STORGAARD AND VESTSKOV FRIDA STANDMOUNT SPEAKERS REVIEW

Storgaard and Vestskov Frida standmount speakers are beautiful looking 15 500 Euros loudspeakers from a Danish brand that will be new to many readers. Always on the lookout for new and interesting brands, Stuart had them at HiFi PiG Towers for an extended period to give them a whirl and report on their performance.

Although I’ve been aware of this Danish brand for some time now, it was at the Warsaw Show in 2024 when I was first fortunate enough to listen to them and immediately requested a review pair – something we rarely do. What grabbed my attention was the attention to detail in the speakers’ finish, the sound (though we’ll leave listening to kit at shows and calling it a review to others), and the sheer professionalism of the team involved. Branding was spot on, the room was dressed properly, they had well-dressed folk outside the room inviting people in to listen, and plenty of others to answer any questions visitors to the room might have – and I noticed they took the conversations outside the room so as not to disturb those already in there listening, something I wish others would follow. Anyway, I was impressed by the whole package and this is important for brands looking to get good quality distribution in key markets, let alone a foothold in this very busy sector of the industry. 

As Storgaard & Vestskov is a relatively new company and may not be widely known to readers of HiFi PiG, I thought it relevant to speak to Casper Vestskov Poulsen, CEO, Founder, and designer of the speakers, to delve into the origins of the company and, more specifically, the design philosophy behind FRIDA.

“Storgaard & Vestskov began as a family dream, driven by a shared passion for sound and craftsmanship. With over 25 years of experience in precision CNC manufacturing, I partnered with my brother-in-law, Kim Storgaard, who brings decades of expertise in sound reproduction and speaker building.

Our philosophy is simple: ‘Sound that Matters.’ It’s the foundation of everything we create, using only the best components possible. As a designer, I aim to create speakers that blend exceptional performance with timeless, furniture-like aesthetics.

This vision is fully realised in FRIDA, which is my personal favourite. Designed in 2022, our goal was to create a powerful bookshelf speaker that could reach 30Hz while offering a large soundstage.

FRIDA’s drivers were developed through countless hours of listening tests and precise measurements. The crossovers are constructed using only high-quality components, with the goal of delivering uncoloured, authentic sound that truly connects you to the music.”

DESIGN AND FINISH OF THE STORGAARD AND VESTSKOV FRIDA LOUDSPEAKERS

The current lineup of speakers from Storgaard and Vestskov runs to just three loudspeakers, the FRIDA standmounts that are the focus of this review, and a couple of floor standers – GRO ( a two-way model), and FENJA ( a three-way). All the speakers are immaculately finished with a matte bamboo finish and the high gloss version you see here that has 18 coats of clear varnish that are sandpapered with 800-grit sandpaper between each coat to ensure an incredible level of gloss. Photos don’t do these speakers justice! 

I mentioned the bamboo finish and at first I thought that was a kind of odd choice, but this is no ordinary bamboo, this is Tiger Bamboo Extreme, presumably named as such for the stripes you can see. The Tiger Bamboo is, in fact, a combination of carbonised bamboo and natural bamboo strips and, of course, each panel is unique meaning that each speaker is unique to the end user. This latter point may seem like a small point, but I maintain that more and more people are looking for audio solutions that both work in their living space and are a talking point – it’s lifestyle, Jim, but not as we know it! Bamboo is a very interesting material and one that we’ve seen used before in loudspeakers, notably in the JoSound speakers we reviewed many years ago. Bamboo has a tensile strength that is three to four times that of the majority of commercially available woods, and the bending strength is double that of most woods, though bamboo is, of course, actually a grass.  And bamboo can be seen as an ecologically sound material in that it can grow up to three feet a day and can reach maturity in only three to five years – and when it’s cut down it just grows again, as our long abandoned backfield will testify. From a sonic perspective, bamboo would (on paper) look to be an excellent material from which to construct loudspeakers. 

That front baffle on the speakers is machined in-house from aircraft-grade aluminium on the Island of Bornholm by Storgaard and Vestskov on 5-axis CNC machines. It looks rather splendid in the Bentley copper finish on the front baffle of the speakers we had – and, yes, Bentley has permitted them to use this name. As well as looking lovely, the design and pattern of the front panel are designed for “optimal sound reproduction.” Should you prefer, you can have the front panel in metallic matte black or silver, though any automotive colours with a colour code can be produced.

