Напольная акустика — PS Audio Aspen FR10

The aspen FR10 is a passive floorstanding loudspeaker made by PS Audio in Boulder, Colorado, with engineering led by Chris Brunhaver. It belongs to the four model aspen range, sitting below the FR20 and FR30, and shares its planar magnetic tweeter with those larger towers. The US price was USD 9,995 per pair, with black satin or white satin multi-coat lacquer finishes.

Key specs that matter

Seven drivers work in a three-way layout. A 2.5 inch Teonex planar magnetic tweeter and an 8 inch Teonex planar magnetic midrange sit above two 6.5 inch woofers, and three 6 x 9 inch elliptical passive radiators load the bass instead of a port. Crossover points are 550 Hz and 1.75 kHz. PS Audio lists a response of 32 Hz to 20 kHz at -6 dB in half space and an in-room extension to 25 Hz at -6 dB. Sensitivity is 86.5 dB, nominal impedance is 4 ohm with a minimum of 3.3 ohm, and PS Audio suggests amplifiers delivering 50 to 200 W. Each speaker is about 105 cm tall and weighs 34 kg.

Engineering and use context

Both planar drivers use a push-pull motor with a symmetrical magnet structure on either side of the diaphragm, which the maker says lowers distortion and raises efficiency compared with a single-sided motor. The woofers are long-throw units with a split magnetic gap and a double Faraday ring to keep inductance low and linear, a single progressive Nomex spider with stitched-in lead wires, and cones built as a non-woven carbon fibre skin over a Rohacell PMI foam core. The crossover is a Linkwitz-Riley network with fourth-order acoustic slopes, built with custom film capacitors and air-core inductors. The cabinet is heavily braced MDF with a thermoset fibreglass resin baffle, mounted on a curved base with brushed aluminium outriggers. Two sets of speaker terminals at the back accept bi-wired or bi-amped connections, and red and black jumper cables are included for single wiring. The in-room figure reflects the gain that the floor and walls add below the anechoic half space measurement.

Pairing

The moderate sensitivity and the low minimum impedance point to a solid state amplifier with a strong current supply, and bi-amping through the split terminals suits anyone who owns two stereo power amplifiers. A room of about 20 m2 or larger suits the bass extension of the three passive radiators.

Alternatives

The PS Audio aspen FR20 is the next larger floorstanding model in the same range.