PS Audio Aspen FR5 - LOUDSPEAKER

I remember the first PS Audio product: a simple phono stage. It was so simple - a passive RIAA eq filter flanked by a pair of primitive op-amps - that when the schematic was made public, I built one myself; I was in the midst of my DIY years. I thought it was, to use a word from that time, nifty.

- KALMAN RUBINSON

Paul McGowan went on to other things and other companies, eventually reviving PS Audio and building it into its present form with a wide range of interesting and substantive products. Most recently, PS Audio added a line of loudspeakers inspired by Paul's erstwhile partner in other ventures, the late Arnie Nudell.

The PS Audio Aspen speaker line has four models, three 3-way floorstanders (FR30, FR20, FR10) and a single two-way standmount (the FR5, $3499/pair). All the Aspen speakers share the same 2.5" planar magnetic tweeter, but the three-ways differ in the number of tweeters, the size of their planar magnetic midrange drivers, and the number and size of woofers and passive radiators. The FR5 eschews a midrange but retains the same 2.5" tweeter mated to a 6.5" polypropylene-cone midwoofer and a 6x9" passive radiator. The FR5, then, is the outlier in the Aspen range, not only in being a standmount but also in lacking the planar magnetic midrange driver that's the defining feature in the rest of the Aspen range. Because a midrange driver was excluded, the midwoofer operates higher in frequency (up to 1750Hz) than the similar cone drivers in the larger designs.

I chose to review the FR5 because I think making a successful small speaker is harder than making a successful large speaker. Once I received them, I liked them right away because of their clean, no-nonsense design and their common-sense engineering-modern lines shaped by modern ideas.