio up on their 30-day trial period so you can hear them in your listening space and compare them to your Elacs.
I know it’s an investment up front just for auditioning them and if you decide not to keep them you will need to pay for shipping them back to PSA but this is what I did and if definitely paid off.
If you can believe it I decided to sell my KEF R1 Metas and keep the FR5s. This decision wasn’t taken lightly as I had 4 different “speaker shootout” listening sessions with some audiophile friends and we all came to the same conclusion. The KEFs might be the better overall speaker yet the FR5s in my smaller listening space are the best fit.
The FR5’s soundstage, imaging, and clarity presented a better overall presentation sonically than the KEFs. The low end of the FR5s is amazing too and gave the KEFs a run for their money.
In the end, although the KEFs sounded pretty darn good in my space they weren’t living up to their full potential. They need to be more spread out and have more room to breathe.
I think for the price the FR5s are going to be hard to beat for a stand mount. I’m still dialing in the speaker placement yet after 2 weeks of listening up to 3 hours a day they are really combining into their own.
Also with the purchase of these speakers, or any Aspen speaker, you’ll receive Paul McGowan’s “Aspen Loudspeaker Setup” guide and CD which has been really helpful.
Lastly if you track down my first post after receiving the speakers you’ll see the gear I’ve paired the FR5s with.
Good luck with deciding what to do and I hope this information was helpful. Let me know if you have any other questions too. Feel free to email me at jtyerfdog@me.com
Audio Excellence just posted their first review of the FR5s and he mentioned how everyone was raving (for good reason) how great the FR5s sounded. They were by far the hit of the day! Nicely done Chris!
Welcome, Will! What I notice, comparing the ELAC Carinas to the Aspen FR5s, is that they provide noticeably deeper and well controlled bass, better mid to high coherence, and a more defined soundstage. However, bear in mind that I am not familiar with your ELACs which are a three-way design with a dome tweeter. The Carinas are two-way with a ribbon tweeter. I do agree with John’s assessment and his recommendation to take advantage of the 30 day trial period. Just allow for time for them to break in. I will soon post here a summary of my initial impressions after two weeks with the FR5s which may be helpful.
Has anyone compared the FR5 to the Alta Audio Alyssa, another small bookshelf speaker with amazing bass that plays down to 32 khz -3db. The Alyssa does however retail for a little more at 5k. Would be an interesting comparison.
Well, i have only heard these at shows but, based on the review in stereophile, there are some very large port resonances that “hoot” out a number of notes through the lower midrange.
There is also a large resonance/cone break up in the upper midrange.
Both of these things look quite problematic, depending if the program material has notes in it that excites them.
I have now listened to the Aspen FR5s for over two weeks, and I am loving what I am hearing! This post is to wrap up my initial impressions by describing three aspects of the sound:
This has been fun. Looking forward to other first impressions from new owners of the FR5s.
There was a follow up of the Alyssa by Jim Austin a few months later after the initial Stereophile reciew
It was his opinion that those resonances spikes were not audible.
“I approached this follow-up analytically, aiming to determine whether those airspace resonances are audible. My conclusion: They aren’t, or anyway, I can’t hear them, except as modest volume changes in a slow frequency sweep.”
