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.

Beneath its smooth, immaculate surface, the FR5 is sturdily constructed. All six walls are heavily braced, with viscoelastic damping between the braces and the walls. No screwheads or mounting hardware are apparent because the two drivers are mounted to the inside of the enclosure and the front panel is attached from the back by deeply inset 13" shoulder screws, their heads hidden by white plastic inserts.