yeah, this is nice.
I know there was lots of pushback on this design with the walnut legs, but I like the mid-century vibe. Could be a good candidate for customization, for sure.
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I am a little late with this comment - computer problems. I suggest that the grille cover be offered as one continuous grille (perhaps with small front edge pieces as part of top cabinet to enclose grille) to eliminate the horizontal line on the front and the look of two cases stacked on top of each other. The recesses on the side would still work. This could be an option.
As far as the speaker goes sign me up for one white pair.
Thanks for the suggestion!
The base has to go for me to buy. I’m sure they will sound amazing.
Just buy a set of outriggers for a couple of hundred dollars available from several places.
If there’s enough of these sold, some enterprising person could design an L-bracket with a lag bolt and you could mount Isoacoutics Gaia’s on them. That would solve the problem of the odd footers.
You can mount 1/4-20 Gaia’s to any of the available Outriggers instead of the supplied spikes.
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I was under the impression that the speaker footers a bolted to the sides. I don’t think there’s threaded holes on the bottom.
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According to Chris there are standard threaded inserts in the bottom so you can use the footer of your choice.
Earlier in the AN3 development I believe there was confirmation of threaded inserts on the bottom of the cabinet. Yes, it would be great if they are on the FR3
for those who want “better” footers via a fairly simple
outrigger. It may also be more aesthetically pleasing for some. I am on the fence as far as the stands’ look so I would like the option as well.
As it stands, there are threaded inserts on the bottom of the legs, where there are adjustable leveling feet. You could replace these with other spikes etc.
The side mounted metal posts that the legs are mounted to are non-removable (they mount through to the inside of the cabinet). There wouldn’t be a practical way to do this, as you’d have to remove the subwoofers there would have to be screw in plugs or something.
We’ve made some tweaks to the leg cosmetics and nobody here on the forum has seen everything all together and so I hope that folks can keep an open mind and judge it when it’s launched.
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Chris,
Any updates on ETA for beta testing? Just wondering.
Thanks for the info. More options and info the better.
Send a photo of the revised stand when you can. Would love to hear them soon. The waiting is the hardest part (Tom Petty).
Chris,
Are the inserts 1/4 - 20?
Thanks
Hoping for this summer.
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That would be be an awesome re-entry to the new normal bonus.
Should all of us planar and electrostat bozos start lining up?
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Who are you calling an electrostat bozo? A dyed in the wool planar guy for life! (Or unless something better comes along!)
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Me!
Have owned Maggies and/or 'stats since the 1980"s.
But from what I heard at the last RMAF Chris B. just may have a better mousetrap.
Time will tell.
Which stats have you owned? Not all created equal.
Magnepan IIa, Tympani 1D, Tympani IVa, M-L ReQuest, M-L Odyssey, M-L Summit X
I think the Sander’s electrostats are more neutral than the M-L’s but the size of the sweet spot is even more ridiculous, and at the time I wasn’t sure about the Magtech amp, but in retrospect it seems pretty solid.
Mid-bass transition between the M-L panels and bass units is one of two issues I’ve had with the M-L’s. The other being the need to feed them a pristine signal (see comments elsewhere about Galen Gareis’ CLX’s). I’ve mastered the latter but the midbass only seems to improve in direct proportion to the width (radiating area) of the panels. In their current lineup, the sweet spot is the ESL-15. I heard these at an RMAF show 2 years ago, and they were spectacular (driven by D’Agostino Momentum electronics). Better, I thought, than the Neoliths at the same show given the price differential.
There are just a handful of speaker installations that have stopped me in my tracks and triggered the Holy Crap reflex. One was the JL Labs Stella Grand Utopia setup in Boulder Amp’s listening room. Another was the IRS-V’s at PS Audio. The AlsyVox full-range planars at the 2018 RMAF were also jaw-dropping, but this was a “cross-over less” quad amped setup. At the 2019 show they introduced crossover network and the setup was less spectacular.
I’m generally not a fan of uber-pricey multiway piston designs. Lot’s of slam and dynamics, but sort of an “Ektachrome” coloring to the sound, if you know what I mean. That said , I found myself bowled over by the Magico M3’s at one RMAF show.
Coming down a peg or three, the real-world speakers that consistently grabbed me were planars and stats - primarily due to cost/performance. In the same price realm: the Acoustic Zen Crescendo’s (provided a surprising amount of the ginormous volume of the Grand Utopia’s soundstage), the Vaughn Plasma Signatures (line-source dipolar mids and plasma tweeter), and in the monitor world, Harbeth’s and Spendors.
What grabbed me about what is now the FR-30’s is that the prototype I heard promised to deliver the best of all worlds. The quickness and transparency of electrostats, the more precise imaging and dynamics associated with pistonic multiways, a very nice, deep soundstage with a reasonable sweet spot (no more head-in-a vice), low-end room correction, less demanding room placement requirements, and a more compact form factor. it’s physically impossible for me to get anything larger than the Summit-X’s down the stairs and into the listening room.
Hence my continued interest in how these turn out.
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