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Audio First Fidelia on Erin’s Audio Corner

Ktacos said:
Hard sell compared to the ascilab for me as it's already built for you.
Click to expand...
Company website says finished products are coming soon, but I’d assume quite an uplift from the kit price making your comment valid.
 
To me, the performance envelope of this speaker doesn't look any better than my LS 50 Metas, particularly since I can cross over to my two SVS SB 2000 subs. Still has the same issues with power handling and distortion at higher volumes one would expect with a 5.5 inch mid-woofer.
 
Just one hour ago, Erin posted an extremely interesting video:
He has a new speaker reference for tonality and he bought them for himself!

It’s the Audio First Fidelia for about USD 1.250,— pair. Easy to build complete Kit.
It looks tremendously Equal to the USD 13.000,— Dutch & Dutch - but of course a bit smaller and passive….


Audio First Designs | High-Performance Audio DIY Kits | Audio First Designs

Build your high-end performance loudspeakers and amplifiers with our professionally designed DIY kits. Affordable prices and worldwide shipping are available.
audiofirstdesigns.co.uk audiofirstdesigns.co.uk

The founder of this company is Harry Yeung, MSc in acoustical engineering and despite of his young age, a acoustic Consultant for Brands like Celestion, Monitor Audio and KEF.


These speakers look sooooooo beautiful!
 
QsA8TrV.png

czdBnbv.png

I would expect those to sound quite different actually.

Wide 70 degree dispersion on the Fidelia, narrow 50 degree dispersion on the Ascilab.

Straight downward tilt for the Fidelia, somewhat scooped in 900 Hz -2 kHz region and and a fairly large treble uplift after 5 kHz on the Ascilab.
 
kharan said:
QsA8TrV.png

czdBnbv.png

I would expect those to sound quite different actually.

Wide 70 degree dispersion on the Fidelia, narrow 50 degree dispersion on the Ascilab.

Straight downward tilt for the Fidelia, somewhat scooped in 900 Hz -2 kHz region and and a fairly large treble uplift after 5 kHz on the Ascilab.
Click to expand...
For the sense of musicians being in the room (however inaccurate that might actually be), I’d take the 70 degree dispersion of the Fidelia.
 
Matt_Holland said:
For the sense of musicians being in the room (however inaccurate that might actually be), I’d take the 70 degree dispersion of the Fidelia.
Click to expand...
Just get me that speaker with a Purifi woofer inside.:p

Having said that, the C5B's vertical dispersion is as close to a coax as a traditional two way can be, so there is that.
 
kharan said:
Just get me that speaker with a Purifi woofer inside.:p
Click to expand...
I would be interested in a floorstander from them with multiple 6.5” woofers crossing to the mid at ~400Hz to mitigate floor bounce cancellation and to, of course, have some proper dynamics and low distortion, deep bass
 
Great product, however, I can't find any signs of a Klippel NFS being involved.

If there is, then they're hiding it well.
 

1733095205805.jpeg

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​

​

​

​

Now, the numbers.​

Spinorama
fidelia-spinorama-dWxwNJLL0gTqx4nk.png

Estimated in-room response
fidelia-eir-YrD6pwWkPbFLgeZv.png

Electrical impedance
fidelia-imp-Aq26LnQayEC3w7VB.png

THD in % at 90dB/1m
fidelia-thd-AMqxLZL4LasQoQVV.png

Specifications
Type:
2-way bass reflex design
Transducers:
1" ceramic-aluminum tweeter
5" ceramic-aluminum cone woofer
Coverage angle (-6dB):
120°
Crossover frequency:
1560Hz (3rd-order acoustical)
Sensitivity:
84dB SPL 1m/2.83V
Frequency response (-6dB):
42 - 31.6kHz
Impedance:
4Ω (Minimum 3.2Ω)
Recommend amplifier power:
40 - 250W
Dimensions (including terminals):
H 300 mm x W 180 mm x D 297.6 mm
Weight (per unit)
6.8 kg





1733094976726.jpeg







Looks a bit like we have a kind of BBC / Rogers LS 3/5a for the 21st century now.
Science doesn’t stop science 1974!
 
staticV3 said:
Makes sense. The Fidelia page has the vibe of them making do until they get their NFS. Not criticizing.
Click to expand...
Hi,
They wrote, that the NFS Service (if you live in England and want your speakers to be measured) is coming soon….
For me it sounds like they are using their Klippel the first months for themselves….
It seems, that these measurements of the speaker are made with a Klippel NFS.
 
totti1965 said:
It seems, that these measurements of the speaker are made with a Klippel NFS.
Click to expand...
Does it though?

All of their Fidelia graphs seem to come from the Audio Precision software suite, same as what KEF use internally. E.g: https://www.ap.com/blog/improved-polar-plot-utility

They're not from Klippel.

Hence my hunch that they're probably making do with what they got for now, until they receive their NFS (lead times must be crazy, same as the 5128).
 
Matt_Holland said:

This looks to be an excellent speaker design. Similar to the Ascilab C5B although DIY construction.

Audio First are local to me so I am tempted to try and get a demo…
Click to expand...

Hello everyone, this is Harry Yeung, the founder and designer of Audio First Designs. Thank you very much for sharing Erin's review here.

As a fresh new brand established just a few months ago, I would like to take the opportunity and introduce myself and the brand here.

I started as a typical audio enthusiast back in Hong Kong 10 years ago when I was still studying at university. My first pair of HiFi speakers is the KEF R300, and yes, I spent all my part-time earnings on this hobby and I have bought many silly things like many others too, haha!

