Faithful to its coaxial architecture, British manufacturer Fyne Audio is offering a new addition to its range. Called the Fyne Audio F500 SP, it largely incorporates the solutions already used on the previous-generation F500. Once again, Fyne Audio has succeeded in offering this latest model with its luxurious white, black or natural walnut lacquer finishes at a particularly attractive price.
If there are a few similarities between the F500 SP and some of Tannoy’s products, this is hardly surprising. Indeed, many of the members of Fyne Audio’s Research & Development department came from the former Tannoy teams, before the brand was sold to a major foreign group. It is therefore natural to find a coaxial architecture close to that which made the reputation of Tannoy’s consumer loudspeakers.
This coaxial arrangement of the drivers, where the tweeter is housed in the centre of the woofer instead of its core cover, has the advantage of offering perfect phase coherence between the sound emitted by the tweeter and that emitted by the woofer. This is a major advantage in giving the sound image incomparable relief and precision in the spatial location of each of its elements.
Titanium dome tweeter and FyneFlute suspension
Despite the small dimensions and compact size of the small F500 SP, Fyne Audio wanted to give them features worthy of the best equipment. The brand has therefore taken great care in the design and construction of its loudspeaker. It’s based on a 150mm diameter woofer combined with a tweeter with a titanium dome. This metal gives it an excellent balance between mass and rigidity. Its very low mass means that Fyne Audio can claim a frequency response of up to 34 kHz for its small loudspeaker, which is quite remarkable in this product family and, above all, at this price. Note that the coaxial structure of this architecture also allows the woofer membrane to act as a horn for the tweeter. This optimises high-frequency reproduction. For the ‘handover’ between the woofer and tweeter, Fyne Audio chose a relatively low transition frequency of 1.7 kHz.
Special attention has also been paid to the design of the woofer. While it is based on a fairly conventional multi-fibre cone, it is the peripheral suspension that has benefited from the most in-depth studies. In fact, it’s more than just the traditional half-roll that gives the diaphragm plenty of travel. Oblique ribs stiffen it and, above all, optimise the movement of the cone during its greatest deflections. This specific feature ensures that the F500 SP holds up well in the deepest bass, while minimising the appearance of parasitic resonances. Finally, the woofer’s motor uses a double magnet, guaranteeing excellent hold during the most pronounced impulses and transients.
A vent at the base of the cabinet
The fact remains that, whatever the quality of the drivers used in a loudspeaker, the load associated with them determines their behaviour. Fyne Audio has opted for a bass-reflex type load. However, with such a configuration, there is always the problem of vent location. This parameter plays a fundamental role in the behaviour of the loudspeaker in relation to its location in the listening room. Here again, Fyne Audio has chosen an original solution. The vent is located under the cabinet. A counter-plate combined with a set of thick spacers ensures that there is plenty of space between the vent outlet and the floor or speaker support. In addition, a cone-shaped piece in front of the port optimises airflow movement and prevents the appearance of parasitic noise when reproducing the deepest bass frequencies. This choice guarantees excellent bass diffusion wherever the loudspeaker is placed.
Luxurious finishes
Finally, to match the interior design of the room where they will be installed, the F500 SP are finished to the highest quality. They are available in three versions: white piano lacquer, black piano lacquer or varnished walnut. Great care has also been taken with the terminals. There are four of them, to allow bi-wiring or even bi-amplification, and they accept both banana plugs and large cross-section cables.
The set up
Setting up the F500 SP is not particularly problematic. For them to express themselves fully, the ideal position is at least one metre from the corners of the room and about thirty centimetres from the wall. Ideally, they should be fitted with a quality, weighted stand. However, we found that they behaved very well whether placed on a piece of furniture or even directly on a rigid wall bracket.
The sound
As with any coaxial system, the strength of the F500 SP lies in its precision in the spatial localisation of the various elements of the soundstage. This was underlined by our traditional listening to William Russo’s ‘Three Pieces for Blues and Symphony Orchestra’ performed by the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra conducted by Seiji Ozawa. Despite the fairly pronounced reverberation in the San Francisco Opera House, each musician is perfectly located and stands out with great precision. The stereophonic space is thus rendered in a truly three-dimensional way, giving the sound image a seductive relief. The intervention of the triangle, heard during one of the work’s rare quieter and more subdued moments, is a perfect illustration of this behaviour. Not only is it perfectly positioned, slightly to the right of the centre of the sound space, but its crystalline note seems to come from far away, from the very depths of the hall, which it does.
This feeling of a lively, relief-filled sound image is further enhanced by the limpidity of the treble. The tweeter combines finesse and detail to illuminate the soundstage with a beautiful light. The sound reproduction is subtle and detailed without ever becoming aggressive. Vocals also have a precise and natural phrasing. The sensation of the singer’s presence is there. A presence that was highlighted when listening to Zaz’s ‘Dans ma rue’. We also noticed that the junction between the tweeter and the midrange was very smooth, without the slightest ‘hole’.
The listening experience thus benefits from excellent respect for the timbre of the voices. They are reproduced with a beautiful presence while retaining all their warmth, which is not always obvious.
Finally, the bass is surprisingly full and deep for speakers of this size. What’s more, it has the directness and impact usually reserved for models with larger diameter drivers. The woofer gives the reproduction an excellent foundation while retaining a great deal of liveliness. Here, the sound is straightforward and realistic, and never overly boomy, as is often the case with small units that want to be as big as the big ones and try to achieve this by delivering a bass that is in the foreground but lacks vigour. Far from this misleading behaviour, the F500 SPs deliver a realistic, well-structured bass. They even show great energy. Among other things, they provide the drum solo in Dave Brubb’s
Dave Brubeck’s ‘Take Five’ drum solo, for example, with a dynamic range more often found in large floorstanding speakers than in bookshelf cabinets.
Finally, the most recent musical styles do not destabilise them either. Listening to reggae tracks such as ‘Dis-le’ by Bazbaz or ‘Rafales’ by Bernard Lavilliers also proved that the F500 SPs knew how to ‘unleash the bass’ with a breadth that their low volume wouldn’t have suggested when the work called for it. Likewise, they willingly complied with the demands of electro music. A musical style that does not hesitate to explore the extremes of the audible spectrum. It’s a challenge that many loudspeakers, although well-suited to the reproduction of jazz or symphony orchestras, fail to meet.
Our conclusion
Simple to set up and versatile, these small speakers are perfectly adapted to meet the expectations of the most demanding enthusiasts. Despite their particularly small footprint, they offer a very high level of performance, which is sure to surprise fans of much larger units. Finally, Fyne Audio also offers the option of using them as satellite speakers, dedicated to reproducing ambient sound within a high-quality home cinema installation.
Author: Estève Fabry
Technical sheet: FYNE AUDIO F500 SP
- Origin: Great Britain
- Price: €1,600
- Dimensions: 200 x 323 x 320 mm
- Weight: 8.1 kg
- Recommended amplifier power: 30 W to 120 W
- Sensitivity: 90 dB (for 2.83 V at 1 m)
- Frequency response: 42 Hz to 34 kHz (at -6 dB)
- Connection frequency: 1.7 kHz
- Impedance: 8 ohms (3.7 ohms minimum)
