Fyne Audio F55E speakers
“Standby to receive some small floorstanding loudspeakers to try”, said the Editor. “Floor-standing?”, I enquired, “But you know my new room can’t cope with floorstanders!” It was thus with some trepidation that I welcomed the delivery drivers carrying two cartons up my path and unpacked a pair of Fyne Audio’s latest creation: the F55Es.
In fact, the contents were more compact than the outer boxes suggested and the F55Es are diminutive when it comes to floorstanding loudspeakers, standing under a metre tall with a footprint of just 23.6 x 21cm, so taking up less floor space than my usual bookshelf monitors on their stands. They also have what can only be described as a modest price point of £900.
At this point I should probably declare that I have been a standmount monitor user since I joined the BBC way back and they were the standard fare in broadcast studios. That’s not to say that I haven’t been blown away by the occasional well-executed floorstanding speaker, usually those costing more, much more, than my everyday monitors though.
But Fyne Audio appear to have been rather clever with the F55Es in that this 2.5-way unit is not only slimline but features a downwards-firing reflex port (above a chunky plinth) to deflect low frequency energy around the room; features that should allow it to be used in locations where other floorstanding designs excite room acoustics.
As we have come to expect from the Scottish marque, the F55E features its Isoflare drivers with the tweeter in the throat of the mid/bass cone where a phase plug would otherwise sit. The F55E is the brand’s lowest-priced floorstander to feature the concentric drive unit.
A Fyne reputation
Founded in 2017, Fyne Audio was created by audio-industry professionals many of whom had links to Tannoy, the famous British speaker brand. Their mission was to deliver ground-breaking loudspeakers, designed and researched in Scotland. Since inception, the team has continued to advance coaxial point-source-driver technology, building on their former experience, under the guidance of Dr. Paul Mills, whose design expertise in this field is second to none. They have full control over development and manufacture of their cabinets and, importantly, drive units. This is far from another case of making boxes for off-the-shelf drivers.
With roots tracing back over 30 years across a number of top-tier audiophile brands, the Fyne Audio team has huge experience and was forced to acquire larger premises, close to Glasgow, to keep up with growing global demand for its products. Manufactured near Loch Fyne, hence the company name, the brand is one that was born out of a happy coincidence by a talented team that fled Tannoy after a takeover there by Music Tribe in 2015, the parent company of Behringer and other audio companies.
Chief audio guru Dr. Paul Mills is noted, among other research, for his work in deep-freeze cryogenic treatment and its benefit to crossover networks. In the company’s purpose-built lab, the research team refined the process to bring its cryogenic treatment to ever lower price points. Dr Mills has now been joined by the up-and-coming talent of his son, Christopher, so the company benefits from a new generation of equally enthusiastic input.
Design
The drive units at the heart of the F55E are a 125mm Isoflare mid/bass with central 19mm titanium dome compression tweeter, augmented by another 125mm bass driver, each featuring paper/fibre cones with Fyneflute surround which aims to suppress resonances. These crossover at 350Hz and 1.8kHz using a 2nd-order low-pass, 1st-order high-pass network to create a quoted response of 42Hz to 38kHz.
The F55E has a nominal 8 ohm impedance and an acceptable 88dB sensitivity which should make it a good match for a wide variety of amplifiers, with Fyne suggesting only a modest 30-120W being needed. Full-length black grilles are included and may be fitted for those who like that kind of thing.
Room positioning is a cinch thanks to the overall design and the proprietary downward-firing port, with Fyne’s own tractrix diffuser. Keeping the speakers away from the room corners, as is good practice, it was nonetheless possible to have them positioned quite close to the rear wall; closer than I had thought and certainly nearer than would be possible with most floorstanders.
I found that suitable toe-in (angling of the speakers) to keep the listener very much on-axis was preferred and that the off-axis response dropped off more than I am used to, notably in the all-important presence region (5kHz). The price is kept highly competitive by the cabinet being constructed from MDF, with internal bracing and acoustic damping, with a black ash vinyl finish, although a walnut-effect option is scheduled. Manufacture is in the Far East, but not China. Fyne have opted for Indonesia.
Panel tunes in
Ensuring the F55Es were run-in, I had set them up and left them running, connected to a Hegel H190, with programme material (courtesy of Radio 3) for several days before the panel assembled. During this time I grew to admire their attributes: an ability to project a convincing soundstage, more bass than I am used to (this clean and detailed) and a wonderful ability to draw me into the performance.
Imaging was realistic if cold speech not quite as on-point as I enjoy from my usual monitors which are, admittedly, about five-times the price of the F55Es. Bass output was well integrated to provide lovely bottom-end grunt and controlled sufficiently to avoid the room ‘taking off’ or a muddled bass ensuing.
