PS Audio aspen FR10 Loudspeaker

hfnoutstanding The most compact of three floorstanding fashions in what is going to finally be a four-strong vary, PS Audio’s ‘triple ABR’ aspen FR10 packs a deceptively large punch

For a 50-year-old firm that launched its first loudspeaker barely two years in the past, PS Audio has not been resting on its laurels. Coming swiftly on the heels of the flagship £30,000 aspen FR30 [HFN Jun ’22] are a raft of junior siblings. First up was the £20,000 FR20 [HFN Apr ’23] and now we have now the child floorstander of the vary, the £10,000 FR10. As an apart, I do not suppose we might be letting the cat out of the bag by revealing a fourth mannequin is within the pipeline – the two-way, ABR-loaded FR5 standmount. If it is not priced at £5000, I’ll eat my hat.

One look on the FR10 will recommend that it’s extremely carefully associated to its greater brothers however, intimately, the one factor that the aspen FR10 shares with its pricier stablemates is the tweeter. This is a 64mm planar magnetic design utilizing a Teonex diaphragm with etched-on ‘voice-coil’ and pushed in a push-pull configuration by a pair of rare-earth magnets. The midrange driver operates in precisely the identical manner and has an analogous development however is each smaller than the items used within the FR20 and FR30 and now sits under the tweeter within the FR10. With a size of 200mm quite than 255mm, it’s pushed by an array of 35 magnets, in comparison with 56 within the bigger driver.

Crossover Rethink

The FR10’s shorter midrange driver operates over a narrower 550Hz-1.75kHz bandwidth than the 400Hz-2.5kHz achieved by the larger model within the FR20 and FR30, which additionally means the 64mm tweeter has to achieve down that bit decrease right here. Deployed close to the underside of the cupboard, the FR10’s twin 165mm bass drivers are additionally smaller than the 200mm items used on the bigger designs. The cones are a non-woven carbon fibre foam ‘sandwich’ whereas the motor unit has a cut up magnetic hole and a number of Faraday rings to enhance subject uniformity and scale back distortion.

The FR10’s woofers even have a less complicated, single corrugated rear suspension, quite than the dual setup of the 200mm items, however they nonetheless have an impressively lengthy throw, with most journey of round 19mm in every path from relaxation. The suspension is constituted of Nomex with the voice coil lead-out wires woven in. This is just not unusual on long-throw drivers, as conventionally looped braided voice-coil leads can change into a supply of undesirable vibration, and even failure, at excessive tour.

All the drivers on the FR10 are immediately mounted onto the rear of its thermoset fibreglass resin baffle panel which, in flip, is bolted onto the open entrance of the principle enclosure with a damping gasket between. The baffle contains reinforcing brass inserts and is held in place by lengthy bolts which can be fitted and secured via the rear of the cupboard. These full-depth bolts screw into the inserts and are tensioned on meeting to drag every part collectively very tightly.

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Planar magnetic 200mm mid and 64mm tweeter each function PEN (Teonex) diaphragms, and are mounted behind the compression-moulded fibre glass/resin composite baffle. Satin white and satin black finishes [pictured here] are supplied with matching grilles

Ready To Race

While we’re trying on the rear panel – a clean canvas aside from cable terminals on the FR20 and FR30 – that is the place the FR10’s three 230x150mm ‘racetrack’ formed ABRs are to be discovered. These passive drivers make use of the identical gentle and stiff sandwich cone materials used for the bass drivers, besides right here they’re flat quite than concave in profile. The relocation of those ABRs from the aspect (within the FR20 and FR30) to the rear of the FR10 is for cost-saving causes, because the items now not have to be lacquered to match the cupboards’ gloss end. Moreover, the ‘biscuit tin clunk’ that we noticed from the onerous prime floor of the FR20/30’s ABRs is absent from the considerably extra inert, if extra industrial-looking, FR10 ABRs.

All the drive items are united by a bespoke crossover that employs metallised polyester capacitors, wire-wound resistors and air-cored inductors. The DC resistance of the crossover inductors can adversely have an effect on the bass part, however PS Audio’s essential 2.4mH element is wound utilizing 15-gauge wire – almost 1.5mm in diameter – so {that a} low sequence resistance and excessive energy dealing with is ensured.

The FR10’s cupboards can be found in black/darkish gray and white colourways, however the end is satin quite than the gloss of the bigger fashions. The built-in bases are in naturally anodised aluminium on the white audio system and black anodised on the black end. Four toes are included and these are absolutely adjustable from the highest for levelling. Conical spikes are pre-fitted as normal however these may be unscrewed and eliminated, abandoning rubber toes to be used on onerous flooring. Twin magnetically-attached, gentle body grilles are additionally offered.

Finally, the speaker’s packaging is as safe as it’s easy to pop open and ship the FR10s into your room. Even the highest foam packing piece has been designed to be the right peak for the speaker to be tipped sideways onto after which tipped off once more to face upright. It’s considerate, and makes unpacking these 35kg designs an absolute doddle.

Less of a doddle is optimising the place of the FR10s. PS Audio’s literature goes into good element about this and I might strongly advocate heeding its recommendation. Connected to my traditional Yamaha C/M-5000 amplifiers [HFN Aug ’20] and moved right into a 33x14ft room, I spent most of a day fine-tuning their positioning to get them simply so.

All The Right Moves

PS Audio’s tweeters have wonderful lateral dispersion however, like some typical ribbon tweeter designs, have a comparatively slim vertical ‘candy spot’. Stray too far – sit too excessive or too low – and top-end output begins to drop off. Also, these three rear-facing ABRs work onerous and if the FR10s are too close to to a rear wall then its bass output can swamp every part. Ultimately I ended up with them round 3ft toes (1m)from the rear wall and 18in from the edges.