Around the back of the speakers you have a panel for the single pair of WBT binding posts and inside the speakers are wired with Van den Hul copper/silver cables. Above this panel is the bass reflex port that is matched to the colour of the front panel. 

Shape-wise the front panel is angled backwards towards the top and the top panel is angled downwards towards the front which makes for an interesting-looking loudspeaker.

The supplied pair of speakers came with optional matching stands made from the Bentley copper finish aluminium with a matching inlay of Tiger Bamboo on the baseplate. 

Packaging was excellent! 

They are compact at 22cm wide and 35cm high, but quite deep at 34cm. Weight without the 8Kg stands is reassuringly hefty 12.5Kg. 

Long story short, I simply cannot fault the way these speakers look or how they are put together. The matching stands are lovely, too.

The FRIDA speakers are 87dB sensitive and Storgaard and Vestskov recommend an amplifier with an output of 30-200w – I used our reference Electrocompaniet AW800 M power amplifier. Impedance of FRIDA is 6 – 8 ohms and they have a claimed frequency response of 32Hz to 38KHz. 

Mids and bass are handled by a custom 5-inch woven mineral cone with a centre “bullet” that is incorporated to “reduce compression due to temperature variations in the voice coil. The tops are handled by a 38mm ring radiator tweeter with everything being pulled together by a 12dB Linkwitz/Riley crossover with T.I.M. reduction circuits incorporated. 

SOUND OF THE STORGAARD AND VESTSKOV FRIDA STANDMOUNT SPEAKERS

The recommended distance from the back wall for these speakers is 30-60 cm and our layout dictated we were at the 60cm extreme. The amp used throughout was the Electrocompaniet AW800 M with our LEEMA LIBRA DAC/PRE and Auralic Aries G1 Streaming Transport. The speakers were run in prior to them arriving but were given plenty of time to acclimatise to the room and were run in with me DJing through them before any critical listening took place – this is pretty much usual practice for any speakers that come through the door. 

I suppose it’s a good thing to give you an idea of what I expected from these speakers. Given their size, I was expecting them to be very good at imaging, but limited in bass output due to their size. This is pretty much the basics that I’d expect from any smaller standmount loudspeaker – so let’s see what the reality is. 

First up was a firm favourite in the HiFi PiG household in the shape of Todd Terry’s excellent breakbeat and bass-driven Resolutions album. This record was something of a departure for the house-centric Terry, but represents a good workout across the frequencies for any loudspeaker and here I’m using it to assess what I reckon to the bass response of these speakers. Like pretty much every speaker I have ever encountered, I found that FRIDA needed to be pushed a little to get bass I could feel. We aren’t speaking ear-bleeding volumes here, but there is a point where the bass comes alive and below this it kind of sits in the background a little. I stress, this is apparent in all loudspeakers and my comment should be understood with this taken into account. However, once they are at medium volume (as opposed to late-night “think of the neighbours” volume) the FRIDAs really do very well indeed for such a compact speaker. There’s a bit in the second track My Style) on this record that has a little bass flourish and you can clearly hear and feel when this comes in. Rear-ported speakers can sometimes feel as if they’re chugging away with a bass note that hardly varies, but with the FRIDAs and using this well-worn test track, it was easy to follow the very low bass. Whether or not they go down to 30Hz I don’t know, but I thoroughly enjoyed the bass response presented throughout this record. What I also enjoyed was that the bass wasn’t lost in the mix in any way – throughout, I could clearly pick out the basslines. One example of the latter is the track “Yo” featuring Cash Money which has a nagging, sampled contrabass line. At medium volumes, the line was easy to follow, but push that volume just a tad more and you do get to feel the bassline. I never felt the bass was overpowering at the expense of other frequencies – and this is a good thing! Let It Ride with Antoinette Robinson is more what most folk will understand by the term “Drum and Bass” and the FRIDA’s never skip a beat (pun thoroughly intended given that Terry is synonymous with skippy house beats). The bass on this track is more along the lines of a detuned 808 kick and the speakers get this across very well indeed – this is also apparent on the track I’m God. I’d go as far as to say that despite their size, these speakers really can do drum and bass very well and if that’s your sonic bag and you don’t have the space to accommodate gargantuan floorstanders, then these could well be right up your street. There is speed and accuracy to the bass and none of the overhang that I bang on about all the time. Whilst I’ve got this album on, I ought to mention a few other areas of FRIDA’s performance. Drum and bass often has crispy top end, with hats and snares that require speed and accuracy without being overbearing when played through a speaker. It’s very easy to sit in front of a speaker, play a drum and bass track and feel overwhelmed by a piercing top end – FRIDA does not have this in any way and whilst they feel and sound like they have everything from top to bottom represented as it should be, they never get to sound too much in the tops. Again this is a good thing and I end up listening to the whole of this record and thoroughly enjoying it. With this said, FRIDA is far from a polite and woolly offering.

