Can you show photos and structural diagrams of the 8" woofer driver?
All of these detailed questions @sophia168 , here and in the “New PS Audio speakers?” thread, are enough to make one wonder if you’re trying to reverse engineer your own set.
I’m kidding, of course. Sort of. I mean, some of this must surely be considered trade secrets, proprietary information, intellectual property, or some such thing.
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While remembering that when engineering is done well, the product is always greater than the sum of its parts.
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Reminds me of a friend who is a machinist; he builds things for the public marketplace. He will get a call from someone asking for his measurements for a modification/enhancement he has just developed for sale. He tells them to send their item in and he will make the modification. They tell him they are able to do the machining, but they just need his measurements. He tells them he has over 120 hours into the development of the measurements (modification) and he’s not about to just give that away. The caller is incredulous that my friend is so unreasonable.
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The real cost lies in the development (ideation, design, testing, process development, etc.) not in the part. As in @SudS story, the part has lots of intellectual properties and values attached to it.
I work in the metal cutting industry (as a supplier), and it’s truly amazing how entitled people think they are to knowledge and know-how.
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The near field monitors @Chris_Brunhaver designed look cool.
I realize they are not planned for consumer/mass production.
I would like to hear them nevertheless.
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This is just a gentle reminder that this way will be better, and I hope it will be adopted in the next generation Stella speaker. I guess most people including Chris don’t know what I’m trying to say.
Yes, the resistance of this lowpass filter coil is less than 0.4 ohm and lead wires are kept short to minimize the change in bass damping for the woofers. We also use a conjugate notch filter to flatten the upper impedance peak of the woofer so that this series resistance of the coil doesn’t interact with the woofer in that range.
While some manufacturers do this (KEF and Revel come to mind), some others don’t (like Wilson), which is why you get a mild peak in frequency response around 80 Hz and very low and difficult impedance in that range (on their speakers).
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Well, that’s interesting! Looks like the enclosure from one of the previous iterations of the FR30. It was mentioned they used FR30 components, but hard for me to tell without doing some research. Very interesting they are active with Hypex modules, kind of full circle for Paul. Chris is supposed to be working on a smaller version of the FR30 to expand the “family”. Wonder if this is a diversion or a possible path to it?
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Yeah, these were a bit of a diversion and not representative of the way we’re going with the rest of the aspen line. These were based on a previous prototype of the speaker but we had the cabinets and the closer center-to-center spacing on the drivers, with the side mounted midbass drivers made sense for an active nearfield.
I’m currently working on a couple of smaller models below the FR30 that are a pretty straightforward smaller version of it, while still maintaining the same level of build quality and components.
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Thanks Chris, I thought I recognized the cabinets. Glad to hear you are working on smaller Aspen models!
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And you’re not building an active version of the FR30 in parallel, just for you and Paul to experiment? 
Well maybe after the smaller line is ready
Any ideas on when the smaller models will hit the market? 2023 or beyond that?
Well, Paul has mentioned multiple times that he’d love to do an active speaker.
Do you like all of the streaming functions and inputs built into the speaker itself (like the KEF approach) or a separate wireless “hub” with connections and streaming functions (like the platin/buchardt approach)?
I suppose that the latter could potentially be upgraded down the road more but that comes down to the company supporting it either way.
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No, for me just the amps inside the speaker with some level controls and possibly DSP for the bass
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agree with @jazznut, but
if digital input, then:
3 x SPDIF or AES (for a 3 way) per speaker.
TOSLINK would be nice (x 3) and the ability to use ch 1 - 6 of ADAT 8 ch optical into one of the TOSLINK would be a useful bonus for some (possibly a bit niche).
But not streaming etc. etc. built in, as that would over complexify and reduce choice of source.
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Chris, I’ve dealt with active speakers since the Meridian M1 days and I am not a fan of having all of the connections on one speaker as KEF has done. In their case you are forced to have the master speaker on a speciific channel. I like the approach Gayle Sanders has done with the central controler that can be used with a range of their active speakers. This reduces the wire clutter as well as being more flexible.
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I will be the first person in line to buy a pair of PSA active speakers.
I have active speakers with integrated streaming (KEF) and without integrated streaming (Adam). I think I prefer leaving out the streaming because it creates a software requirement which might be best left to other components.
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The waiting is over, and the aspen FR30 speakers are nothing short of remarkable, setting new standards of focus, openness, weight and control at this price and well above.
The build and finish are as immaculate as the sound, the unusual styling works remarkably well in the room, and the listening experience is a revelation. If you’re in the market for speakers in this sector, listen to them – they’re a bargain."
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