07/16/22
Fyne 502 and F501 SP
Thoughts, Reflections and Conclusions
I have to admit this was originally going to be about the F502 that I started off with. I wanted the additional oomph that the larger drivers had to offer and so I ordered them through my local dealer based on a recommendation from someone who I have respect for in the audio world. The local dealer (Ember Audio (Chris)) had the 502 shipped in but also got the 501SP for me to listen to. I listened to both in the store and while the tweeters on both were somewhat harsh went with the 502 for the sheer fact of the bottom end. It threw out some copious and pretty tight bottom end. I knew they would take a fair amount of time to break in properly and so my journey began.
The 502 is a formidable speaker and surprised me in the amount of air they can produce when the music calls for it. It’s the kind you feel as well as hear in a moderately sized room (15’ X 18”) with placement along the long wall with the left speaker just over three feet from the left wall, six and a half feet apart and 20 inches from the front wall. The LF were the first to break in and over a period of around two hundred hours came and went while the mids and HF were getting better. After about three hundred hours I was running up on my sixty day timeline and while enjoying the speaker just couldn’t warm up to the Titanium tweeter. I was worried to the point of contacting the U.S. distributor cause I was sure I’d run past my trial time with still not knowing about the sound. They assured me that no matter how long it took, should I not like the 502, it would not be a problem taking them back. At this point I have to admit the tweeter wasn’t bothering my wife in the least and found it to be detailed but it was driving me bonkers thus I was hoping they would over time settle down. Enter Dave. Now Dave has been in and around the music industry for a good number of years and after explaining what I’m hearing and the material of the tweeter tells me that the Titanium would probably never settle down. I continued with the 502 for a total of six months before deciding I have to try a different avenue. Going back to the audio shop to see what we could do, we discussed the 501SP as a solution. The 501SP has a Magnesium tweeter and long story short over time did break in quite nicely. I lost $500 in returning the 502 but felt that’s a part of doing business.
Coming home with the 501SP I had some trepidation because if it weren’t for the tweeter the 502 would still be in the house. I just wasn’t sure if the 6 inch mid and 6 inch woofer could do this old basshead proper. It did take some time to get used to a more refined bass and still be there without literally being there. Over time I have learned to appreciate the quicker, less powerful, articulate LF. So after a copious break in time I’ll tell you, these are keepers. Sound is quite special in the fact that it has just the right amount of detail without sounding strident and has no listener fatigue. I can listen to the 501SP for hours and not feel any stress. While the LF won’t punch you in the chest, it is there to a degree that I’m finding rather satisfying and rounds out the sound nicely with the port underneath, the six inch Mid and Magnesium tweeter. There’s a nice sound overall.
The speakers being replaced is a pair of 26 year old Legacy Classics. The Classics don’t do one thing perfectly but for the many years I’ve had them have been enjoyable with a warm sound that could rattle the whole house when asked to or place you in the clouds with a full sound from top to bottom. But found the dated technology to be a little bloated or mushy compared to the stuff out there today. They played nice with whatever I put upstream and showed me differences in equipment in a way that didn’t make a piece sound bad, just different. The 501SP doesn’t play nice with others. They will let you know when a piece upstream isn’t up to par and will demand rectification. They have shown me the differences in ICs and PCs by telling me if a piece is part of the team or not. With the right equipment the 501SP is a speaker that shines quite well and can produce a pretty good soundstage both horizontally and vertically while having a good depth to the sound. I’m not going to go into how they sound cause everyone will and should have their own opinion. But, what I am saying is this speaker is worthy of searching out. Speaker placement does change the sound a bit so playing with placement is well worth the time to bring the sound into focus.
Aesthetically the 501SP is a nice piece of work. The finish I have is the piano gloss walnut and it is really quite a beautiful finish. Size wise they fit into my room easier than either the 502 or the Classics did and that is a nice plus.
Equipment:
The various sources all feed through my Accuphase C11 Pre to a MF-M6sPRX amp.
Cables:
Power cabling is either Triode Wire Labs (TWL) or PI Audio.
SC is TWL American with American jumpers (all spade connection)
Interconnects are TWL Spirit 75 digital, Hapa Audio Quiescence Silver, TWL Spirit II or PI Audio analog dac to pre and pre to amp.
Don
