Fyne Audio F5E speakers
The thought of a sub-£400 coaxial driver loudspeaker had me intrigued, but that’s the selling price of Fyne Audio’s latest model, a compact stand-mount two-way but featuring their Iso-Flare coaxial technology. Could a design at this level be any good, and were they wise to put their reputation on the line at this level, I wondered?
Fyne Audio
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 high-end audio companies. Named after Loch Fyne, about two hours from Glasgow, Fyne Audio was founded in 2017 but can claim a long and distinguished pedigree because of its founding fathers.
Notably among them audio guru Dr. Paul Mills who among other research is notable 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 been joined by the up-and-coming talent of his son, Christopher, so the company’s future seems assured with a new generation of enthusiastic input.
Design
The Fyne F5E is the brand’s new entry-level speaker; there are no longer any non IsoFlare driver speakers in its portfolio. At £399 for the pair, the F5E represents the lowest priced IsoFlare-equipped speakers Fyne has ever produced. It draws acoustic inspiration from the dinky little Vintage 5 model, another diminutive stand-mount featuring a five-inch unit and the marque’s proprietary Basstrax porting system.
At its heart, the new model relies on a 125mm driver made of a material described as multi fibre’, so likely a wood/paper mix and boasting a Fyneflute (where do they get these names?) surround with variable geometry’ intended to avoid unwanted energy reflections back into the drive unit. In the centre lies a 19mm titanium dome compression tweeter, crossing over at a lowish 1.8kHz using a second-order low-pass, first-order high-pass network.
Another key facet of the F5E drawn from more expensive models is its Basstraxx, an internal, downward-firing port acting against a cone to push air through a series of vents. Among the benefits is reduction, even elimination, of boundary issues which increases flexibility of in-room positioning – so bookshelf or on-wall placement should be possible.
The F5E’s -6dB frequency response is given as 55Hz to 38kHz so I was pretty sure that I would not be suffering any of the bass boom issues I sometimes encounter in my room from designs with a wayward bottom end. Sensitivity is given as 87dB/W so not as easy to drive as other models in the range although the Hegel H190 took it in its stride and I had no issues with amplifier matching, not least because the nominal impedance is a healthy 8 ohms.
The aesthetics are, shall we say, angled towards function. The F5E’s black ash cabinets looking perhaps more professional than domestic, but personally I like their style. These are, after all, audio transducers, and not pieces of art to decorate a room. Far too many loudspeakers concentrate on looks at the expense of sonics.
Install
The F5Es were supplied factory-fresh so I left them running for a good two weeks with a variety of programme material including some of my favourite internet radio stations until listening and testing began in earnest.
Initially sited on a pair of Custom Design stands built for the similarly-sized LS3/5As, I concluded that they were not tall enough given that the on-axis point of the F5E was the centre of the tweeter and this is considerably lower than with a separate tweeter. I therefore adjusted my usual listening position to compensate, noting that a wall-fixing kit is supplied for the F5E for those who wish. This is quite a bonus and gives the speakers increased flexibility of placement.
First thoughts
I was delighted to discover that the F5Es were anything but ‘boom and tizz’ loudspeakers. Too many cheaper, smaller designs tend towards this to generate listener excitement, at least in the dealership. The overall balance leans towards neutrality if not with as much warmth as I experience with the LS3/5A although that’s a model costing around ten-times as much so there has to be a compromise.
Listening to some radio drama, I was struck by the imaging abilities of the F5E. Even if there was not as much resolution of low-level inner detail as the BBC design can extract from a recording, the Fyne design has the ability to create realism from the world of make-believe. For the price, the F5E does a remarkable job and clearly embodies all that Fyne Audio’s R&D team hold dear about loudspeaker design. I kept thinking that there was no way that I could create anything half as good for the price, and that’s the selling price. The manufacturing cost of the F5E will be less, a lot less – helped by production being based in the Far East and from economies of scale which the DIY speaker builder doesn’ t have. In fact, I doubt that even the cabinet could be sourced for the F5E’s total cost if it were produced in the UK or Europe.
Panel assembles
I switched to the Hegel H600 for the panel session, if only so we could use the Qobuz Connect feature, as opposed to Airplay which I had used during run-in via the H190. As the listeners arrived, I was enjoying Ravel’s String Quartet (Cleveland Quartet on Telarc from 1985) and marvelling at the way the fluidity of the work’s texture was conveyed through these budget boxes. The panel remarked on the honesty of the music’s dramatic fluctuations and its melodic appeal to produce genuine listener involvement, not least the snappy scherzo folk dance. All that was created appeared in the correct proportion and nothing was unduly out of place such as to grate on the mind and spoil the enjoyment of the quartet’s lustrous sound as it ravished the ears.
While I made the coffee, the panel upped the tempo with Katy Perry’s Last Friday Night an old favourite from a hi-fi store I used to visit. As their feet tapped, the bassline seemed more than adequate while the guitars chugged and sparkled and the Basstraxx technology spared us unwanted port noise. The keyboards zoom and fizz with excitement for listener involvement on a track noted for dry and rather utilitarian drums which the F5E handled with aplomb. The slick vocals were reproduced without aberration and stereo imaging was rated highly by the panel. This track has obviously gone through post-production stages but the overall effect via the Fyne boxes was one of entertainment that left us wanting more. That’s quite an accolade for a loudspeaker at this price point.
Moving to Armand van Helden’s dance track I Want Your Soul and an ambitious composition for small drive units in compact cabinets. Nonetheless the little F5Es held their own with this club-friendly house anthem. Most impressive was handling of the dynamics with the massive staccato bassline reproduced with more authenticity and low-end grunt than we were expecting, it remaining controlled at all times. Producing wayward bass is easy, harder is what Fyne have achieved here.
Rounding off with Nils Lofgren’s dazzling acoustic guitar virtuosity, on the tribute to Keith Richards, that is Keith Don’t Go live. This energetic performance showcases his expressive vocals and storytelling and the F5Es were able to bring the performance to the listening room with more realism than we were expecting. The midrange detail was exemplary with stunning clarity maintained and sublime string sounds. The atmosphere of the venue was enough to bring the recording alive in a remarkable way
As the panel departed, I returned to my more usual repertoire and settled down to András Schiff playing Schubert’s 4 Impromptus (D. 899) since this is an instrument that so many affordable loudspeakers fail to reproduce well. The F5Es made a valiant effort with this tricky material and didn’t have me reaching for the pause button. The result was far from shabby although it did reveal some of the compromises that have to be made to create a loudspeaker at this level, yet the qualities of Fyne’s larger and more costly models shine through and allowed me to enjoy this deeply introspective, lyrical, and masterfully articulated performance on a Franz Brodmann fortepiano.
Conclusion
The designers of the Fyne Audio F5E have done a great job in bringing their technology down to this price level. The result is more musical than we were expecting and, while these are no studio monitors, what they do they do with professional accomplishment. I relish as much what they do as what they manage to avoid: no out-of-control bass and no fizzing, sibilant treble which affects vocals and speech and is the nemesis of lesser designs out there.
Fyne have done well to produce something for users of its larger designs to use in secondary listening locations: study, kitchen, caravan, student accommodation and the like. The F5E will also get wannabe audiophiles on the first rung of the Fyne ladder and that’s a very shrewd marketing tactic.
The panel praised the F5Es sound while I appreciated what they did to the extent that I lived with them for much longer than I have with many a design costing many times as much. This is a lot of competent loudspeaker for the money and a model worthy of a Best Buy status if ever there was.