Fyne Audio F501
Fyne Audio might be one of the newer kids on the hi-fi block, but its design and engineering team have been working together in other contexts for years. As a result, the F501s look, feel and, most crucially, sound like the product of a company building on a great deal of experience and expertise.
Physical prowess
At 98cm tall, 20cm wide and 32cm deep, the F501s are of unremarkable dimensions for a product of this type. And in terms of build quality and finish, they’re exactly what a £1000 floor stander needs to be – sturdily made, from the chunky locking spikes beneath the substantial plinth all the way along the gently curved Mdf-beneath-real-woodveneer cabinets. Finish is smooth and seamless; the veneer feels as good as it looks, and the shiny silver band above the port system at the bottom of the cabinet is subtle rather than showy.
A two-and-a-half-way design using a 25mm tweeter, 15cm mid-bass driver and 15cm bass driver, nominal impedance of 8 ohms and 90db sensitivity won’t raise any eyebrows here, but Fyne Audio has brought some interesting thinking to bear with the tweeter. It’s a highly rigid titanium dome that sits in the throat of the mid-bass driver in an arrangement Fyne calls Isoflare.
At the bottom of the cabinet, Fyne has employed a downward-firing port above a carefully profiled, conical diffuser to convert the standard plain-wave port energy into a 360-degree wave front. The aim is to disperse the port’s response more evenly and make the speaker less picky about its position in your room.
Unlike many rivals, Fyne has considered what happens to the grilles once you’ve whipped them off. As on the front, the rear of the cabinet has magnets so the grilles can be stored there.
It’s safe to say the thoughtful Fyne approach makes the speakers pretty forgiving of room position, but we find the F501s to be happiest out in some free space, and toed in just a fraction.
Diana Krall’s version of Almost Blue is a high-gloss hi-fi recording, with varied piano and close-mic’d vocal supported by stand-up bass and economical guitar – and the F501s absolutely lap it up.
There’s a broad, well-defined sound stage, solid stereo focus and a lavish amount of detail. No nuance of Krall’s phrasing, no creak of double-bass fretboard is ignored.
But, while they’re borderline-fanatical about laying out the last scrap of information, the F501s don’t sacrifice the coherence of a performance. Timing and integration are excellent.
Upping the assertiveness quotient more than somewhat, a switch to Burn With Me by DJ Koze allows the F501s to show off their beautifully even tonality. The cleverly judged crossover points mean, from the bottom of the frequency range to the top, there’s no noticeable gear-change to the F501s’ delivery. This, along with the sweet timing and transparency of their sound, makes the picture the Fyne Audios paint absolutely convincing. Bear in mind though, that these speakers sound best above background-music volume levels.
True Rhapsody
Moving to the Deutsche Grammophon recording of Rhapsody In Blue by the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Leonard Bernstein not only allows the F501s to again demonstrate their fine grasp of timing but also their dynamic prowess.
Rhapsody is full of attention-seeking shifts from ruminative piano to full-orchestra outrage, and the F501s handle each with confidence. They snap into the leading edges of notes with drive and attack, and exit with similar alacrity.
We pose the Fynes a number of other musical challenges and they negotiate each with ease, combining low-frequency punch, speed and body with top-end crispness and substance. The 501s’ top end isn’t impossible to provoke, but as long as you avoid lean partnering electronics, you’ll be in for a real treat.