Напольная акустика — Fyne Audio VINTAGE CLASSIC VIII

The Vintage Classic VIII is a tall, slim floorstanding loudspeaker from Fyne Audio that builds on the Vintage Classic VIII SM standmount by placing the same driver in a larger cabinet. It follows a retro rectangular style with walnut veneer, gold trim accents and analogue control knobs whose faces display frequency response graphs. It is sold in the UK at GBP 4,499.99 a pair with VAT. Fyne Audio also makes a Vintage Classic Gold VIII SP in its separate Gold SP Series, listed at GBP 7,499.99 a pair and built with birch ply, neodymium tweeter magnet, Deep Cryogenically Treated crossover and gold-plated ETI terminals.

Key specs that matter

A 200 mm IsoFlare driver with a FyneFlute surround carries the bass and midrange, and a 25 mm magnesium dome tweeter is mounted at its centre. Fyne Audio quotes 91 dB sensitivity at 2.83 V and 1 m into an 8 ohm nominal load. The in-room response is stated as 30 Hz to 34 kHz at minus 6 dB. The maker recommends 30 to 200 W RMS of amplifier power, with continuous handling of 100 W RMS and a peak rating of 400 W. Each speaker measures 873 mm high, 380 mm wide and 300 mm deep, and weighs 29.1 kg, and walnut is the sole finish.

Engineering and use context

A single crossover point at 1.8 kHz splits the two ways. The bi-wired passive network uses a 2nd order low pass filter for the IsoFlare cone and a 1st order high pass for the tweeter. Two knobs adjust high frequency level and the 2.5 to 5 kHz band, each by plus or minus 3 dB. The cabinet is made from walnut-veneered high density fibreboard braced inside, and it houses a twin cavity arrangement. Its port fires downward onto a compact BassTrax Tractrix diffuser, which Fyne Audio uses to extend bass from the modest footprint of the cabinet. Because the tweeter is placed at the cone centre, both drivers radiate from one point source rather than from two separate positions on the baffle.

Pairing

The sensitivity and easy nominal load mean the VIII works with a broad range of transistor amplifiers from the bottom of the recommended window upward. The continuous rating defines the sensible ceiling for amplifier output in normal use. Bi-wire terminals let the cone and tweeter sections take separate cables.

Alternatives

A bigger floorstander in this range, the Fyne Audio Vintage Classic X uses a 250 mm IsoFlare driver with a 75 mm compression tweeter in a 918 mm tall cabinet.