Anyone in the Netherlands with Measuring Equipment to Probe Fyne Audio F302?

[RitchieBitchie]

Hi all,

I bought a few months ago the Fyne Audio F302 floorstanders. Amps I run them with are Audiolab 6000a and a vintage Denon 480R. Sources: Spotify and CD.
I could not find any technical reviews with spectra, resonances, etc. Well, I bought them not for 'life', but on a budget to have something at the moment to enjoy music.

Many reviews from different countries say that they are awesome for the price, bass is not so deep but fast, and might be a bit forward.
Well, I like the midrange and highs performance, but the bass is totally lacking. Specs say 36Hz, but at -6db. Not even 50/60Hz I might actually hearing coming out of these; a relatively underwhelming speaker.

I was curious about the technical aspects and asked Fyne Audio for some more info and measurements. The answer:
"We find this a bit odd from our experience and magazine reviews of the product. We wonder how long the speakers have been used for, as they generally take 24 hours or so to run in.
Unfortunately the information you are looking for is deemed in house confidential. We would regard the addition of a subwoofer as not really necessary, but may be beneficial to some room environments or preference. "

Right...
So, I was thinking about two options. Either selling them and buy something else, or measure them and try to change XO and/or even add a separate (sub)woofer driver.
My curiosity leads me to wishing to measure them. I have though no equipment whatsoever.

Thus my question if some of you live in the Netherlands, have measurement equipment, and would like to measure with me these speakers together.

Cheers,
RJ

 

[Vict0r]

Maybe you're listening from a position that's smack dab in the middle of a null? Walk around the room and see where the room modes are hanging out. Good chance the bass will suddenly appear. If it does, it means the speaker is working fine but your room is working against it. Try re-positioning them.

 

[RitchieBitchie]

Hi Victor,
Thanks for the tip. I tried that with ~5 positions and it is not that no bass comes out and disperses in the room. But it's... meh.
BTW, I am not a home theater aficionado and expecting house-shattering bass. But these guys seem to fall short with low freq.

 

[Doodski]

It's only a 150mm multi-fibre bass/ mid driver. It only goes so good. Perhaps you need bigger speakers and PEQ.

 

[AlexanderM]

Add a Sub??

Fyne is the new Tannoy? I would like to listen to some of their speakers at some point.

 

[RitchieBitchie]

Hi Doodski & Alex,

I was thinking about a sub, but a good one might be more expensive than the speakers ;-) Also, I'd like to keep it (for now) simple; also for that reason I was going for floorstanders to escape the need of a sub. A 6" driver is surely limited in what it can achieve, but can be sufficient, considering also with plenty of box volume and ported design, able to do more than it is currently performing. A vintage speaker I have (Empire Audio) with 6" driver demonstrated the capability (but mids of this speaker is meh); night-and-day difference.

Indeed, some former Tannoy engineers founded Fyne, as far as I know.
I had no opportunity to listen to these in NL, so I took a chance.

 

[Rednaxela]

Sent you a PM.

 

[fineMen]

Hi all,

I bought a few months ago the Fyne Audio F302 floorstanders.

With 90dB for 1Watt these guys cannot do the bass. Even my 12" gold standard JBL drivers cannot do, they drop well below 84dB in the bass due to physics. Btw, do You know that the polarity of the electrical speaker connection counts? Maybe the drivers themselves are connected with a twist--I've seen that a few times before. (Test is easy, needs no tools.)

But, if the company would not tell what every half-way competent chap could find out in a minute, I would resell the product anyd never come back again. It is a hilarious effort to circumvent a clear information with so many individually chosen words ...

 

[Chester]

Everyone’s different but I just could not get on with the Fyne’s (I’ve owned several different models). I really wanted to as I liked the look and the company but they just sounded a bit naff, in my experience.

I would be selling them rather than messing about trying to get good sound from them.

 

[RitchieBitchie]

Hi FineMen & Chester,

Thanks for the suggestions and comments. I will quickly check the polarity.
Indeed, they look nice (minimalistic) and fit well with the dimensions, but then there are many other speakers out there that would.
I just feel very confused that many reviews are raving about this speaker (in that price category, of course).

EDIT: polarity checks out OK

 

[Koeitje]

I'd sell 'm, I've never heard a Fyne loudspeaker that sounded good nor have I seen measurements that looked acceptable.

 

[cavedriver]

I recently listened to the F502SP, and while significantly more expensive and larger than the 302, I will say their engineering for bass output was fairly good. Potentially a little muddier than other designs with having their bottom outlet tractrix cone, but a full and engaging sound with fairly good extension to at least 35 Hz. I'm not surprised they aren't meeting spec in the 302, though. That speaker seems too small to get decent outputs down to 36. But not getting down to 50~60 Hz sounds like a mechanical issue or room problem. They should play there at least ok. They probably don't measure with any slope in-room, though, probably more like flat or slightly rising. They are definitely very "forward" in the mids and highs without behind harsh or distorted. I need to listen to them again before I can give them a final up/down vote.

 

[cavedriver]

Hi FineMen & Chester,

Thanks for the suggestions and comments. I will quickly check the polarity.
Indeed, they look nice (minimalistic) and fit well with the dimensions, but then there are many other speakers out there that would.
I just feel very confused that many reviews are raving about this speaker (in that price category, of course).

EDIT: polarity checks out OK

I will add speakers are so personal. I've had several speakers spoken fairly high of, including ones measured here on this forum, that I felt were sufficiently flawed for me to reject. The reviews give you things to know, to listen for, to estimate a speaker's character and potential performance, but I'm afraid while bad reviews are almost always justification for speaker rejection in my experience, good reviews still aren't sufficient to produce a guaranteed winner, and more often than not, I still ultimately reject them.

 

[Curvature]

Another model, the F301, looks terrible based on these limited measurements: https://www.hifinews.com/content/fyne-audio-f301-loudspeaker-lab-report

Buy something else with available performance data.

 

[cavedriver]

Everyone’s different but I just could not get on with the Fyne’s (I’ve owned several different models). I really wanted to as I liked the look and the company but they just sounded a bit naff, in my experience.

I would be selling them rather than messing about trying to get good sound from them.

I'm interested in the negatives you found with the Fyne's you have experience with, especially if you had anything in the 700 series? I don't think their tweeter/driver arrangement is going to work in smaller/cheaper designs.

 

[tbrobison]

Late to the conversation here, but I have a pair of F302's that I really like. I have them in a studio apartment, and am running a very minimalistic setup: Bluesound Powernode & Fyne F302's. Depending on the recording, the F302's (basically a bookshelf speaker with a built in stand) put out a decent amount of bass, considering. I am going to add a compact subwoofer to help them along, but overall, I'm really happy with this arrangement.

The sub I'm adding is the Q Acoustics 3060S, compact 8", 150watt class D amplifier. Will report back after break in period.