What Hi-Fi?: Fyne Audio F502SP Speakers are a Thrill Ride
Posted by The Sound Organisation on Jan 9th 2023
Capitalizing on the success of the F500 Series and the F700 Series speakers, Fyne Audio has gradually introduced the F500SP series which blends the two series into a whole new speaker. The F502SP speakers are more than just a simple facelift on the base F502 floorstanders, though. While the SP (Special Production) speakers do feature the premium piano-gloss lacquer finish, the internals borrow a lot of the components and technology from the higher-end F700 series, creating a very attainable audiophile-quality floorstanding speaker. Writers at What Hi-Fi? recently got their hands—erm, ears—on a pair and have shared their thoughts in a recent article.
"Essentially, Fyne Audio’s engineers have taken the standard model and upgraded pretty much everything while keeping to the same basic design and dimensions. Think of it as ‘hot-rodding’ taken to an extreme. All SP models are hand-built in the UK, which accounts for some of the price differential too."
While the Special Production series has been around for a few years now, Fyne Audio has seen notable success in the line and has been working to release new speakers in the series to meet the demand. First came the F501SP, then followed by the F500SP standmount with the FS6 stand, and now the latest entry, the F502SP. While sharing the same physical footprint as the base F502, the F502SP features the premium driver set seen in the F702: an 8" IsoFlare point source driver with multi-fiber base/midrange cone, surrounding the 25mm magnesium dome compression tweeter with a neodymium magnet system and another 8" multi-fiber bass cone. Both 8" cones feature Fyne's proprietary FyneFlute surround around the code, which helps minimize physical distortion by isolating the cone from mis-termination at certain frequencies. While some of that may seem like marketing buzzwords and esoteric jargon, the proof is in the sound quality.
"These Fynes reveal an impressive amount of detail and arrange all that information in a cohesive and controlled way. There’s a crisp snap to the leading edge of notes and the ability to paint the rest of the sound envelope properly. This is a colourful presentation that’s bold and confident...Pleasingly, those lows are agile as well as rich and powerful. Don’t think that the rest of the presentation falls short. There’s plenty of attack at all frequencies and a surefooted ability to convey rhythmic drive that makes most alternatives sound imprecise and a bit half-hearted. Analyse the midrange and you will find that it is impressively crisp and clear."
The downsides? Well, with any speaker this size, you'll need a room big enough to unlock their greatest potential. Smaller rooms may be overpowered by the powerful bass response, and care will be needed in proper placement. Also, you'll need a sizeable amplifier to power the F502SP speakers. While Fyne recommends an ampliifer with 30-200 Watt RMS to drive the F502SPs, What Hi-Fi found that they needed a high-quality, powerful amp to really get the most of our the speakers. But, if you've got a lot of "horsepower" in your amplifiers and a room ready to handle these sizable speakers, it is hard to go wrong with the Fyne Audio F502SP floorstanding speakers, especially at this price point!