Why Fyne Audio F501 Speakers Should Be Your Next Buy
Posted by The Sound Organisation on Jul 17th 2020
Any given year, dozens—even hundreds—of new audio products hit the market. To make matters more complicated, the products come from established stalwarts, new start-ups, and everything in between. There's a lot of noise, and it can be hard to decide what to spend your money on; especially when quality audio products are substantial investment. Luckily, reviewers of all types get an opportunity to try out many of these products and your local hi-fi shops are great resources for finding the perfect component to your system.
Sometimes, you find a real gem: a set of speakers from a new start-up but with the pedigree of an older company; the quality of a real investment piece at a pricepoint that makes it easy to try out in your system guilt-free. That would describe the Fyne Audio F501 Floorstanding Speakers perfectly. At an MSRP of $1,795, these floorstanders offer a great value that hurts the bank account while offering superior performance that you'd expect from a company that's been around for a while. These spectacular loudspeakers come from young upstart Fyne Audio, and entered the scene back in 2017. What Hi-Fi? named them the Best Floorstander in the £1000-1500 category for 2018.
In their review, What Hi-Fi?'s reviewers.were initially impressed with the F501's fit in finish, noting that it was at the level you'd expect at this price point with a sturdy cabinet, smooth and seamless design, and subtle accents. But where the F501 really outpaces the competition is the technology and performance. The 500 series speakers feature Fyne's IsoFlare technology that preserve the time alignment between the tweeter and mid/bass drivers by placing the tweeter inside the mid/base cone. And the cones also have another trick up their sleeve: FyneFluting surrounds the cone and aids in dissapating energy and movement, which in turn reduces coloration or other unwanted resonances and improves musical accuracy. Further down, the BassTrax diffuser system in the bottom of the speaker creates a 360° wave that reduces the effects of the room, making the F501 less fussy about where it sits. One of the features of Fyne speakers that doesn't affect performance but improves quality of life is the magnetic grille that can be placed on front or attached to back when not in use. This makes for a handy spot to store your grille so you don't have to try to remember where you placed them after you took them off last.
But, how does all this technology sound in the F501 floorstander? Here's what they had to say:
But while they're borderline-fanatical about laying out the last scrap of information, the F501s don't sacrifice the coherence or unity of a performance in the process. Timing and integration are excellent, and the sympathetic responsiveness of the musicians is never understated or overlooked...The speakers' 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 unified tonality, along with the sweet timing and transparency of their sound, makes the picture the Fyne Audios paint absolutely convincing.
The reviewer granted the F501 speakers 5 stars along with the Best Speakers in class award, noting the superior fit and finish, the interesting technical aspects, and sound that is confident, detailed, revealings, and engaging.