Montreal Audio Show - anyone hear the FR30’s?

No that is not the way to do it:

"home theater amp with the mic and software."

The way to do it that will get more SQ that any speaker manufacturer can offer no matter how much money you throw at them.

When some manufacturers go to the customer and set up the speaker for them as good they can. That is good but there is only so much you can gain by moving (fine tune) it 5 cm here and there and I could not make a blind test and hear 5 cm.. if not in very specific situation)

If someone high end manufacturer instead sell a speaker without any wastfull passive crossover components.

And instead sell a speaker package with a DSP (and maybe amplifiers no problem for example PS audio that makes amplifiers) and when they come home to you they will make the placement make the sweet spot as wide/narrow as the customer wants or give him presets to be able to alter it.

Setting the time alignment between the drivers, fixing the crossovers, using dedicated amplifiers for each speaker driver/s when there is amplifies that is sounding best in the midrange then use the best sounding amp for bass, midrange and tweeter.

Also set and adjust presets for different types of music and what the specific customer like! Hard to beat the ability to tailor the sound after one specific costumer preferences.

Adjust with the DSP for the biggest physical component as the room is and it has also one of the biggest impact on the SQ <- just there.. there is no speaker manufacturer that can like a camelia adapt to each room and the placement in that specific room. 

Now we are talking about taking the SQ a step further that is nothing that is done by any manufacturer and only some hobbyist like me for example so I am talking from experience.

But please go on and move speakers in and out of your room that just have different woofer and box sizes and materials. That is trial and error and will not yield any different results. 

 This is a free idea that someone can adopt and incoperate in their offering. Like i wrote it is a missed opertunity from PS audio and a safer way to go.. to make it the way speaker manufacturers has always done it but what have we gained since IRS V then.. nothing when looking at a higher level perspective.

Regarding PS Audio not showing at Axpona, a $10k loss when the show was canceled is certainly a hit, but in the grand scheme of PS Audio's total revenue, especially when it is amortized over the two years without shows, that is not a big loss. These were also two years when their sales likely flourished due to audiophiles being stuck at home during Covid. I suspect their decision not to go to Axpona is based on principle or ego. The $10k will come back to them in the sale of a handful of power conditioners.

That said, it may be a fortuitous decision. I visited their room in Montreal several times, sitting in many positions as well as walking around the room and I think their speaker still needs work. That, or as Optimize suggested above, a lot of room treatment or DSP.

I was in the PS Audio room at the Montreal Audiofest several times over the course of Saturday, stood and sat in different spots in the big room, with varying amounts of people present.  They were tough to pin down on things like imaging and soundstage, and during one particularly crowded visit I honestly thought they had been wired out of phase.  But what bothered me is, in white, the smoothness and gloss of the finish actually made them look like plastic.  Like enormous versions of cheap desktop iSpeakers on either side of your monitor.

@bkeske

I wonder what Paul is doing with his IRS V’s now?

He moved them into another listening room at PS Audio. He will never get rid of them. Mean too much to him.

Thanks.

Nice to have speakers like that along with them being a barometer for his own efforts.

Does Apple's design team do free-lance work on the side?