Switching genres to a bit of hardcore and the excellent Bad Brains’ track Sacred Love. It’s very easy to hear how this track has been recorded, particularly in the drums – and this is a testament to the speakers being able to accurately portray the “psychoacoustic” (for want of a better word) space. The hit on the snare and the reverb are clear to hear and jump out as being very accurately portrayed by the speakers. The weird backward reverb (or whatever effect it is) on the chorus is another example of how these speakers manage to portray spatial effects in a record and get this across effectively to the listener. As I’m listening to this track I get the impression that someone in the team involved in the speakers’ design has spent time in recording studios, as they do come across as feeling like an excellent near/mid monitor – for sure, I’d have no qualms about mixing tunes on these speakers. Nothing on the speakers is jumping out at me as being pushed to the fore, but then everything seems to be audible and if you look into a mix you can see the element you are looking for and hear it. Analytical is a word bandied about in audiophile circles as being a bit of a negative, but I don’t get that! Surely, accuracy is something that is by definition what audiophiles are seeking! Whatever, I’d rather have a speaker like this that is true to the file it is presented with than something that is woolly and vague – something that cannot be levelled at FRIDA! After listening to Bad Brains’ whole album, I move on to Body Count and the speakers just get on with it and don’t get at all flustered where many do.

So, FRIDA can do drum and bass and they can do pretty hectic rock without throwing a hissy fit, but let’s move on to some other genres and see what’s going on.

Jazz Impressions of West Side Story on the El label is something that gets an airing every once in a while here at HiFi PiG Towers and America is pretty much always the track I skip to. There’s a set of claves at the start of the tune that are good to use to get a feel of how a speaker reflects the recording space and these speakers get this across very well. You do also hear what the instrument is made of and you hear that sharp but hollow sound exceptionally easily. These speakers are excellent at portraying one detail when isolated in the mix, but when things get hectic (as this track does later on) other percussive sounds don’t get lost in the mix – again, highlighting their high-end monitor feel. There is a bass horn (I’ll not pretend I know what it is) that goes LOW on this record and FRIDA doesn’t disappoint in getting this across to the listener. Contrabass is all there and well audible, despite being placed well back in the mix. But what grabs me as I look up from my notepad is that I glance over to the right-hand speaker to see where a particular higher-pitched noise is coming from but end up looking about three feet wide of where the speaker is actually sat – this ability to somewhat disappear and produce music and sounds beyond the speaker’s physical proportions is something many will enjoy and something I love with this kind of speaker. Soundstaging is something I was expecting these speakers to do very well, but what I found was beyond what I would reasonably expect. It’s a pretty realistic representation of the stage on this record and it seems clear that this track has been recorded in a hall-like recording space rather than from a traditional stage setting. This latter point is pretty difficult to convey, but shows (again) how these speakers manage to represent spaces in recordings. I listen to the rest of this record and loved how the timbre and feel of different instruments, particularly horns, are put out into the listening space.

Overall and with everything I sat and listened intently to, I got the impression that the speakers were representing what they were being fed with and without forcing anything to the fore. In this respect I can tell you that this is a very balanced and well-poised loudspeaker! From top to bottom, I never thought I was missing anything from our much bigger Audiovector R6s, with the caveat that the bigger speakers (naturally) go lower. However, what I did find was that I preferred the way the FRIDA speakers portrayed acoustic instruments and I did end up listening to a fair bit of jazz-oriented music on these speakers – shock and horror!