But I took a step further for my passion and went to the UK to study acoustic engineering because I really want to design my own products, I just love this so much. I was also very lucky that I got an opportunity to do my MSc thesis research with KEF. However, an R&D engineer vacancy in a HiFi speaker company is quite a rare thing to find, so I began my career as an architectural acoustic consultant. This is where I had my first-hand experience with how sound sources interact with different spaces and how we perceive the result, which later on influenced some of my focus on loudspeaker design (e.g. Directivity).

I kept doing my own research at home after work, and eventually, I found my way into the industry. I worked as an engineer for a few companies such as Celestion, Monitor Audio, and KEF. Those are some of the happiest years of my life. I made some lifetime friends and I learned so, so much.

People here are probably quite familiar with the KEF products because of the reviews. I worked on the R series Meta together with David and also designed the recent Ci-REFM-THX series, which consists of the first THX-Dominus class speaker in the UK. Before I decided "It is the time to do my own thing!" and left KEF, Prathmesh⁩ and I finished the design of the latest Q Meta series. I was very glad to see a very positive review of the Q Concerto Meta from Erin as well, and I hope people will enjoy our work.

And here comes Audio First Designs, as the name suggested it is all about sound quality. Growing up in Hong Kong, where the living space is small on average, I always wanted to design something compact, and Fidelia is what I would love to have back in 10 years ago (Now I can create what I want!). It is designed for a small to mid-size space and is suitable for a short listening distance. The output capability is its shortcoming as the Xmax of the SB Acoustics woofer is a bit limited, so for high SPL / home theatre purposes, I definitely recommend people use a subwoofer along with them.

I am actually spending the majority of my time doing consultancy work at the moment (clients including some of my previous employers) to fund my own product development, and I am in the process of acquiring a Klippel NFS through investment funding, which will be used as part of my services and to design my new products. Yes, my new designs will include Purifi driver... and small horn! I want to create a series of products with superb output capability, linearity and distortion performance. They may or may not be kit though. But as a one-man show, that will take time...

Back to the comparison to the Ascilab products (I actually know their designer, a really talented young man!), I would comment that our design target is a bit different. As people already commented, the main difference is the dispersion angle (Ascilab is usually around 100 degrees and Fidelia is 140 degrees), so the sensation of the soundstage they created is different at the resulting power response is also different. This is just down to personal taste at the end of the day. Due to the material and labour cost here in the UK, and the time it took to prepare a set to ship, inevitably I have to set the price of the kit to what it is now to make it profitable.

Please feel free to drop me questions, but I don't visit ASR very often and things are getting really busy now so please be patient for my reply. Thank you and wish you all a lovely day.
 
staticV3 said:
Does it though?

All of their Fidelia graphs seem to come from the Audio Precision software suite, same as what KEF use internally. E.g: https://www.ap.com/blog/improved-polar-plot-utility

They're not from Klippel.

Hence my hunch that they're probably making do with what they got for now, until they receive their NFS (lead times must be crazy, same as the 5128).
Click to expand...
You are correct. Harry has commented on Erin’s Facebook post just now:

“Hi Erin and everyone! This is Harry Yeung, the founder and designer of Audio First Designs. Thank you very much for this great review and all the comments here. As a fresh new brand established just a few months ago, I would like to take the chance and introduce myself and the brand here.

I started as a typical audio enthusiast back in Hong Kong 10 years ago when I was still studying at university. My first pair of HiFi speakers is the KEF R300, and yes, I spent all my part-time earnings on this hobby and I have bought many silly things like many others too, hahah!

But I took a step further for my passion and went to the UK to study acoustic engineering because I really want to design my own products, I just love this so much. I was also very lucky that I got an opportunity to do my MSc thesis research with KEF. However, an R&D engineer vacancy in a HiFi speaker company is quite a rare thing to find, so I began my career as an architectural acoustic consultant. This is where I had my first-hand experience with how sound sources interact with different spaces and how we perceive the result, which later on influenced some of my focus on loudspeaker design (e.g. Directivity). I kept doing my own research at home after work, and eventually, I found my way into the industry. I worked as an engineer for a few companies such as Celestion, Monitor Audio, and KEF. Those are some of the happiest years of my life. I made some lifetime friends and I learned so, so much.

People here are probably quite familiar with the KEF products because of the reviews. I worked on the R series Meta together with David and also designed the recent Ci-REFM-THX series, which consists of the first THX-Dominus class speaker in the UK. Before I decided "It is the time to do my own thing!" and left KEF, Prathmesh⁩ and I finished the design of the latest Q Meta series. I was very glad to see a very positive review of the Q Concerto Meta from Erin, and I hope people will enjoy my work.

And here comes Audio First Designs, as the name suggested it is all about sound quality. Growing up in Hong Kong, where the living space is small on average, I always wanted to design something compact, and Fidelia is what I would love to have back in 10 years ago (Now I can create what I want!). It is designed for a small to mid-size space and is suitable for a short listening distance. The output capability is it's shortcoming as the Xmax of the SB Acoustics woofer is a bit limited, so for high SPL / home theatre purposes, I definitely recommend people use a subwoofer along with them.

I am actually spending the majority of my time doing consultancy work at the moment (clients including some of my previous employers) to fund my own product development, and I am in the process of acquiring a Klippel NFS through investment funding, which will be used as part of my services and to design my new products. Yes, my new designs will include Purifi driver... and small horn! I want to create a series of products with superb output capability, linearity and distortion performance. I want "High-Fidelity". I want to experience the recordings faithfully. They may or may not be kit though. But as a one-man show, that will take time... so as for the increased amount of orders that I received after this review video (Please be patient, my dear customers).

Thank you very much for your support and for reading such a long comment. Wish you a lovely day.”
 
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