Ahead of the panel’s arrival I connected the mighty Hegel H600 (300W/ch no less), principally so that we can make use of Qobuz Connect. The F55Es rose to the occasion, rather to my surprise. Sometimes ‘budget’ loudspeakers can do no more when expensive electronics are added. But here we clearly benefited from aspects of Fyne Audio’s flagship technology which has been implemented in this modest design.
I wanted the panel to hear a track I found utterly absorbing via the F55Es and we began with Erik Satie’s Gymnopédies (Guilherme Veroneze from 2023) where the gentle, lilting and melodic piano benefits so much from the F55Es extended bass. This work can sound thin and uninvolving on similarly-priced standmount loudspeakers, but the Fynes bring it alive, adding weight, authority and emotion.
While I made the coffee, the panel turned up the tempo with Lady Gaga’s Disease (from the 2025 album Mayhem) and, wow. The speed, the agility and the involving bassline was intoxicating. We moved these little speakers further apart to create a huge, room-filling sound replete with deep, rich bass and powerful vocals which cut through the mix. The F55Es were clearly very much at home here.
Stunning
To conclude a protracted session, we ended with Queen’s Jealousy (from Jazz) and it brought a tingle to the back of my neck as I was taken back to a performance of the band in my youth. Timing was spot on, the vocals intimate and emotive while the overall ability to communicate the music was off-the-scale for a transducer of this size and price. Stunning, said the panel and I agree. It was so good that we listened again at considerably increased volume and were pushed back into our seats by the power of the clean and communicative bass. Again, this is clearly the F55Es home territory, rather than with a Radio 4 drama or the soundtrack from Heartbeat.
When the panel left, I unpacked an Atoll pre/power combo which had just arrived and connected the AM300 EVO and ST300 from France. I like the design, construction and above all the sound quality of Atoll. They proved a delightful pairing for the F55Es and the system really sang. Thereby proving that Fyne’s diminutive floorstanders are really quite unfussy about the electronics they are asked to work with and the musical source material. From baroque, piano, full orchestra or oratorio through to pop vocalists and heavy rock, the F55Es take it all on and produce a lifelike sound of enormous weight and character to truly entertain.
Win win
In the F55E, Fyne Audio have managed to create not only something of an audiophile bargain but a floorstanding loudspeaker that will work well in settings where many similar-looking designs would not.
I did not suffer any bass boom from the F55E, despite winding up the wick to neighbour-disturbing levels (purely for testing purposes!). The overall sound is one of scale, the more surprising given the compact nature of the cabinets and size of drive units.
These are not, nor do they pretend to be, broadcast monitors; their character is wildly different from typical examples. Rather than encouraging the listener to analyse the sound spectrum, the F55Es produce an overall musical experience of deep involvement with lovely timing credentials and more bass than you would think possible given their size. Capable of transporting the listeners to the recording venue and immersing them in the performance, warts and all, is how the panel described the F55Es.
The F55Es are capable of a big sound and one with lots of detail. The listening panel loved them for all they could do and when I mentioned the price, they thought that was for each speaker, not the pair. Added to which, with the F55Es there’s no requirement to spend any additional funds on stands. Truly, a win-win! So, a deserved Best Buy in every respect for the Fyne Audio F55E is assured from both panel members and myself along with a hearty recommendation to try a pair.
Pros
Exceptional value: At £900 per pair, the review describes them as an “audiophile bargain.” The listening panel even mistook the pair price for a per-speaker price.
Compact footprint: Standing under a meter tall and taking up less floor space than most bookshelf monitors on stands, they are ideal for small rooms where space is at a premium.
Easy room integration: The downward-firing reflex port with a tractrix diffuser allows the speakers to be placed close to rear walls without inducing the “bass boom” typical of rear-ported designs.
Point-source imaging: Utilizing Fyne’s Isoflare technology (concentric drivers), these speakers provide a convincing soundstage and realistic imaging that draws the listener into the performance.
Deep, agile bass: Despite their diminutive size, they produce intoxicating and room-filling bass that offers weight and authority to piano and rock music alike.
Versatile with electronics: They performed well with a variety of amplifiers, from modest units to high-end systems like the Hegel H600, proving they are not fussy about the electronics they are paired with.
Emotional involvement: The review highlights a high “tingle factor,” noting the speakers’ ability to communicate the emotion and timing of a performance rather than just providing a clinical analysis.
Cons
Narrow sweet spot: The off-axis response drops off significantly, particularly in the presence region (5kHz). This requires precise toe-in to keep the listener on-axis for the best audio quality.
Non-analytical character: They are designed for musical involvement rather than critical analysis. Those seeking a neutral, broadcast-style monitor for technical listening may find the character too colourful for their needs.
Budget aesthetics: To keep the price competitive, the cabinets are finished in black ash vinyl rather than premium real wood veneers.
Speech clarity: While musical imaging is strong, the reviewer noted that “cold speech” was not quite as on-point or precise as more expensive, dedicated studio monitors.