FRIDA does allow you to see into the recording and they are remarkably uncoloured. 

QUIBBLES

Whilst FRIDA performed very well with bass and I didn’t feel I was missing anything major, I’d need to get a measuring device to be convinced they go down to 30Hz without considerable roll-off. With that said (and I’ve said this before), if you listen in a normally proportioned space, too much low end can be a negative. Like anything, buy a product that suits the purpose and the way you are going to use it. 

Rear-port may dictate positioning to a greater or lesser extent.

CONCLUSION

This is a very good-looking loudspeaker to my mind, though a couple of folk didn’t like their looks when I posted photos on social media. I think they look very classy and exude an aesthetic quality that is clearly looking to attract those searching for understated elegance. The finish and attention to detail is well evident and highlighted by the team contacting me when I posted a photo on Facebook where there was a cat hair on one the binding posts – these people notice small details and that should give you confidence in how they are put together and inspected before leaving the factory. 

Sonically, I really enjoyed my time with FRIDA and there was even a conversation sparked by them about moving over to a standmount speaker when we finally move home. These are a very detailed, uncoloured, and well-proportioned sounding loudspeaker that really do deserve a place in the “high-end” marketplace. 

They are excellent from top to bottom with bass being fast, tight and accurate, but without dominating, though in very large rooms I think they would get a bit lost in this respect. 

Through the mids and all-important upper-mids they perform very well and in an almost monitor kind of way that I really enjoyed. 

Upper frequencies are similarly detailed and on-point without being forced or pushed to the point of sounding harsh. 

Soundstaging is realistic but (again) not overblown or overly exaggerated. 

Pricing is 15, 500 Euros which puts these into the kind money of the Wilson Tunetots I reviewed way back in December 2022 and awarded an Editor’s Choice gong. In fact, when I was listening to FRIDA, I did end up recalling my time with the Tunetots, though I obviously don’t remember what their exact sound was like –  I’d have loved to have been able to do a direct comparison between these two loudspeakers. For this reason alone, I have little other choice than to give these the highest award available. 

AT A GLANCE

Build Quality:

Impeccable build and finish with a real attention to detail from packaging to the finished product

An interesting and angular look that I liked but is not your normal square box design

I loved the colour and “wood” work. 

Sound Quality:

Excellent from top to bottom that is uncoloured and has a monitor kind of feel

Detailed but not harsh top-end

Exceptionally good through the mids and presence band leading to very realistic-sounding acoustic instruments

Bass is realistic for this size of speaker and tight 

Soundstaging is realistic and detailed without being overblown or exagerated

Value For Money:

A hard call without getting into a protracted discussion, but given their performance and finish when compared to similarly finished and sounding speakers, they are pitched about right in my opinion  

We Loved:

I listened to loads of music through these speakers and from lots of different genres and not once did I feel I was missing anything

Fit and finish are excellent

We Didn’t Love So Much:

Not a lot is the short answer…see quibbles above!

Elevator Pitch Review: A relatively new brand, Storgaard & Vestskov’s FRIDA is a high-quality and great-looking standmount speaker that costs 15, 500 euros. Sonically they perform beautifully with all genres of music and if you put them in a suitably proportioned room they will delight – and go well low enough in the bass without over-exciting the room. Fit and finish are exceptional from the packaging, right through to the speaker stands. 

Price: 15 500 euros

Stuart Smith

SUPPLIED BY STORGAARD AND VESTSKOV

SUPPLIED SPECIFICATIONS

Dimensions (cm):
22 W x 35 H x 34 D

Weight: 12.5 kg (27.5 lbs) (without speaker stand)

Accessories: a speaker stand in aircraft aluminum
Dimensions:
41.6 W X 69 H X 29.5 D
Weight: 8 kg (17.6 lbs)

Weight Shipping: 71 kg (156.5 lbs)

Placement From The Wall (cm): 30 – 60

Recommended Room Size (kvm2): 15 – 30

The Recommended Power Amplifier: 30 – 200 watts

Sensitivity: 87 dB

Nominal Average Impedance: 6 – 8 ohm

Frequency: 32 Hz – 38 kHz