Dear PS Audio, I too want excellent sound and wonder if you couldn’t make a model that sounds excellent for $99 a pair. Pretty please?
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Even at $99 a pair the usual suspects wouldn’t be allowed to put them in their houses.
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What does the PS Audio Cartouche speaker sound like?
This particular person, according to Shakespeare, was poisoned with Aspic.
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US$99, pretty, and ton’s of functionality. Single speaker though.
To my children, who have better hearing than I, these sound amazing for their size and they love the features.
This tiny speaker is so good, that it disappears when you listen to it, even with your eyes open 
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Yes they could, but people would argue whether they were truly “full range.”
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And complain about the cost 
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And the marketing.
And that one must demo it in your own home.
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I just asked Alexa “what are the best loudspeakers in the world?” and the answer was Bowers & Wilkins.
So there you have it. Everyone else … time to give up.
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Just asked Siri what the best speakers are:
Response of Siri:
Siri doesn’t know where to find those speakers.
Whether Siri is a bit limited in understanding or
provides the politically most correct answer by purpose, I don’t know. I like to agree with the latter reason.
I took a quick trip to the FR30 product page and when I saw “$2849., add to cart”, I thought, well, they’ve lost their minds, it must cost them more to paint the things. And then I looked closer and saw it’s the 10% placeholder. Whew! They look good in white.
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Regarding the cost:
My Buchardt S400 Signature Editions were EUR 3550 incl the stands.
For EUR 3550 you get a pair (2 x) of:
- 1 cabinet
- 1 tweeter with wave guide
- 1 8” mid/woofer
- 1 10” oval radiator
- 1 high end cross over (signature edition => special)
- set of high end speaker posts (signature edition => special)
- design stands
With the Aspen FR30 you get (2 x) of:
- 2 larger cabinets
- 1 ribbon tweeter
- 1 ribbon midrange (certainly more expensive)
- 4 8 “ woofers
- 4 10 “ radiators, full round
- 2 high end cross overs, partly adjustable
- at least 3sets of binding posts
- design stands
Considering that assembly and shipment of it all costs way more than the little Buchards. The at least 10 x to 12 x higher price in Europe is justifiable.
From a marketing point of view, these 2 products are comparable in that you need to pay up front to be able to listen to them at the best possible location: in your own room. But returning the Aspen FR30 might be a bit more of a challenge.
So from labor and material point of view the price of the Aspen FR30 make sense.
From my personal budget and size of living room point of view, the Buchardt’s certainly the better match in my system.
On the other hand, for less the price of the Aspen FR30 you can get in Europe the Avantgarde Uno DX horn speakers (107 dB efficiency) together with an Octave high end class A Tube Amplifier. A high end all German built set, that you do not need to pre-order to be able to listen to and do serious A-B listening at the dealers listening room. If you have serious purchase intentions in this price category the dealers even are willing to home demo the speakers they have to offer.
Living in condensed populated countries has their pro’s and con’s.
So I just got the announcement of the FR30 in my inbox and checked out the site to hear what the assorted resident audio luminaries / cognoscenti had to say about the new speaker. I was frankly a bit taken aback by some of the negativity. Few thoughts. We all know Paul is somewhat prone to using hyperbolic language describing his various creations. Most guys/gals successfully running companies are wired this way - get over it already. Those that don’t deliver don’t make it and PS audio has been delivering the goods in spades and consistently. As for pricing, it appears to me the FR30 fits nicely in an upper 5 figure system, which would be all the top of the line PS audio products. PS audio has always focused on making ultra high end performance available to the affluent, never the masses. Think 6 figure performance from a 5 figure system. This product is consistent with this philosophy. As for product design I am quite intrigued. There are some similarities with the verity audio design and it so happens their top of the line speaker (Monsalvat) is the best I ever heard (it better be at $325K). So let’s just hear just how good the FR30 is and how it stacks up against the big boys. I for one have heard lots of disappointing $100K+ speakers and always thought the sweetspot for a speaker delivering 95% of SOTA performance for 10% of the price would be a $30K speaker produced in larger quantities. I hope PS audio found this sweetspot and sells tons of speakers. No doubt, a $10K scaled down version will be released at some point.
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Welcome to your nightmare.
Voluntary, as always. 
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It is reasonable to think this, but the F30 is delivered and picked up for return at your home at PS Audio’s cost. Essentially all you need do is open your door.
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Does that mean having to stand and walk???
Bah!
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Sounds like Magico A5’s you are describing 
I’ve always liked Verity as well, Had a chance to hear the Otello once driven by 80w tube amp, I enjoyed it!
Best,
-JP
Vivid Giya G3 is the top dog in this segment to my ears. I owned and sold them due to downsizing / divorce. If I build a new system I may go down the FR30 (or some smaller sibling) path if they are good as advertised.
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Never had the pleasure…might be pushing the 30K number a bit
They are $10,000 more, but generally in the same range.
Would be an interesting comparison in the price range between the G3, the Verity Parsifal Anniversary and the FR-30. I know the Verity sound having owned Otello’s for 3+ years but would like to hear the other two.