Напольная акустика — Fyne Audio F1-12S

The F1-12S is the top floorstander of the F1 Series from Fyne Audio, the Glasgow company whose technical director is Dr Paul Mills. It replaces the earlier F1-12. The F1 line runs from the F1-5 bookshelf model to this tower, and every unit is designed, built, hand finished and tested at the Glasgow factory. The UK price is GBP 37,999.99 per pair, with piano gloss walnut as the only finish.

Key specs that matter

A single 300 mm IsoFlare point source driver makes this a two-way system. A multi-fibre bass and midrange cone with a FyneFlute surround surrounds a 75 mm titanium dome compression tweeter whose motor is neodymium, and the two sections divide at 750 Hz. Fyne quotes 96 dB sensitivity at 2.83 V and 1 m, a nominal 8 ohm impedance and a response of 24 Hz to 26 kHz, a -6 dB value that Fyne gives for typical room use. The recommended amplifier range is 20 to 350 W RMS, continuous handling is 175 W RMS and peak handling is 600 W. Each speaker measures 1350 x 450 x 680 mm (H x W x D, plinth and grille included) and weighs 72 kg net.

Engineering and use context

For the S version the team reworked the crossover and upgraded the IsoFlare unit with FyneFlute technology to extend low frequency output. In the IsoFlare layout the compression unit sits concentrically inside the cone, so both radiate from one point with a time-aligned wavefront. A vented rear chamber in the neodymium HF magnet moves its resonance well below the crossover region, which is what allows the low crossover point. The twin cavity cabinet of pressed birch ply vents through a downward-firing port onto a BassTrax Tractrix diffuser, which turns the port output into a 360-degree wavefront and makes the speaker less critical of placement. The cabinet stands on a machined aluminium plinth weighing 20 kg that houses this diffuser. The bi-wired crossover uses second order low pass and high pass slopes, Claritycap polypropylene capacitors, laminated core inductors and Neotech PC-OCC wiring to WBT Nextgen terminals, and it is Deep Cryogenically Treated after assembly. Two controls give plus or minus 3 dB on HF energy above the crossover and on the 2.5 to 5 kHz band.

Pairing

The high sensitivity and wide power window let the F1-12S work with both low-powered valve amplifiers at the bottom of the range and large solid state designs at the top of it. Its two pairs of terminals accept bi-wire runs or separate amplifier channels.

Alternatives

The Fyne Audio F1-10S is the smaller F1 floorstander, with a 250 mm IsoFlare driver, 94 dB sensitivity and 57.7 kg per speaker.